special education programs

Real-time feedback is part of a holistic approach to helping new teachers succeed

Sarah Holland — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:13:51 +0000

Real-time feedback is part of a holistic approach to helping new teachers succeed Sarah Holland Mon, 11/18/2024 - 14:13

When you think of uses for bug-in-ear technology, futuristic communications or covert operations are probably the first to come to mind. Teaching is almost certainly not the first, or second, or perhaps not even the hundredth thing.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

But at ��AV, faculty members are always looking for unique approaches and innovative solutions to challenges. Challenges like sharing real-time feedback with education interns so they can best serve their students.

Supported by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), the Dynamic Coaching Outreach Program in Special Education: General Curriculum (DCOP) through the College of Education and Human Development and the Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities helps facilitate a “more dynamic coaching and feedback cycle” throughout the teaching internship experience through the use of technologies like bug-in-ear, video conferencing, and more. Specifically, the program supports those interns pursuing their master of education (MEd) in special education.

The special education graduate students have different needs than other MEd students, in that they are often working full-time in the classroom with a provisional license while completing their studies. Because they are provisionally licensed, they do not have mentor teachers in the classroom with them as traditional, pre-service interns do; they rely more on university supervisors during their internship to give feedback. DCOP was designed to provide new pathways for that feedback in order to address these unique needs.

When the program was originally developed in 2012, it was almost exclusively about the use of bug-in-ear technology to provide immediate live feedback to special education teacher interns in the classroom. In the past five years, the program has expanded into a three-pronged approach: using technology to enhance supervision, developing a novel eCoaching process, and incorporating professional development for both interns and supervisors.

“The eCoaching model takes a nonevaluative approach,” explained Kelley Regan, professor of education and the principal investigator (PI) on the VDOE grant. “It’s encouraging, supportive, and flexible.”

The goal of an internship for any teacher is to have the opportunity to practice what they’ve learned in a live classroom environment. ECoaching has the additional benefit of more structured feedback loops from supervisors to interns to provide high-quality and more instantaneous feedback at a much greater frequency.

“You can observe a classroom over Zoom, then immediately send an email with feedback, for example,” Kristen O’Brien, associate professor of special education and co-PI, said.

But as Peggy Weiss, associate professor and co-PI, explains, it’s not just about the technology: “It’s about how they use the technology to support teacher interns in reaching the goals established with their supervisors.”

And sometimes, the most valuable techniques are the simplest. Cheryl Temple, one of the supervisors in the program, once had two interns in different schools facing the same challenges in their classroom. A facilitated video call with the three of them gave the interns an opportunity to learn from each other and brainstorm possible solutions.

Shilpi Patel, adjunct professor at George Mason and internship supervisor for DCOP, utilizes weekly virtual eCoaching sessions to provide continuous nonevaluative feedback, reflection, and goal setting for her interns. For two of her interns, she used data from classroom observations to track their progress in implementing a behavior management system; both showed marked improvement.

From left to right: Kristen O'Brien; Margaret Weiss; and Kelley S. Regan. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

“Beginning teachers enter one of the few professions where they are expected to perform at the same level as experienced veterans from the very start,” Patel said. “ECoaching provides essential support for novice teachers, helping them refine their instructional practices and positively influence student achievement. And it has consistently proven to be a powerful method for enhancing teacher efficacy.”

And that efficacy could be a key to keeping teachers in the classrooms. As school districts continue to grapple with teacher retention, self-efficacy and perseverance are, according to associate professor Pam Baker and co-PI, key ways to improve retention rates.

For Susan Jennings, MEd ‘23, a learning disabilities teacher at Herndon High School, that sense of confidence and self-efficacy were two of the greatest outcomes of her internship experience. When asked what she recalls as being the most helpful part of the internship, it wasn’t the technology itself, but how Patel, her internship supervisor, utilized it to give Jennings the tools she needed to succeed.

“I continue to use many of the strategies Ms. Patel shared for scaffolding lessons for learners with disabilities in my classroom,” she said, “including the lesson planning template for more engaging learner-centered lessons.”

At the end of the day, DCOP demonstrates that it’s not just about the technology: it’s the human on the other side providing the support and investment in growth that helps these teachers succeed.

“Our coaches prepare our interns to be self-reflective in developing strategies for growth and overcoming challenges,” said Regan. “It equips them to be successful when that coach is no longer in their ear.”

Discover more through the MEd in Special Education

Topics

Campus News

College of Education and Human Development

Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities

special education programs

Virginia Department of Education

Mason’s online master’s programs rise in U.S. News rankings

Melanie Balog — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 10:00:06 +0000

Mason’s online master’s programs rise in U.S. News rankings Melanie Balog Tue, 01/14/2020 - 05:00

��AV has some of the nation’s top online programs as evaluated by U.S. News & World Report in its just-released 2020 rankings, with seven programs in the top 50 and several making significant gains over last year.

Mason has seven programs ranked in the top 50 of U.S. News & World Report 2020 online program rankings. File photo/Creative Services

Mason’s special education master’s program is ranked 10th, up from 16th last year. Its business non-MBA master’s program in accounting is ranked 19th nationally, up from 39th last year and 56th in 2018, and the computer information technology master’s program, at No. 24, is ranked in the top 25 for the third consecutive year.

“Online programs are now mainstream,” said Michelle Marks, Mason’s vice president for academic innovation and new ventures. “Students across the country are increasingly choosing online. Rankings like these are indicators that Mason’s programs are strong, and we are on the right path.”

According to its website, U.S. News ranks programs in five general categories: student engagement, faculty credentials and training, services and technologies that allow students greater flexibility to take classes and labs from a distance, student excellence, and a survey of “high-ranking academic officials.”

Other highly ranked Mason master’s programs are industrial/systems engineering (12th and tied with the University of Virginia, Clemson and UCLA), education curriculum and instruction (9th), education administration (11th), education (48th), and engineering (65th).

“The rankings reflect the hard work of our faculty to develop programs that are of high quality and meet the needs of our students and prepare them for success in the classroom while also acquiring the skills for success in in some of the most important fields in education today,” said Mark Ginsberg, dean of Mason’s College of Education and Human Development.

The program making the biggest move is Mason’s online MBA, which is ranked 123rd of 335 programs evaluated after being unranked last year.

“The online option of our MBA is only in its second year, so it’s fantastic we jumped into the U.S. News rankings at No. 123,” said Maury Peiperl, dean of Mason’s School of Business. “Our online MBA offers an identical curriculum to our in-class MBA, which U.S. News ranks 32nd among part-time MBAs. There are many ways students can achieve their academic and professional goals. The rankings demonstrate our commitment, and that of our outstanding faculty and staff, to deliver high-quality programs in formats that are flexible and convenient.”