ERIC Number: ED420033
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1997-Dec
Reference Count: N/A
The Role of Hypermedia in a Preservice Education Course.
Hughes, Joan E.; Packard, Becky Wai-Ling; Pearson, P. David
A study examined how the "Reading Classroom Explorer" (RCE, a hypermedia learning environment) might enhance the learning of preservice teacher education students as they prepare to assume internships. RCE is a searchable database of digitized video clips from the Center for the Study of Reading's video series "Exemplary Ways To Teach Reading." Subjects were 13 post-baccalaureate students in a teacher education methods course. Subjects used RCE as one source from a host of possible sources they were encouraged to draw upon in the course. Three paper assignments were central to the course, comparing the use of whole language and skills orientations to teaching reading, management and use of different grouping arrangements, and the awareness and impact of diverse learners on teaching and learning. Data included the paper assignments, interviews, videotaped work sessions, and several surveys that provided information about students' technology and professional backgrounds and their reactions to the hypermedia. Results indicated that preservice teachers used the cases in RCE as an information resource, much like the books they read, lectures they heard in courses, or observations they made. Further research will explore the extent to which teachers who use RCE impact the teaching culture within which they work, and whether RCE benefits users most when used collaboratively toward a course goal. Contains eight references and six tables of data; appendixes contain the classification scheme. (RS)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference (47th, Scottsdale, AZ, December 3-6, 1997).