Undergraduate Special Education Students' Ability to Manage a Classroom After Mixed-Reality Teaching Experiences

• In Event: 25.044 - Supporting Field Experiences Through Video and Virtual Technologies

Abstract

The ability to effectively manage a classroom is an important skill for teachers to have. Mursion is a mixed reality environment that allows preservice teacher candidates to practice the classroom management skills they learn in class by teaching avatars. In this mixed methods study, twenty-five undergraduate students aged 18-29 participated in the study during the first semester of their junior year. Results indicate that following the Mursion experiences, most participants perceived: that they were better prepared to teach, that Mursion was an effective way to practice new skills, that the avatars seemed like real students, that they had more confidence to manage undesired behaviors, and that they felt like they were in a real classroom.

Authors

• Melissa Hudson, East Carolina University

• Karen Voytecki, East Carolina University

• Guili Zhang, East Carolina University