![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/files\/2020\/02\/Mursion1BComp.jpg\")
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Story Text” module_class=”aks-mod” _builder_version=”4.4.7″]<\/p>\n
Price, a senior preparing to be an elementary school teacher, said he is student teaching already, but he was still a little nervous before starting his session in the Mursion Lab during winter term 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to settle in pretty quickly and pretend it was real,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that he got to practice a scenario he hadn\u2019t encountered before in the real classroom \u2013 a student interrupting him to insult another student.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic opportunity to practice professional discourse and student engagement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Maria Peterson-Ahmad, professor and special education program coordinator in the Division of Education & Leadership, said the Mursion Lab provides a sophisticated simulation for teacher training because it\u2019s a virtual simulation with avatars, but also has a \u2018human in the loop\u2019 to customize the experience. This means each session can be customized to match the specific scope of the class or individualized skill that teacher candidates need to practice.<\/p>\n
Peterson-Ahmad said students in the special education program, the undergraduate elementary education program and the Master of Arts in Teaching program have used the Mursion Lab, which can use avatars representing elementary, middle and high school students, or even adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call it sandbox teaching. You can customize it to the needs of the person using it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson-Ahmad added that the lab, which opened in 2017 at WOU, was the first of its kind at a university in the Pacific Northwest. She added that the lab gives teachers-in-training a low-stakes way to apply what they are learning to realistic situations.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Image with Caption” module_class=”aks-mod aks-image-Ycaption aks-story-pic” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ animation_style=”fade”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Story Text” module_class=”aks-mod” _builder_version=”4.4.7″]<\/p>\n \u201cIf you make a mistake you can just restart it. You can\u2019t do that with real students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Peterson-Ahmad added that the instructors who use the Mursion Lab with their students often watch as students practice in the space and they can even pause the simulation to give the teacher candidates some coaching. She said this has an advantage over traditional classroom experience because instructors can address things immediately as they happen instead of having to wait until after a lesson.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a benefit to having that layer of practice,\u201d she said. She added that it also has another benefit: it helps teachers-in-training get accustomed to having someone observe and evaluate their work. \u201cGetting used to feedback is powerful because you\u2019re going to have feedback for the rest of your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Brooke Cross, a senior studying to be an elementary teacher who also used the Mursion Lab in Winter of 2020, said she valued using the lab because it simulated students older than the group she student teaches.<\/p>\n She said her session in the lab gave her a chance to apply a lot of the theories she\u2019s been learning in the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are standing there, you get sucked into the screen like you are really there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/files\/2020\/02\/Mursion5Comp.jpg” title_text=”Mursion5Comp” admin_label=”Image without Caption” module_class=”aks-mod aks-story-pic aks-image-Ncaption” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ width=”100%” animation_style=”fade”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/files\/2020\/02\/Mursion6Comp.jpg” title_text=”Mursion6Comp” admin_label=”Image without Caption” module_class=”aks-mod aks-story-pic aks-image-Ncaption” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ width=”100%” animation_style=”fade”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Story Text” module_class=”aks-mod” _builder_version=”4.4.7″]<\/p>\n Peterson-Ahmad said in the long run she thinks the lab may even be a resource for school districts that want to have their teachers do skills training. One example for the collaboration that is possible is a recent partnership with South Medford High School\u2019s pathway to teaching program, which tasked high school students with developing lessons and then teaching them in the virtual classroom.<\/p>\n The Mursion Lab was funded in part by a grant from Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center at the University of Florida. It uses software developed by Mursion, Inc., which develops similar simulation software for other industries, like health care and hospitality.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Related Posts” module_class=”aks-section aks-blog-related-section” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_row module_class=”aks-content-container aks-content-container-row aks-row aks-blog-related-row” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ module_class=”aks-blog-related-col” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_code admin_label=”Related Posts (Heading)” module_class=”aks-mod aks-blog-related-head” _builder_version=”4.4.7″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_code][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”current” use_manual_excerpt=”off” excerpt_length=”0″ show_author=”off” show_date=”off” show_categories=”off” show_excerpt=”off” show_pagination=”off” module_class=”aks-blog-related-mod” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ header_level=”h3″][\/et_pb_blog][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Blog Categories” module_class=”aks-section aks-all-cats-section” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_row module_class=”aks-content-container aks-content-container-row aks-row aks-all-cats-row” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_sidebar area=”et_pb_widget_area_4″ admin_label=”Blog Categories” module_class=”aks-mod aks-all-cats-mod” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”COE Sites Footer” module_class=”aks-full-width aks-coe-footer” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ background_color=”#1f1f1f” locked=”off” global_module=”18810″][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,1_4,1_4,1_4″ make_equal=”on” module_class=”aks-content-container” _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_text admin_label=”COE” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ background_layout=”dark”]<\/p>\n Richard Woodcock Education Center<\/p>\n Phone: <\/strong>(503) 838-8471<\/p>\n Email: <\/strong>education@wou.edu<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.4.7″][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Divisions” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ background_layout=”dark”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.7″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Offices” _builder_version=”4.4.7″ background_layout=”dark”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Jeremiah Price started the simulation, one of the five virtual students complimented him on his sneakers\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[64,55,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-del","category-teacher-licensure"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/education\/files\/2020\/02\/Mursion4Comp.jpg\")
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