Date of Award
8-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education and Human Development
Committee Chair/Advisor
Shanna Hirsch
Committee Member
Joe Ryan
Committee Member
Cathy Griffith
Committee Member
Dani Herro
Abstract
New teachers report not feeling prepared to effectively collaborate with other professionals and families; however, collaboration is a large component of their day-to-day work. Thus, there is a need for teacher preparation programs to incorporate instructional methods that provide preservice teachers with opportunities to not only learn about the concept of collaboration but also to put those skills into place prior to entering the classroom. One possible answer to this need is to incorporate practice-based learning. Practice-based learning has been shown to effectively increase skill implementation for instructional and behavior management strategies; however, there is a lack of research regarding the effectiveness of practice-based learning when practicing effective collaborative skills.
The aim of this three-paper dissertation is to better understand how practice-based learning is used to support preservice teachers’ understanding of collaborative skills. A secondary aim is to identify the effectiveness of a specific practice approach, simulated practice. Two experimental design studies were conducted to analyze the effectiveness of role play in comparison to a promising technology tool, mixed-reality simulation. A survey study was also conducted to better understand the current state of preservice teacher coursework and to inform future practice.
The results of this dissertation show that both roleplay and mixed-reality simulation can increase preservice teachers’ knowledge of and confidence in implementing effective collaborative skills. These findings inform future practice and provide insight on how effective collaborative skills can be blended with course content via practice-based learning.
Recommended Citation
Qualls, Logan W., "Collaboration in Action: An Exploration of Collaborative Practice-Based Learning in Perservice Teacher Coursework" (2025). All Dissertations. 3973.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3973
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-3590-6625