Trainee Teachers’ Perceptions of Online Teaching During Field Experience with Young Children

Author First name, Last name, Institution

Laila Mohebi, Zayed UniversityFollow
Lawrence Meda, Zayed University

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Early Childhood Education Journal

Publication Date

7-14-2021

Abstract

The global pandemic of COVID-19 forced trainee teachers from the United Arab Emirates to have virtual field experiences in the field of early childhood education. The various stakeholders, young children, families, preservice teachers, and university faculty hold different perceptions of online teaching formats. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of trainee teachers and faculty supervisors about online field experiences with young children. The study was done using a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm. Twelve internship students and five supervisors were purposively selected to complete open-ended questionnaires about virtual field experiences. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) integrating technology into lesson planning, (2) meeting challenges to classroom management, and (3) expanding the repertoire of teaching strategies. It is concluded that the virtual field experience was a milestone of achievement for trainee teachers, in terms of the preparation it provided to implement the country’s plan of integrating technology in the curriculum.

ISSN

1573-1707

Publisher

Springer Nature

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Trainee teachers, Online teaching, Virtual field experience, Technology integration, COVID-19

Scopus ID

85118263621

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Bronze: This publication is openly available on the publisher’s website but without an open license

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