New lab allows education students to teach virtual classroom of avatars

Education majors at the University of Maine will soon have the opportunity to teach in front of a virtual classroom of avatars in preparation for doing their student teaching in Maine schools.

The new lab will enable students in UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development to teach five avatars controlled by professional technicians and actors in a classroom simulation, allowing them to better hone their skills and become more confident teachers.

TeachLivE is a mixed-reality teaching environment that supports teacher practice in classroom management, methods and content. It provides preservice and in-service teachers the opportunity to learn new skills without placing students at risk during the learning process.

The program was developed by education and computer science faculty at the University of Central Florida (UCF) with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

UMaine’s TeachLivE Lab is expected to open in September and will be used with three undergraduate courses in the fall. The college plans to expand the lab’s use in the coming semesters and would like to hold open houses, visits and meetings for those who want to learn more about the simulation’s potential.

Susan Gardner, interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development, says the low-risk environment provides a safe space to make errors and learn.

“It provides our preservice teachers, who may not have had the opportunity to teach before, with a low-risk laboratory environment in which to experiment with different teaching techniques and to try on some of the theoretical pieces they are learning about in classes,” Gardner says.

Unlike a classroom with real children, the simulations can be “paused” and “rewound” to allow for feedback and a chance to try different techniques, she says.

“Research with TeachLivE has found that as little as three, 10-minute sessions can change teaching behaviors,” Gardner says.

The lab in Shibles Hall will consist of a large display with a computer used to interact with the TeachLivE engineers who run the simulation. A camera and microphone will connect the educator to the interactor, or actor, who portrays the voices and mannerisms of the avatars who have distinct personalities and behaviors, as well as a range of compliance levels. The program also has an adult avatar for parent-teacher conference simulations.

TeachLivE engineers and interactors are given lesson plans and educational objectives before each simulation for a tailored learning experience.

Additional seating will be available in the lab to allow classmates and teachers to observe the simulation and provide feedback on the session.

The idea for bringing TeachLivE to the College of Education and Human Development came after Mary Mahoney-O’Neil, the college’s assistant dean for academic services, attended a conference where she learned about the technology. After visiting UCF to see a demonstration and the program’s potential, she brought the idea back to UMaine, which will be the first college of education in northern New England to use the technology.

“The opportunity for learning is limitless,” Mahoney-O’Neil says of the program.

College officials learned more about the program, including its research possibilities, at the TeachLivE conference at UCF in June.

“We think there is a lot of amazing potential for some groundbreaking research,” Gardner says, citing research that is being produced related to the social skills of autistic children after interacting with the avatars.

The program, which started with 10 data sites in 2011, has been used by about 10,000 educators and is now being implemented at about 75 educational sites around the United States including higher education institutions, school districts and charter schools, according to Carrie Straub, executive director of educational programs and research at Mursion, Inc.

TeachLivE is administered by Mursion, a company that provides virtual training environments where professionals practice and master the interpersonal skills they need to be effective in their career. Working closely with UCF researchers, Mursion is expanding the program as well as participating in research and development efforts.

Mursion also is working with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to create and test licensure exams for educators using TeachLivE, Straub says.

More about TeachLivE is online.

Contact: Elyse Kahl, 207.581.3747