Training Better Teachers with Technology

New on the Rehovot Campus: Virtual Fieldwork Instruction

By Nathan Fried and Adiel Brodman
Orot Israel College, Rechovot Campus

Of the many challenges administrators faced in helping students complete their training, the most common obstacle was distance. Student teachers found positions in schools quite far from the college campus – most often in or near their home town – and these student teachers found themselves having the travel often up to four hours at their own expense each week in order to participate in a 2-hour seminar at the college. Thus, they were tempted to ignore the seminar requirement and save themselves precious time and money, while gaining an additional day of work per week.
Fieldwork instructors at the Rehovot campus put their heads together with the Distance Learning Unit's staff and came up with a novel solution for student teachers in the periphery – a virtual fieldwork instruction seminar. The students no longer have to spend hours commuting to the Rehovot campus to meet with their fieldwork supervisor. Armed with the tools of advanced computer networking, the fieldwork seminar comes to their computer anytime, anyplace.

The final year of academic training in the teaching profession is traditionally a year of field work for the student teacher. The year is comprised of three components:
1. Work as a classroom teacher (of at least 1/3 position) in a recognized school
2. On-site supervision from an experienced teacher from the school staff
3. Participation in a 56-hour fieldwork seminar at the college
While all three components are of equal importance, it is imperative that they be coordinated to maximize the value of the fieldwork experience during the student's first teaching year.

Since the Ministry of Education and the college see the fieldwork experience as an integral part of the professional training process, a solution had to we found for the well-meaning student teachers who found it too difficult to attend the seminars. It should be noted that this problem could lead to the delay of receiving one's teaching certificate and any further professional specialization certification as well, especially for elementary school teachers in the "Ofek Chadash" (New Horizon) framework.

To solve this problem, Orot administration established an Internet communication framework that interfaces the student teachers and their seminar instructor via a virtual platform. About 20 participants were chosen (with their agreement) according to their distance from the Rehovot campus. Using the HighLearn computer software application as an Internet platform, the Distant Learning Unit at the Rehovot campus set up a virtual seminar classroom with each of the participants.

How does it work? The semester is divided into sections of 10 workdays, with each section assigned to one student. During each 10-day period one student is expected to post an actual dilemma from his experience in the classroom for feedback from the other students. The chat room discussion that follows examines the problem and alternative solutions offered by the group. The student is expected to answer each comment posted by the group members, thus sharpening his didactic judgment. The seminar instructor monitors the discussion, posts links to salient academic papers and carries on a private email dialogue with the student offering insight and supervision. The student is then expected to produce a term paper based on what was learned in the process of the group discussion on his chosen dilemma.

Orot staff sees this program as an important step in improving teacher training, especially in light of the positive initial reactions to the innovative new system. While a complete evaluation will be conducted at the end of the year, Orot sees this new program as another important tool in the training of Israel's future leaders.