When one thinks of virtual field experiences for pre-service teachers, one often conjures an image of teacher candidates watching a video of a teacher presenting a lesson and then talking about his/her practice. But TeachME changes the concept of Virtual Field Experiences entirely! In an article in Education Week’s most recent edition of the Teacher PD Sourcebook, Stephen Sawchuk explores the work of teacher candidates at the University of Central Florida. These preservice teachers practice in a virtual classroom with students who are avatars – computer-generated characters. The five students in the classroom are controlled by actors from UCF’s fine arts program who are trained on their character’s personalities, profile and family life. Classroom simulations are used as part of the teacher preparation program’s required field experiences prior to the student teaching internship.
For more about the TeachME program, see http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2011/04/04/02avatars.h04.html
