"I Totally Feel Prepared": Preservice Teachers' Experience in a New Online Teacher Education Program

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: Educational Change SIG Poster Session

Abstract

Alternative forms of teacher education have been rapidly growing regardless of many teacher educators’ concerns. This paper explores how pre-service teachers perceive the effectiveness of a new online teacher education program in a university as well as their preparedness to teach in a classroom. Following two small cohorts for two years, I found that (1) the quality matters to pre-service teachers’ sense of preparedness rather than the form; (2) individual courses had more influence on how teachers perceived their experience and preparedness; and (3) the role of mentor teachers and school administrations were critical in pre-service teachers’ success. I hope to reiterate the importance of aligning well-designed curriculum and model mentor teachers that surpasses the forms of teacher education.

Author

• Sungwon Shin, Texas Tech University