Connecting Rural Model Teachers and Prospective Teacher Candidates via Videoconference and Video Recording Technology: A Researcher's Preliminary Findings

Jillian Ardley
East Carolina University

In North Carolina, there is a need to educate and produce more qualified teachers for rural settings. In this session, the participants will witness how one teacher-researcher approached this challenge through videoconference technology and video recordings. Preliminary results will be shared as well as information on developing an effective learning community through tele-education.

Purpose
In (1999) Privateer wrote about the direction education is taking.  Opportunities for real change lie in creating new types of professors, new uses of instructional technology and new kinds of institutions whose continual intellectual self-capitalization continually assures their status as learning organizations (p. 72). What is apparent is that we need to develop new instructional strategies to meet the needs of our students and community. The purpose of this preliminary study therefore was to investigate the use of video conferencing technology and video recordings for field observations. Three criteria were assessed based on the variable of video conferencing technology: (a) the students’ effectiveness (b) the students’ characteristics, and (c) the students’ perceptions. The research team sought to address a multitude of questions regarding the integration of the technology as well as attitudinal questions which allowed students to address their perception of conducting field observations in this manner.

Literature Review
At present, North Carolina and many other states are witnessing growths in the K-12 student population. Such growth is causing a shortage in not only special education but in other categories as basic as birth-kindergarten teachers to science teachers at the high school level (Boe, & Cook, 2006; Ludlow & Lombardi, 1992). In order to entice teachers to counties, beginning teachers are given signing bonuses and a supplement to the North Carolina State standard pay scale. However, rural areas with smaller tax bases such as Lenoir County and other counties along the outer banks cannot match the supplement or bonuses offered by larger counties such as Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg School systems. Consequently, shortages in these and other rural areas are not new and methods to attract teachers which do not totally rely on financial incentives must be researched to attract new teachers to these areas.The literature notes several institutes of higher learning that focus on rural teacher training (Collins, 2000) in the United States. However, many more teacher education programs need to implement such programs that address the teaching requirements of rural schools and permit practicum experiences in such settings prior to student teaching (Collins, 2000). This is especially true since many education programs now require teacher candidates to spend their last two semesters at their assigned student teaching site (Davies, 2006).  Therefore, teacher candidates may miss the opportunity of working with children, families, and educators at rural sites. Consequently, they may not see this as a viable option for future employment. Many schools such as East Carolina University have accepted the challenge of rural placements early on in the teacher education program. However, field placements in rural schools are fraught with many difficulties. Chief among these obstacles is that greater travel time reduces the time available for supervision and/or the number of visits during a term. Other factors are hazardous roads, the inability to cluster student teachers at central sites, complaints from cooperating teachers regarding inadequate supervisory dialogue, and other personal/professional responsibilities required of the faculty supervisors. Add to these factors the rising price of gas and you have a major issue with students resisting placement in sites beyond 15 minutes from their homes or campus. Many researchers believe that distance education is the key to expanding educational opportunities to rural areas (Clarken, 1993 & Jung, L.A., Galyon-Keramidas, C., Collins, B., & Ludlow, B.L. (2006). States such as Georgia (Cosgrove, 1997), Kentucky (Collins, 1997), and North Carolina (Spooner, 1996) are delivering coursework to rural areas via various distance education media. Several methods of supervising student teachers also include videotaping; emailing and, creating a program-specific Web site (Wittenburg & McBride, 1998).  Therefore, distance education technology combined with traditional and non-traditional tools has the capacity to support students in various locations who can not afford the luxury of face to face contact. Although the above techniques can be exceedingly useful in enhancing the on-site visitation of student teachers, they cannot replace actual supervision. A review of the literature revealed a limited use of technology in the observation of prospective teacher candidates. However, there is a growing database of the use of technology with student teachers and supervisors that can help in understanding how to support students who are just entering the teacher education program. For example, Indiana University of Pennsylvania has installed interactive video equipment that connects one school district over 100 miles away to the college classroom, allowing the supervision of up to 24 student teachers (Dudt & Garrett, 1997). Armstrong Atlantic State University in Georgia utilized interactive distance education technologies at a professional development school to expand the time observing student teaching (Cosgrove, 1997). Ohio University (Hillkirk, 1997) established a fiber optic network linking their Thomas C. McCracken College of Education to third grade classrooms at each of three schools. The goal was to create a constructivist curriculum that interactively engages students at the three classrooms. Each classroom contained five student teachers in addition to the cooperating teacher. According to (Fakhry & Dehkordi-Vakil, 2007) students using video recordings helped with visualization and comprehension of techniques in a practicum experience. East Carolina School of Education has also established a technology center to support with video conferencing and other aspects of distance learning. Again, such procedures are encouraging and led the teacher-researcher to ask, Could distance education be implemented in an effective manner with fledglings who desire to be in the teacher education program? Below is a basic description of the study.

