Ohio Connections Academy provides authentic virtual experiences for teacher candidates at Miami University
Marie Hanna is the Superintendent of Ohio Connections Academy
(Editor’s note: For many years, K-12 online learning educators and advocates have expressed concern about the lack of focus on digital learning in teacher prep programs. When we heard about an unusual and innovative program linking an online school with teacher candidates, we asked Marie Hanna to tell us—and our readers—more about it.)
At Ohio Connections Academy (OCA), we have always been interested in providing field experiences for teacher candidates. We have had some interactions with colleges that were not comfortable with the idea of virtual teaching and learning. My team and I have encountered this bias from professors as we went through our own masters and doctoral programs.
Our experience changed, however, when a mutual acquaintance introduced me to Dr. Paula Saine from Miami University three years ago. She was very passionate about virtual tutoring and wanted teacher candidates to be more equipped and have the confidence to teach in any classroom space, whether 100% onsite, online, or hybrid. She was ahead of her time in leading the way for teacher candidates to teach and learn in the virtual environment, and knew the impact it would have on teacher candidates and the students they would tutor virtually.
Thus, her college students participated in virtual tutoring and she wrote a book (Virtual Mentoring for K-12 Literacy Instruction, 2018) to share their experiences with others. Currently, Dr. Saine is working with a colleague on developing a Remote Teaching for K12 Certificate that focuses on virtual teaching and learning for undergraduates.
When Dr. Saine and I met, we discussed how empowering it would be to have the teacher candidates from her literacy class engage in remote teaching and learning field experiences with our students at Ohio Connections Academy. In 2019, we piloted a field experience for teacher candidates enrolled in Dr. Saine’s early childhood literacy course. A member of my team, Angela Ferguson, coordinated the program. Then we assigned our select group of third grade students whose diagnostic scores indicated they needed remediation to a “college friend.” OCA teachers worked with the teacher candidates and gave them specific skills and concepts to work with the students. The pilot was very successful! The students very much looked forward to seeing their college friends each week. The college students very much enjoyed their experience with their students. The teacher candidates learned how to use our lesson platform and were able to experience the art and science of teaching in the virtual environment.
The Miami tutors, along with Dr. Saine and Angie, presented at the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA) in Columbus, Ohio in February of 2020. One Miami tutor stated, “After presenting at OCTELA, I gained more confidence in myself and learned the importance of continuing to challenge myself as an educator. It genuinely blows my mind that we were informing our audience on the benefits of virtual learning and it ended up becoming our reality. Our virtual learning experience has certainly shaped me as a teacher today!”
Dr. Saine shared her success with other professors in her department. In doing so, one of her math education colleagues assigned students to be virtual tutors for our high school students.
Our partnership with Miami in the 2020 school year has expanded to include a more rigorous field experience. Not only do teacher candidates in the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Education Program have the opportunity to tutor students in grades 7-12 in all subject areas (language arts, math, science, social studies) but also in foreign language.
The partnership between OCA and Miami University has been mutually beneficial for teacher candidates and our students. The Miami undergraduates learn to use our platforms and became comfortable with the functionality of our technology. They also learn how to apply what they are learning about teaching pedagogy to the virtual environment. Our students really enjoy their interactions with the college students. Clearly, this past year has demonstrated that all teacher candidates should have some experience delivering remote instruction, as the pandemic forced almost all schools into remote learning or hybrid modes.
I hope that our partnership with Miami University can be a model for other virtual schools and universities to provide vital experiences for future teachers.