How do you prepare new teachers without access a classroom?
Delivering course materials in a virtual setting comes with plenty of challenges. For those who teach UBC’s Bachelor of Education (BEd) program, the situation is particularly complex. Not only are education faculty shaping the next generation of teachers, they’re preparing them to work in classroom settings, without being able to step into classrooms themselves.
The BEd program, offered by the Faculty of Education’s Teacher Education Office, is an intensive, 11-month teacher preparation program, separated into elementary and secondary cohorts. Students not only graduate with a degree, but also meet the requirements for certification by the BC Ministry of Education. It’s a highly competitive program—and one which has never before been delivered in an online format.
Meeting the pedagogical needs of this year’s cohort of student teachers has required more than a simple shift to online lessons – it has involved a complete rethink of how to effectively deliver the program. For Dr. Andrea Webb, Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Faculty of Education’s Department of Pedagogy and Curriculum, that means a focus on developing new ways of teaching, with a use of online tools to help aid the learning experience, all to support how students teachers are gaining new learning experiences.
Visit UBC Today to read how the Faculty of Education is working to teach and support students remotely.
Through Strategy 11: Education Renewal, the university is committed to sustaining and evolving efforts to support faculty in the ongoing integration of evidence-informed pedagogies into their classrooms, and encouraging innovations that have the potential to improve upon traditional learning approaches in online and blended learning environments.