Babiuk, Mweti, & Yoon Chat Rooms and Preservice Teachers

Babiuk, G., Mweti, C., & Yoon, J. (2004). Effects of using a chat room in communicating during pre-service teachers practicum. Journal of interactive instruction development, pp. 12-17.

*** These were methods professors not officially assigned to the role of university supervisor. They created a chat room to support the implementation of the methods coursework into the field experience, and they were not that successful as the chat room was mandated and PSTs didn’t necessarily find it that useful and they didn’t feel comfortable sharing.

Summary: This study used surveys and elf-efficacy tests with the pre-service teachers (PST) and interviews with their professors/supervisors to measure the effects of the use of this chat room on the PST development and the improvement of the PST’s performance in the classroom. They also wanted to provide recommendations for future use of chat rooms in PST supervision.

Key Words: program evaluation, chat room, social nature of learning, technical issues, timely feedback, practical conversations

Conceptual Framework: None

Method: Mixed methods using surveys, self-efficacy tests, interviews

Participants: 31 undergraduate seniors, 3 methods course instructors