{"id":1300,"date":"2001-03-01T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2001-03-01T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/cite\/2011\/10\/18\/article1-htm-4\/"},"modified":"2016-06-04T03:07:05","modified_gmt":"2016-06-04T03:07:05","slug":"article1-htm-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citejournal.org\/volume-1\/issue-2-00\/general\/article1-htm-4","title":{"rendered":"A Web-Based Resource Providing Reflective Online Support for Preservice Mathematics Teachers on School Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A Reflective Approach to Practicum Support for Preservice Teachers<\/b><\/p>\n

I have come, over the years, in spite of all the reform agendas, to believe that the best we can do in teacher preparation programs, through a variety of courses and clinical experiences in intentionally selected schools, is to help academically able and socially committed students enter teaching with constructive dispositions and skills relating to young people, curriculum content, pedagogy, and the power of collective thought; well-developed habits of observation and reflection; reasonable confidence and an understanding that they are entering a process of learning something important every day, working toward the largest possibilities they can imagine. (Perrone, 1997, p. 649)<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s overstretched curriculum, and with society\u2019s increasing demands for the teaching of a growing body of new knowledge, a competency-based approach for learning to teach is obsolete. Students cannot be competent in content and skills that are rapidly changing or may not, as yet, even exist. As Perrone (1997) argues, it is better to provide students with generic and reflective skills that assist them in their continued learning of any new enterprise. Connecting these generic thinking skills to the context in which they occur is essential. If university programs do not do this they are likely to \u201cprepare teacher technicians rather than reflective professional educators\u201d (Boyd, Boll, Brawner, & Villaumer, 1998, p. 61).<\/p>\n

Reflection is one aspect of a complex number of interrelated functions, which contribute to task performance (Ridley, 1992), an aspect that is gaining increased attention in recent years after almost disappearing from consideration under the influence of learning models based on behaviorism (von Wright, 1992). Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985) define reflection as: \u201cthose intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations\u201d (p. 19). These authors stress that such reflection must not occur solely at the unconscious level: \u201cIt is only when we bring our ideas to our consciousness that we can evaluate them and begin to make choices about what we will or will not do\u201d (p. 19). Kemmis (1985) points out that we do not reflect in a vacuum: \u201cWe pause to reflect…because the situation we are in requires consideration: how we act in it is a matter of some significance\u201d (p. 141).<\/p>\n

Many theorists see reflection as both a process<\/i> and a product<\/i> (Collen, 1996; Kemmis, 1985), and that it is action oriented (Kemmis, 1985). Knights (1985) contends that reflection is not the kind of activity, which its name suggests\u2014a solitary, internal activity\u2014but a two-way process with the attention of another person: \u201cWithout an appropriate reflector, it cannot occur at all\u201d (p.\u00a085). This view is strongly supported in the literature by others who point out that reflection is a social process (Kemmis, 1985), and that collaboration on tasks enables the reflective process to become apparent (von Wright, 1992).<\/p>\n

An important function of reflection is that it enables the learner to compare his or her performance or understanding to an expert in the field (Candy, Harri-Augstein, & Thomas, 1985; Collins, 1988; Collins, Brown, & Holum, 1991). Collins, Brown, and Newman (1989) have also pointed out that it is important for students to be able to compare their performance with others at various levels of expertise. Access to expert performances and the modeling of processes has its origins in the apprenticeship system of learning, where students and craftspeople learned new skills under the guidance of an expert (Collins et al., 1989). Important elements of expert performances are found in modern applications of the apprenticeship model such as internship (Jonassen, Mayes, & McAleese, 1993), and case-based learning (Riesbeck, 1996). Such access enables narratives and stories to be accumulated, and invites the learner to absorb strategies which employ the social periphery (legitimate peripheral participation) (Lave & Wenger, 1991). It also allows students to observe and reflect upon a task before it is attempted. Such reflection, one might argue, is only possible in a learning environment that provides appropriate supports and communication channels to enable reflective learning to occur. Yet the typical experience of preservice teachers on professional practice is one of isolation, divorced from the support structures of their university environment, and lacking communication channels to their peers.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this article is to outline the development of a web-based resource that provided reflective support and communication that assisted preservice teachers learn about teaching in the context of their school practice. Early childhood, primary, and secondary education student teachers enrolled in Bachelor of Education and Graduate Diploma of Education courses at Edith Cowan University (ECU) were required to attend between 10 and 18 weeks of school practice during their training. These practices varied from continuous blocks of time in a school to distributed practice where, for example, students attended a half-day a week for one school term. In the context of reducing University and Faculty budgets, coupled with increased pressure on academic staff to increase their research output, there was a dramatic reduction in university staff involvement in the supervision of students on school practice. This necessitated developing alternative approaches to assisting students on school practice.<\/p>\n

Using the Internet to Provide Reflective Support<\/b><\/p>\n

This project provided an improved framework of support for student teachers during their involvement in school practice by providing them with a range of resources that increased content and skill knowledge, and to enabled them to reflect on their teaching practice. Initially, the content focus centered on teaching mathematics, however, the generic nature of the skills being developed meant that these abilities could easily be transferred to other areas of the school curriculum. To support and develop generic teaching skills it was believed that students would benefit by having access to rich sources of lesson ideas, particularly those type of lessons that reflected constructivist pedagogy; and guidance and support through communication with content experts and their peers. In addition to their supervising teacher, students would be adequately supported in their practicum settings by having immediate access to quality curriculum materials to guide lesson planning, examples of exemplary teaching, and open communications channels with peers and lecturing staff.<\/p>\n

Providing support along these lines was effected through an appropriately designed internet-based database and information delivery system. The process of using e-mail and the Internet to successfully communicate between student teachers on school practice and university supervisors has been reported (Casey 1994; Hutchinson & Gardner 1997; Roddy, 1999). Recommendations from these reports include extending the process of communication to students\u2019 peers and school supervisors. This project provided such a system with the construction of a website with the following components and attributes:<\/p>\n