aeet-teacher education through video

Bridging the Distance to Cooperating Teachers through Online Video
Short Description:

This session will describe the design, development, and implementation of a web-delivered information session for cooperating teachers using the ADDIE framework. Presenters will discuss the analysis of need for new approaches for delivering information to cooperating teachers, and the rationale for use of an online video tool. Evaluation of the use of video as a means for communicating expectations of cooperating teachers at the University of Memphis will be shared, along with considerations for transfer.
Abstract: (Click here to enhance readability)

The role of a cooperating teacher is vital to a student teacher’s success. Student teachers have long identified the relationship with a cooperating teacher as an important and meaningful part of the student teaching experience (Ganser,1996), but preservice teachers report a significant amount of variance in their relationships with cooperating teachers (Forsbach-Rothman, 2007). Cooperating teachers who are capable of providing student teachers with environments that are accepting and give students opportunities for ownership of the learning environment provide the most successful student teaching experience (Duffield, 2006). Cooperating teachers generally have a deep understanding of their role in the student teacher education process (Graham, 2006). Consequentially, cooperating teachers have been found to have a significant influence on factors such as, enhancing the success of student teachers they mentor, providing constructive evaluative feedback to the student teacher; modeling and promoting learner-centered instruction; and, modeling appropriate classroom management and interacting with student teachers on issues such as discipline, instruction, materials, and time management (Patterson, 2008). The recruitment of cooperating teachers is often a difficult task for teacher education programs (Sinclair, Dowson, & Thistleton-Martin, 2006). One factor identified that impacts the quality of the relationship between student teachers and cooperating teachers is the amount of preparation cooperating teachers receive to mentor their assigned students. Cooperating teachers may have limited experience with mentoring, may have unfounded assumptions about their role as a mentor to novices, or may find working with student teachers to be too demanding. To be successful, the cooperating teacher should have a clear conceptualization of how their role is related to furthering the student’s growth as a teacher and how the role of a cooperating teacher relates to student’s college or university (Graham, 2006). The University of Memphis’ Teacher Education Program (TEP) experiences many of the same challenges when preparing cooperating teachers for their student teacher mentoring experience. Over the past two years, the participation rate for the face-to-face cooperating teaching informational/orientation sessions has been less than 30%. Given the importance of the role of cooperating teachers in student-teacher preparation, university TEPs must find alternative methods to provide the professional development necessary for cooperating teachers to recognize their roles and satisfy the expectations of both the student teacher and the teacher education program. Online education may be part of the solution. The University of Memphis Teacher Education Program will implement an online cooperating teacher information and orientation program beginning with the Fall 2009 semester. The function of this online training with imbedded video is to provide current and on demand information to cooperating teachers about their roles and responsibilities and new student teaching requirements. Participants in this session will learn what the literature reveals about the effectiveness of an online delivery model for Cooperating Teacher training, and the effect of the University of Memphis online program. As part of the session, participants will be provided an opportunity to experience some of the online video-based information package used at the University of Memphis. The voiced-over content will showcase cooperating teachers, student teachers, and administrators. Topics to be covered in this informative video will include cooperating teacher’s roles and responsibilities, communication, and mentoring. Background Using the ADDIE framework (Peterson, 2003), the presenters investigated the issues with the face-to-face cooperating teacher information sessions. Analysis revealed low participation was due to conflicts in personal schedules; in addition, location and time were also barriers to cooperating teachers participating, yet, they were still assigned student teachers. Subsequently it was determined that offering the cooperating teacher training in both synchronous and asynchronous format would increase the amount of participation in the information sessions by selected cooperating teachers. During Spring 2009, the presenters will design the online program, using a storyboard to guide conversion of the face-to-face session content to a video-based presentation of approximately 20 minutes in duration. The development of this online program will begin in April 2009, and will be made available to subject matter experts in July 2009. The final version will be implemented at the beginning of the Fall 2009 student teaching semester, and will be hosted online at the University of Memphis. The tool will be available for use from August – October 2009. A survey will be administered following the video to determine if the tool was visually appealing, informative, and perceived to be useful to the target audience. During the session, the presenters will share their experiences in analyzing the viability of a web-delivered information video, the design processed followed, the development of the tool, and the implementation plan and evaluation results. Video synapses will be shown to those attending the session. Implications for transfer to other cooperating teacher programs will be discussed, and supporting documentation provided. If time permits, a question and answer period will follow the presentation. References Duffield,S. (2006). Safety net or free fall: The impact of cooperating teachers. Teacher Development, 10(2), 167-178. Forsbach-Rothman, T. (2007). The mentor role: Is training necessary? Journal of In-service Education, 33(2), 245-247. Ganser, T. (2002). How teachers compare the roles of cooperating teacher and mentor. Educational Forum, 66(4), 380-385. Graham, B. (2006). Conditions of successful field experiences: Perceptions of cooperating teachers. Teaching & Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research, 22(8), 1118-1129. Patterson, B. (2008). Supervising student teachers. SchoolArts: The Art Education Magazine, 107(5), 42-43. Peterson, C. (2003). Bringing ADDIE to life: Instructional design at its best. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 12(3), 227-241. Sinclair, C., Dowson, M, and Thistleton-Martin, J. (2006). Motivations and profiles of cooperating teachers: Who volunteers and why? Teaching & Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research, 22(3), 263-279.