Preservice Teacher Perceptions of Field Experiences in Virtual and Live Classrooms
Location
Session 2 Presentations - Preservice Teacher Education: New Technologies
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) altered field experiences for preservice teachers during the year 2020 and beyond. Many teacher education programs moved field experiences from live classrooms to virtual formats or suspended field experiences altogether. No known research has compared preservice teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and downsides of school-based and virtual field experiences. The present study addresses this literature gap by surveying preservice teachers who experienced either entirely school-based, entirely virtual (i.e., Mursion), or a combination of school-based and virtual field experiences. Findings based on survey data from 156 undergraduate participants and follow-up interviews with 12 of those participants revealed that undergraduates view Mursion as an inauthentic replacement for school-based field experiences. While participants enjoyed the targeted practice of communication and classroom management skills afforded by Mursion, the interaction with avatars possessing a limited range of verbal and physical responses, relative to students in a live classroom, diminished the professional development value of the virtual field experiences. Participants overwhelmingly supported using school-based placements over virtual field experiences, indicating that virtual experiences are best suited as complementary to school-based placements.
Keywords
early field experience, preservice teacher education, student teaching, preservice teacher perceptions, virtual field experiences
Professional Bio
Marlynn M. Griffin is a Professor of Educational Psychology at Georgia Southern University with research interests in social media use by preservice teachers, preservice teacher education, and early field experiences. Abraham E. Flanigan is Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Georgia Southern University with research interests in digital distraction and student-instructor rapport.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Griffin, Marlynn M. and Flanigan, Abraham E., "Preservice Teacher Perceptions of Field Experiences in Virtual and Live Classrooms" (2021). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 31.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2021/2021/31
Preservice Teacher Perceptions of Field Experiences in Virtual and Live Classrooms
Session 2 Presentations - Preservice Teacher Education: New Technologies
The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) altered field experiences for preservice teachers during the year 2020 and beyond. Many teacher education programs moved field experiences from live classrooms to virtual formats or suspended field experiences altogether. No known research has compared preservice teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and downsides of school-based and virtual field experiences. The present study addresses this literature gap by surveying preservice teachers who experienced either entirely school-based, entirely virtual (i.e., Mursion), or a combination of school-based and virtual field experiences. Findings based on survey data from 156 undergraduate participants and follow-up interviews with 12 of those participants revealed that undergraduates view Mursion as an inauthentic replacement for school-based field experiences. While participants enjoyed the targeted practice of communication and classroom management skills afforded by Mursion, the interaction with avatars possessing a limited range of verbal and physical responses, relative to students in a live classroom, diminished the professional development value of the virtual field experiences. Participants overwhelmingly supported using school-based placements over virtual field experiences, indicating that virtual experiences are best suited as complementary to school-based placements.
