From classroom reality to virtual classroom: the role of teacher-created scripts in the development of classroom simulation technology

This paper describes a specific kind of teacher narrative (the teacher created script) to support the design of a classroom simulation to be used in pre-service teacher education. We intend to share our experiences in exploring and developing the kind of narrative text which can be developed from a large reservoir of ethnographically generated data collected from the teachers and classrooms we have closely observed and documented over the last two decades. In particular, we explore the role which these narratives play within the development of the kind of classroom simulation we have produced. Reflection has long been acknowledged as a useful process for teachers to engage with. Also, the notion of formalising such reflections through writing has been acknowledged as a way to share, refine and articulate teaching practice. As stated by Barth (2001:66) “…with written words come the innermost secrets of schools”. This prototype simulation allows the user to adopt the role of a Kindergarten teacher using a daily literacy teaching episode we refer to as “days of the week” and encourages the user to reflect upon the decisions they make about the organisation and implementation of this recurring teaching experience. The range of options that occur in this simulation stem from the teacher-created script we developed drawing from our own teaching experiences and classroom-based research to shape this virtual classroom

Looking back to look forward: understanding the present by revisiting the past: an Australian perspective

Cambourne and Turbill trace the growth, change and finally marginalisation of progressive approaches to literacy education by examining whole language philosophy in Australia from the 1960s to the present. Using a critical lens, Cambourne and Turbill describe how whole language has been positioned throughout the last nearly 50 years in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Cambourne and Turbill offer a personal history of whole language in Australia and draw connections of the educational changes occurring in their country to other western democracies. Their insights are valuable in order to examine other grass roots programs and to better understand how politics impact educational movements

Simulation technology in pre-service teacher education: \u27Pleasurable learning\u27 to inspire \u27passionate teaching\u27

Reviews of beginning teacher programs over the past eighty years within an Australian context continually identify a number of key skills that are not well developed by traditional pre-service teacher preparation programs. In more recent times the teaching of literacy has been targeted as needing specific attention, especially at the pre-service level. Advances in educational software have demonstrated that it is feasible to create a representation of a real situation through simulation. The authors believe that creating a virtual classroom environment for pre-service teachers to interact with is one way to support them with understanding the theory of literacy learning and the delivery of meaningful literacy classrooms. This paper explores research findings related to the use of web-based simulation technology designed to support pre-service teacher education students\u27 understandings of the teaching of literacy. The prototype version of the software is described with description of the planning, design and research that underpin this. The findings from a case study of one pre- service teacher\u27s interaction with the software are outlined

Incorporating real experience into the development of a classroom-based simulation

This paper reports on the design of an on-line simulation that enhanced preservice teacher practicum experience in the important area of literacy teaching. Research with more than 200 users of the simulation showed that it developed pre-service teacher understanding of complex classroom situations associated with the teaching of literacy by giving them the opportunity to slow down or accelerate classroom events, revisit and reflect on critical decision points and replay events in the light of new understandings. This gave preservice teachers time to think critically about complex teaching situations which relied on the teacher’s ability to tune into children’s experiences, engage with them in dialogue and negotiation as well as utilise a range of indirect instructions such as questioning, modelling and prompting. Preservice teachers reported that their experience with the simulation enabled them to more fully appreciate the impact of subtle changes that experienced teachers made during lessons

Operationalizing nine design elements of authentic learning environments in a classroom-based on-line simulation

Herrington, Oliver and Reeves (2003) assert that many researchers and teachers now accept that well designed multimedia environments provide an alternative to real-life settings without sacrificing the authentic context. Further, researchers report that recent educational software advances have demonstrated that it is feasible to create a motivational simulation that supports pre-service teachers by providing them with tools that allow them to view the effects of their decisions within a virtual classroom context (Aldrich, 2004) However, limited research has been reported on the use of authentic simulations in pre-service teacher education. This paper describes the on-line simulation that we developed to support our first year pre-service teacher education program. We explain how we operationalized the nine design elements of authentic learning environments as reported by Herrington, Oliver and Reeves (2003) as a framework for the design of this software. In addition we describe the teaching and learning experiences incorporated within this virtual classroom and the responses to these experiences form the perspective of the initial users of the simulation

The use of embedded tools and support materials within a classroom simulation to support quality teaching

This paper focuses on the use of embedded tools and support materials within a web-based simulated classroom environment. The developed simulation prototype allows the user to adopt the role of a Kindergarten teacher where they have to “teach” a typical literacy episode that we have called “days of the week”. During this episode the user is asked to make decisions about the organisation of the classroom, management of the classroom, and the teaching and learning experiences to be offered. A key component of this on-line simulation is the incorporation of an embedded tool, referred to as a thinking space, at decisive points. Support materials have also been incorporated throughout the simulation to encourage the user to look at the theory and wider knowledge base around the issues they encounter. These components of the simulation have been developed to encourage users to think more deeply about their role as a classroom teacher. As users make decisions throughout the running time of the simulated classroom episode, they are supported with embedded thinking spaces and regular student updates organised according to the NSW pedagogy model (DET, 2003). We report on the data that we have collected about use of the embedded tools and support materials by a cohort of pre-service teachers

The Use of an On-line Classroom Simulation to Enhance the Decision Making Skills of Beginning Teachers

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The determinants of cluster activities in the Australian wine and tourism industries

This paper discusses wine and tourism clusters and the recent innovation of wine tourism in which businesses operate within both industries. The concept of micro-clusters is examined in terms of trust, networking, collaboration and other activities, all of which are argued to depend on the concepts of game theory and sunk costs. The study involved both interviews and a questionnaire. Conceptual variables are created from the questionnaire responses using factor analysis. The determinants of cluster activities are modelled using regression analysis. The effects of industry, place and respondents' entrepreneurial characteristics are used as exogenous variables. The study finds that industry does seem to be more important than place in the determination of networking and cooperative cluster activities, and that members of the wine tourism industry participate more in these activities than members of the tourism or hospitality industries. The addition of three variables that embody the entrepreneurial characteristics of the respondents approximately doubles the explanatory power of the original models. There is evidence to suggest that cluster activities are idiosyncratic for each industry-place cluster. The effects of firm size on cluster activities are also examined. No evidence is found of cooperative activities depending on cluster size. The main results support the contention that sunk costs are important in the determination of cluster activities