Description
This is a pilot research study that examined the integration of video conferencing technology and video recordings to develop new instructional strategies for prospective teacher candidates.  The action research study was implemented to see if videoconferencing and video recordings would be effective tools to note best practices of model teachers in a rural community. The students were selected by enrolling in the practicum course. There wer two sections of the course making one the control group and the other the experimental group.  Mixed methods were used to assess the participant¡¦s understanding of the technology and its impact on their learning. Active stakeholders in this process included but were not limited to the principal, cooperating teachers, and the university supervisor. The technicians at East Carolina University were also active members of the study and supported in the usage and comfort with the technology. Information presented therefore included the perspective of the users at the rural school site and the participants and conveyors of the technology from the university site.

Conclusion
The following conclusions were reached as a result of this study:

• Videoconferencing and recordings when used with prospective teacher candidates can support in the learning of effective practices when mediated by an instructor.

• Videoconferencing and recordings should be used in conjunction with face-to-face meeting to support community building in rural settings.

• Videoconferencing and recordings utilized in the observation process of practicum needs more research to understand it power and limitations.

• Due to the unreliability of certain technologies students must supply a back-up plan for practicum assignments.

References
Boe, EE, & Cook, LH (2006). The chronic and increasing shortage of fully certified teachers in special and general education. Exceptional children. 72(4), 443-460.
Clarken, R. (1993, April). Computer mediated support for student teaching and first year teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA.
Collins, Belva (1997).Training Rural Educators in Kentucky through Distance Learning: A Model with Follow-up Data. Teacher Education and Special
Education. 20 (3), 234-248.
Collins, Timothy (2000).Attracting and retaining teachers in rural areas. ERIC Digest. Cosgrove, Maryellen Perfecting Educational Practice: The Georgia Model. Distance Learning Technology in the Teacher Education Program. (1997).
Davies, Gordon (2006).Setting a Public Agenda for Higher Education in the States: Lessons Learned from the National Collaborative for Higher Education Policy. Higher Education Report. Dec. 2006
Dudt, Kurt, & Garrett, Joyce (1997). Using Video Conferencing To Improve the Supervision of Student Teachers and Pre Student-Teachers. Proteus. 14(1), 22-24.
Fakhry, A., Cooper, S., Slach, N., & Krenz, S. (2007). Video-assisted clinical instruction in dentistry. overview and applications Hillkirk, Keith (1997).Strengths and Challenges of a Rural Professional Development Collaborative. Presentation Report.
Jung, L.A., Galyon-Keramidas, C., Collins, B., & Ludlow, B.L. (2006). Distance education strategies to support practica in rural settings.  Rural Special Education Quarterly, 25(2), 18-24.
Ludlow, Lombardi, (1992). Special education in the year 2000: Current trends and future development. Education and treatment of children. 15(2), 147.
Privateer, Paul M. (1999).Academic technology and the future of higher education . Journal of Higher Education. 70 (1), 60-79.
Spooner, Fred (1996).Personnel Preparation: Where We Have Been and Where We May Be Going in Severe Disabilities.. Teacher Education and Special Education. 19 (3), 231-215.
Wittenburg, DK, & McBride, RE (1998). Enhancing the student teaching experience through internet. Journal of physical education, recreation, and dance. 69, 17-20.