A Vision for K-12 Online and Blended Learning in Teacher Education

Charles (Chuck) Hodges and I began this line of inquiry in response to a 2022 special call for papers entitled “A 2025 Vision for Technology and Teacher Education” by the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education.  The editors call was simple.  Given what had happened from 2020 to 2022 in the world and, in particular education, short articles focused on something teacher education could tangibly do to reform by the year 2025.  In response, we put forth two goals and six specific objectives aimed at addressing the challenges in education that surfaced by the pandemic.

1. 1. Scholars need funded efforts to develop promising practices and frameworks that teacher education programs can use and be evaluated against.

      • Validated, research-based standards must be developed.

      • Metrics and instruments must be created or refined to further assess and support growth of pre-service teachers knowledge, skills, and attitudes of teaching in K–12 online and blended learning.

   2. Teacher education programs, specifically for online teaching, need to provide teachers with experience in designing, delivering, and facilitating instruction, as well as learning themselves online.

      • There must be sufficient course work to give pre-service teachers access to knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to K–12 online and blended learning.

      • Teacher candidates should have experiences as online learners.

      • Teacher education programs must include field experiences in online and blended learning.

      • Have accrediting bodies and state agencies require that all pre-service teachers have meaningful and useful preparation to deliver online and blended learning.

This podcast that Chuck created using Google NotebookLM of our 2024 Journal of Technology and Teacher Education article provides a good overview of the issue.