In order to obtain a teaching license in the United States, university teacher education programs require students to complete a field-based, supervised student teaching or internship. When students are interested in careers in the international school system, the supervision by university faculty is done via distance education.
Context
In order to be licensed as a PK-12 educator in the United States, university teacher education programs require students to complete fieldwork and supervised student teaching or internships. The Teaching Culturally, Linguistically Diverse & Exceptional Learners program prepares students for careers in the international school system with coursework in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP), cross-cultural education, International Mindedness (IM), working with English Language Learners (ELLs) and special education learners in the international school system. In order to meet the requirement for supervised student teaching or internship, the program offers two options: complete two 7-week experiences as a traditional student teacher in an international school or a single 15-week experience as an on-the-job (OTJ) internship candidate.
Students are enrolled in an online course (EDCI 790) that guides them through the student teaching experience. Throughout the course, students work with an onsite mentor teacher, an onsite school supervisor, and a distant university supervisor. Depending on the country and grade levels taught, each student’s experience is very different.
Description of Course
EDCI 790 uses Blackboard as the course management tool. All resources and assignments are uploaded to the system and available for students. Students are required to submit all forms to Blackboard and are encouraged to post about their experiences in the Discussion area in order to obtain support from their fellow student teachers and reflect about their individual contexts and situations. Students are also required to submit video clips of their teaching throughout the semester. Traditional student teachers submit videos to the University Supervisor for review in weeks 4, 7, 11, and 14. OTJ candidates submit videos in weeks 7 and 14. The videos allow the university supervisor to see what is going on in the classroom and to provide feedback to the student.
Challenges
There are several challenges with the EDCI 790 course. The biggest challenge centers around the videos. Access to technology varies greatly in international schools. Some schools have ample access to technology (i.e. Google Classroom, 1:1 computer access, iPads) while others have access to little or no technology. This means, students placed at schools with less technology need to use personal cell phones and iPads for the videos and then find a way to upload them to Blackboard. Additionally, as the video assignments require students to not just submit full videos of them teaching but specific, structured clips, students must also edit often longer taped classroom lessons and then pull what is requested. For students with less technology available in their context, this involves finding free editing software to use with cell phone video or video recorded from personal tablets.
Another challenge faced with the technology is that some countries ban certain platforms and in others consistency is an issue. For example, China bans all Google tools, Skype is not always consistent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and recently there has been no access to Vimeo in Singapore. This requires us to be flexible. Also, we often find out about these difficulties from students on-ground. We are unable to require students to use a specific platform as the students go to different countries and we do not always know if they will have access to that specific platform while there. Therefore, students are left to find what platform works best for them for both communication with professors during the course and also for assignments.
Another challenge we face with the videos is the amount of time required to upload them to Blackboard. Some countries control Internet speed and access times. China has been an issue as we have seen upload times in excess of 40 hours for a 20 minute video. Due to the size of the videos, this creates challenges for the students as some must go to an Internet Café in order to upload the videos to Blackboard. Obviously, spending 40 hours at an Internet Café is not reasonable.
Other challenges with the course involve the workload and interaction with the mentor teachers. Traditional student teachers and their mentor teachers are required to complete 29 documents while OTJs are required to complete 27 documents. While these documents provide useful information and evaluation of the candidates, the number of required documents is overwhelming. The mentor teachers are often a classroom teacher within the same school. They are often teaching at the same time as the OTJ candidate so scheduling times to conduct observations can be challenging. In addition, the mentor teachers do not always respond to requests for additional information by the university supervisor. This could be due to Internet access or the overwhelming workload they already face.
The last challenge involves the instability of various countries. These candidates have faced political unrest, riots, floods, and power outages that have resulted in closed schools. These events often result in students submitting assignments and videos late.
Outcomes
Despite these challenges, the course offers many positive outcomes. Generally, teacher candidates perceive the student teaching experience positively and almost all candidates that were not in an OTJ position secured one by the following academic year. For those in OTJ positions, some move to other international positions or extend their current contracts. Many aspire to move forward in the world of international schools.
Some teacher candidates decide to continue their education and take on the challenge of additional coursework or even seek an additional licensure. An example of this is our PK-6 students choosing to take the Praxis ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) examination after completing EDCI 790 to add the ESOL license. Many of the EDCI 790 students see that that is a need for teachers with English as a Second Language training in the international school system as schools often have students from many different countries and students vary in their level of English proficiency. Many of our teacher candidates become lifelong learners.
Teacher candidates often cite the experience they have gained not only in the classroom but also with intercultural education and international mindedness. They feel well prepared to teach in international schools and are ready to meet the challenge they will face teaching in various countries.
Next Steps
We are in the process of redesigning the EDCI 790 course. We are looking at the number of documents required and eliminating those that are not necessary or required for licensure by the state. The new course will be offered in the Fall of 2018 to traditional student teachers and OTJ students. These changes will be discussed during the presentation.
Goals of this Presentation
The following goals are set for this presentation:
- To present EDCI 790 in its current and revised form in order to obtain feedback from others offering similar courses.
- To discuss ways to address the various challenges outlined in this paper.
- To offer advice to those interested in offering an international student teaching experience via distance education.