Presence and Efficacy: Training Preservice Teachers' Classroom Management Skills in Virtual Reality

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Virtual Reality and Robotics in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Engaging, realistic and autonomous––virtual reality (VR) environments have been widely used for training various professionals, but rarely for training teachers. The current study evaluated a VR classroom for fostering preservice teacher’s classroom management expertise. Forty-three participating preservice teachers filled out questionnaires about their user experience, sense of presence and efficacy for classroom management after teaching in VR. Results indicated that preservice teachers rated positively about their user experience and sense of presence inside the VR classroom. More importantly, participants’ ratings of presence predicted their efficacy for classroom management at the end of the seminar. These results demonstrated the functionality of VR simulation in training for preservice teacher’s classroom management expertise, both in terms of learning experience and learning gain.

Authors

• Yizhen Huang, University of Potsdam

• Eric Richter, Universität Potsdam

• Dirk Richter, University of Potsdam