Article – Learning to Teach Online: What Works for Pre-service Teachers

I saw this in my RSS feed yesterday – Journal of Educational Computing Research – New Issue Alert from Educational Research Journals.  One of the articles listed in the latest issue was:

Journal of Educational Computing Research
Issue: Volume 40, Number 3 / 2009
Pages: 357 – 376

Learning to Teach Online: What Works for Pre-service Teachers

Heather E. Duncan, University of Wyoming
John Barnett, University of Western Ontario

Abstract: While opportunities for online learning are increasing in K-12 education, few teacher education programs include courses on online teaching and learning. Using Garrison and Anderson’s (2003) Community of Inquiry framework, this qualitative study explored the educational experiences of pre-service teachers in an experiential online course designed to teach about online teaching. Students explored aspects of online education and created a multi-media teaching module. The study highlighted the need for pre-service teacher education programs to design learning experiences that equip the next generation of teachers with the skills required to teach 21st century students in a variety of media that accommodate a diversity of learning styles.

I took a quick look in my library’s online holdings and was able to access the article right away.  The “Purpose of the Study” section on page 359 reads:

This empirical study followed a unique, experiential, online course for pre-service educators, the objective of which was to introduce them to online teaching. Using a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning with technology, the aim was to create a community of inquiry that focused on engagement of participants in the educational experience through interaction, collaboration, and reflection.

The purpose of this study was first to explore the educational experience of pre-service student teacher participants as they learned about teaching and learning online. The focus was in three areas using Garrison and Anderson’s Community of Inquiry framework: these areas were the cognitive domain, the social domain, and the teaching domain (Garrison & Anderson, 2003; Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). The second objective was to dialogue and reflect with students on how to improve the online educational experience, and thus contribute to the ongoing conversation on effective online pedagogy.

The research questions guiding this study were:

1. What are the educational experiences of pre-service teachers in an online course on online teaching?
2. What can instructors do to enhance the online learning experience for students?

Looks to be interesting and fairly unique.  The only major research that had been done in this area to date has been the work by Teacher Education Goes into Virtual Schooling folks.