What is it about?
This paper, part of a special issue of the journal, outlines a vision for 2025 that aims to ensure all future K-12 educators are fully prepared to teach successfully in both online and blended learning environments. We assert that proficiency in these modalities is essential for all modern teachers. To reach this goal, we propose six specific objectives for teacher education programs. These objectives include implementing sufficient coursework on research and best practices for digital learning; requiring pre-service teachers to gain experience by being online learners themselves and completing field experiences in online/blended settings; and developing new metrics to accurately assess teacher candidates' growth in this area. The vision also calls for the establishment of widely accepted standards for K-12 online teaching and securing the adoption of these recommendations by national accreditation agencies. Finally, the paper addresses potential threats that could hinder this progress and offers practical strategies for implementation.
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Why is it important?
This paper is critically important because it addresses a major, persistent gap in teacher preparation that was starkly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic: the inability of many K-12 teachers to effectively deliver instruction in online and blended formats.
Perspectives
Writing this article was a great experience because I was working with fabulous co-authors with years of expertise with the research of K-12 online learning. It also was a great opportunity to share this kind of visioning work via the journal's special issue on visions of teacher education and technology by 2025.
Professor of Instructional Technology Charles B. Hodges
Georgia Southern University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A 2025 Vision for Building Access to K-12 Online and Blended Learning in Pre-service Teacher Education, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, January 2022, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education,
DOI: 10.70725/090843jrtash.
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