JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2025 Part 5 of 11
All series
- ADHD Series
- Assessment in Special Education Series
- Autism Spectrum Disorders Series
- Bullying of Children
- Classroom Management Series
- Diagnosis of Students with Disabilities and Disorders Series
- Discipline of Students in Special Education Series
- Early Intervention Series
- Genetics in Special Education Series
- How To Series
- IEP Components
- Inclusion Series
- JAASEP – Research Based Journal in Special Education
- LD Report
- Lesser Known Disorders
- NASET News Alert
- NASET Q & A Corner
- NASET Survival Guides
- Parent Teacher Conference Handouts
- Resolving Disputes with Parents Series
- RTI Roundtable
- Severe Disabilities Series
- Special Education: What Do the Latest Numbers Tell Us?
- Special Educator e-Journal – Latest and Archived Issues
- The Practical Teacher
- Treatment and Support for IEP Students with Disabilities
- Working with Paraprofessionals in Your School
Considering the vast range of needs that students with disabilities may have, pre-service teachers need varied opportunities to receive guidance and feedback on the improvement of “instructional skills (academic and classroom management), modeling for students, managing student behaviors, student engagement techniques, and verbal instruction (Nagro et al., 2017, p. 9)” to transform such procedures through learning how to analyze, and plan for the future (Kalk et al., 2014). Technology provides opportunities for pre-service teachers to receive explicit practice with such pedagogies.
Mixed reality can be defined as a blend of real and synthetic content to create an environment where participants can interact with virtual avatars. One example of a mixed-reality environment, Mursion, offers opportunities to engage with avatars who exhibit facial expressions, body language, and responses to participants which provides a realistic virtual experience (Bautista & Boone, 2015; Hudson, Voytecki, & Zhang, 2018 Judge et al., 2013). The avatars are controlled by artificial intelligence and a human interactor, who enables the manipulation of each avatar personality related to the specific scenario that participants are engaging with.
Abstract
Technology integration throughout educator preparation programs is an essential component that allows pre-service teachers to learn how to better facilitate and become proficient in pedagogical practices that can enhance teaching skills to support students with varied abilities. One approach to assisting pre-service teachers develop teaching skills is through targeted skills practice in a virtual environment coupled with reflecting using the video analysis model. Pre-service teachers need multiple opportunities to practice the use of explicit instruction in order to effectively implement the strategy in their future classrooms and this can be achieved through virtual reality platforms such as Mursion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Mursion simulated learning experiences and video analysis on the performance and self-efficacy of preservice teacher education students using explicit instruction. Findings suggest that the use of Mursion coupled with video analysis is a promising method for developing pre-service teachers’ pedagogical skills.