Does Online Teacher Training Work?

We don’t know. What we do know is that in 2010 the top six degree-granting institutions awarding bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education were online universities. It seems logical that there are even more students in these programs today. According to an article by Sarah Butrymowicz in The Heckinger Report, the main components of online teacher training—textbooks, observations, student teaching—are the same as traditional teacher education programs. Professor Lorraine Leavitt, who has taught online courses and offline courses, likens online teacher education to the “Wild West” because, she says, “We’re at the beginning of online instruction.” Leavitt understands that technical problems can often hamper online instruction and believes that classes need to be more interactive with excellent instructors modeling good teaching. C. Emily Feistritzer, president of the National Center for Educational Information, believes that online programs haven’t yet “capitalized on the possibilities for providing a superior pathway to teaching.”  While online programs offer convenience for pre-service and in-service students and educators, educational leaders worry about the lack of face-to-face time with other students and the instructor—interaction that could help them prepare for the face-to-face situation in most of today’s classrooms.  The addition of more face-to-face chat time and video components along with the solving of technical problems will propel online teacher education forward.  The same could be said for traditional courses which would also benefit from online interaction.