Home > Journals > ALJSR > Vol. 4 (2016)
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine if offering a virtual clinical-based practice would affect teacher candidates’ level of confidence in teaching diverse students. During 2012-2014, data were collected using a pre- and post-Likert scale questionnaire. A paired two sample t-test was utilized to determine if there was a significant difference in mean scores from the pre- to the postquestionnaire. Increases were found in all questionnaire items with five of the items showing a significant increase at the α=.01 level. The results suggest that a virtual clinical-based practice may provide an authentic experience for teacher candidates, may lead teacher candidates to be become more aware and take a positive approach to students’ differences, and that the teacher candidates’ comfort level with unfamiliar situations posed by students from diverse backgrounds may increase. A future implication is that colleges of education may want to consider adding a virtual clinical-based practice to existing diversity education classes. However, more research needs to be conducted to determine if virtual clinical-based practices are equal to or better than on-site clinical-based practices in an attempt to increase teacher candidates’ levels of confidence in teaching diverse students.
Recommended Citation
Gottschalk, Shelby; Hake, Megan M.; and Cook-Benjamin, Lori
(2016)
"A Diverse Clinical-Based Practice
in Teacher Education,"
Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research: Vol. 4, Article 3.
DOI: 10.58809/XFFH7836
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/aljsr/vol4/iss1/3
