Abstract:

The second decade of the twenty-first century has seen an increasing interest in online instruction. The field of teacher education has not remained alien to this trend. However, when one looks at the literature on online teacher education and sees current practices, one cannot help but wonder how most programs and ideas can be considered effective. In the presenter's experience, and given the binary nature of most learning management systems available today, online teacher education has failed to progress from a transmissive approach to a more interactive one. In this presentation, the author will outline how existing technologies can be adapted in order to provide suitable mediation of professional learning. In order to do so, the presenter will introduce key concepts in Sociocultural Theory and demonstrate how a Backward Design (McThige and Wiggins, 2007) model can be adapted to the design of fruitful online learning experiences. He will then illustrate how his institution has developed a teacher education curriculum around a "Teaching as Design" (Laurillard, 2012) model where opportunities for learning by acquisition, practice, collaboration and creativity are designed. These cater for all learning styles and provide opportunities for learning to happen. According to Vygotsky (1978) is it only when learning happens that the Zone of Proximal Development is created.

The presenter will also introduce the necessary requirements for a true Mediated Learning Experience (Diaz Maggioli, 2013; Feuerstein, 1998) thus helping participants understand the role of the scaffolding they may provide in online situations. Throughout the presentation the author will exemplify his claims with examples from real online courses. The issue of Scaffolding (Bruner and Sherwood, 1976) has been the focus of various contestations. However, when talking about online teaching and learning, and more specifically, teacher education, the construct acquires a major relevance. In keeping with the Sociocultural focus, the presenter will detail forms of scaffolding that have been successfully applied in online courses. Finally, participants will receive extensive handouts detailing a variety of learning and teaching tasks that promote the principles discussed during the presentation.

Keywords:

Mediated Learning Experience, Sociocultural Activity Theory, Vygotsky, Scaffolding, Teacher Education.