Teacher Education; Teacher Collaboration IDENTIFIERS Self Reflection

This paper describes a qualitative study exploring the efficacy of using selected multimedia technologies to engage preservice and practicing teachers in critical dialogue. Visual representations, such as 360 degree panoramic views of classrooms hyperlinked to text descriptions, audio clips, and video of learning environments are used as anchor points for discussion and dialogue between preservice teachers, practicing teachers in a local K-12 district, and university faculty. Critical ethnographic constructs in the study are used to engage the visual, textual, and aural material and also used to elicit responses, critique, and discussion about real classroom environments through web-based communication. Critical theoretical frameworks, developed by the university candidates, are validated against their discovery of classroom realities in the context of field experiences, and thus provide avenues for phenomenological inquiry. As one result, university preservice candidates learn to creatively produce and use multimedia materials an