Exploring the impact of an online learning community to
support student teachers on school placement
Gorman, AlanORCID: 0000-0002-5024-448X and Hall, Kathy
(2023)
Exploring the impact of an online learning community to
support student teachers on school placement.
European Journal of Teacher Education
.
ISSN 0261-9768
This paper documents the design, implementation, and evaluation
of an online learning community (OLC), within the Republic of
Ireland, which set out to support student teachers in a hybrid
space during their school placement experience. Guided by qualitative
research, data collection methods included interviews and
analysis of students’ forum postings. Key findings illustrated that
the OLC provided a valuable learning context for student teachers.
The presence of cooperating teachers, as online tutors, as well as
a higher education institute tutor was recognised as critically
important for facilitating the OLC. A significant conclusion to this
study is that hybrid spaces, that are aligned with the practicum, can
provide opportunities for dialogic reflection and enquiry within
a community of learners. With the increased attention of adopting
online pedagogical approaches, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper offers two research-based design principles to
facilitate OLCs that support student teachers on school placement.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
School Placement; Online Learning; Hybrid Space; Knowledge Generation