Online classroom support pre-service teacher education

Teaching is complex, requiring in excess of 3000 decisions each day in the classroom, reports Ferry and Kervin (2007). This poses serious challenges to pre-service teacher education, aggravated by the theoretical education often fail to prepare students for the practicalities of the classroom. Simulated (virtual) classrooms are seen as a means to prepare students for their future role as teachers.

Ferry and Kervin (2007: 190) reports that a team of five University of Wollongong lecturers and two research students work together for a year to produce a funding proposal. A further six months got devoted to plan the development of the simulation. The development of the simulation comprises a number of stages/processes:

Step	Description		Duration	Budget
1	Planning the simulation — the development of: Inputs and outputs to guide the user Story to guide user		Nine (9) months	$5 000 for teaching relief
2	Using the teacher-created script to shape prototype version 1 of the software: Physical classroom organisation Classroom management Teaching and learning The development and incorporation of embedded tool ‘thinking space’		Twelve (12) months	project manager, teaching relief, programming & graphic design
3	Trial of the simulation software		Two (2) months	$10 000 project manager, teaching relief & programming
4	Refining the software		Nine (9) months	$60 000 project manager, programming & graphic design
5	Authenticating the virtual kindergarden experiences		Six (6) months	$10 000 project manager
6	Trial of the software		Three (3) months	$5 000 project manager, teaching relief & programming
		Totals:	18 & 41 months	$190 000

Stella^TM had been chosen during the planning phase as architecture for the simulation— “STELLA® offers a practical way to dynamically visualize and communicate how complex systems and ideas really work” (ISEE Systems, Inc.). The project-team further started the ‘story’—the teacher narrative for the simulation with the following basic flow:

Teacher organises the day		Tasks before the class starts		Learning & teaching experiences		End of literacy L&T

Two distinct cycle typess (management; plus teaching & learning) were identified to incorporate into the STELLA® software:

Management cycles	Teaching and learning cycles
1. The organisation of the classroom	5. Sequencing episode
2. The start of the day	6. Modelled reading episode
3. The late arrival of a student	7. Modelled writing episode
4. Random decisions	8. Retell of a familiar story episode

Ferry, B & Kervin, L. 2007. Developing an online classroom simulation to support a pre-service teacher education program. In D Gibson; C Aldrich & M Prensky. 2007. Games and simulations in online learning: research and development frameworks (pp 189 – 205). Hershey: Information Science Publishing.

ISEE Systems, Inc. STELLA Systems Thinking for Education and Research. Download STELLA_productsheet