By Nick Kovalcik & Danielle Miller
Transforming Teacher Preparation Using Simulations
April 3, 2023
By Nick Kovalcik & Danielle Miller
Simulations help to significantly close the “experience gaps” that educators are aware of and enhance regular pre-service training in several ways. The technology ensures that even novice teachers can practice teaching techniques that are crucial yet difficult in a classroom environment. For instance, most novice teachers would not get to talk with a parent or caregiver, even though doing so is vital for fostering links between schools and children’s guardians.
Simulations allow novice teachers to “do-over” their assignments until they have mastered the method. Particularly in primary schools where teachers spend the entire day with the same class of kids, teachers rarely get the chance to learn from their mistakes and repeat the same classroom scenario. Nevertheless, making errors is necessary to know how to do a job well, particularly when those errors are followed by cycles of repeated practice.
Simulations allow novice teachers to experiment with different teaching techniques without worrying about endangering real kids or those caring for them. As they master new instructional strategies, beginners will inevitably make mistakes. Simulations provide low-risk environments for novice teachers to practice without misleading students about approaching arithmetic problems or alienating parents looking for ways to be involved in their child’s educational experiences.
New teachers can practice their techniques remotely, frequently from the comfort of their homes and at convenient hours. In ways that in-person practice could never be, this flexibility makes repeated patterns easily accessible. Lastly, by incorporating exercise into coursework, teacher educators can monitor new teachers while offering detailed feedback that was previously impractical.
The standardized platform that simulations offer for delivering novel interventions and practice opportunities and evaluating the growth of teaching skills has excellent benefits for researchers. Because it is frequently difficult to change the structure and content of coursework—so that some novice teachers are randomly assigned to one learning experience while others are set to something different—there is little evidence about the effects of specific incidents in teacher education. Additionally, evaluating novices’ emerging skills is expensive and logistically demanding; student teaching placements are frequently so unlike one another that comparing teachers in various classroom situations, and settings can be impossible.
Educators can solve both of these problems through simulation technology. Researchers can conduct experimental tests on the outcomes of various strategies for accelerating teacher skill development in the simulation environment. Additionally, since school leaders may administer simulations similarly across groups of inexperienced teachers, it is simpler to track and compare changes in instruction over time. New teachers get better with experience, indicating significant value in utilizing technology to multiply the number of focused opportunities to practice new abilities in low-stakes settings.
Simulations are an excellent form of teacher education to identify instructors’ relative strengths and weaknesses and give them tailored practice during the preparation time. The more familiar we are with the teachers we are collaborating with, their shared experiences will help us ensure that other teachers feel much more prepared to serve students right away in the classroom after experiencing simulations.
Education is a lifelong endeavor. After you graduate and begin working, it doesn’t end. By continuing their education, those interested in careers can enhance their skills and improve their jobs. To ensure their children receive the most significant possible educational outcomes and increase their effectiveness and job satisfaction, school administrators in the K–12 education administration field must encourage teachers to pursue professional development.
SchoolSims offers cutting-edge training by simulating the experiences of educators and administrators nationwide. Participants can select the simulations that best suit their needs, allowing them to choose actions and develop implementation strategies. Teachers using the software will experience the repercussions and effects of their decisions and implementation to make modifications and better serve their pupils. This software is based on data from teachers who have faced situations comparable to the simulation.
Being a teacher is a complex and demanding job. The success of both instructors and students depends on giving them the resources and technology they require to demystify their profession and advance with more assurance and motivation.
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Works Cited
Cohen, Julie, and Vivian Wong. “Using Classroom Simulators to Transform Teacher Preparation.” Brookings, Brookings, 17 Nov. 2021, www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2021/11/17/using-classroom-simulators-to-transform-teacher-preparation/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
Distance Education Teacher Training. https://www.edc.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Distance-Education-Teacher-Training.pdf.