Innovative Solutions: Using Mixed Reality Simulation in the Classroom
Teacher educators are exploring creative ways to ensure teacher candidates are ready to meet the needs of diverse students. An innovative response to this challenge is the use of mixed reality simulations (MRS) to provide teacher candidates with more realistic and purposeful practice opportunities. MRS allows candidates to practice essential teacher skills and receive timely feedback from their peers and their instructor. This workshop focuses on the use of MRS as a tool to provide teacher candidates opportunities for purposeful practice addressing a wide variety of teacher behaviors and complex situations. The workshop consists of two sessions. In session one, a panel of faculty members that have used MRS within their coursework will share their own experiences and discuss bridges and barriers to this innovative approach including how to strategically embed MRS within specific courses and across programs. Participants will then have an opportunity to brainstorm how they would use MRS within their course/program and generate possible scenarios. In session two, participants will receive support in finalizing a scenario for implementation, which will be facilitated by BranchED.
Participants will:
Be introduce to Mixed Reality Simulation (MRS) and the impact on teacher practices
Learn from a variety of teacher educators from multiple teacher preparation programs that have used MRS to develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions of pre-service teacher.
Examine where mixed reality simulation may be implemented throughout their curriculum.
Speakers
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Dr. Christian BrachoAssociate Professor, University of La VerneChristian Alejandro Bracho is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education at the University of La Verne. He received his Ph.D. in International Education at New York University and was a high school teacher and teacher trainer for 12 years. His research explores teacher identity, LGBTQ+ communities, nonviolence education, and teacher movements in Mexico.
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Dr. Freda HicksDirector of University Partnerships and Clinical Experience Coordinator, North Carolina Central UniversityFreda Hicks is the Director of University Partnerships and Clinical Experience Coordinator in the School of Education at North Carolina Central University. She also teaches the introductory education class for undergraduate education majors in all disciplines and content areas along with planning professional development for student teaching seminars each semester. Before entering higher education, Freda was an elementary teacher, assistant principal, and principal.
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Dr. Nathan BlomAssistant Professor of Secondary Education, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical UniversityDr. Blom earned Bachelors of Arts in English Literature and Piano Pedagogy from Michigan State University. After briefly teaching middle school English and mathematics, he became a Peace Corps Volunteer, serving for two years in the Himalayas of Nepal. There he taught elementary English, conducted teacher trainings in a village of 100 people, and tried not to get lost in the spectacular mountain ranges. After his Peace Corps service he received Americorps and Peace Corps Fellowships to attend Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City where he simultaneously worked as a full-time teacher and earned his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in English Education. Over his sixteen years of teaching high school English in NYC, he taught a variety of lovely students in a variety of contexts, ranging from a Title I school in Washington Heights to fine arts high schools, including five years at LaGuardia Arts (the Fame high school).
Dr. Blom has published in The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and presented at numerous conferences on multimodality and arts-based instruction as tools for social justice and equity. He is a founding developer and facilitator of Literacy Unbound, a professional development institute at Columbia University for secondary humanities teachers.
