University of Wyoming College of Education Spring 2018

is a couple of years away. Learn more below about each
approved initiative and the intended effects it will have
on teacher preparation and outreach in Wyoming.
Improving Teacher Preparation Using Virtual Reality
TEI Proposal 2017-01: Avatar Augmented Reality
Simulations was the first TEI proposal to be approved. It was
implemented in College of Education classrooms for the first
time during the spring 2018 semester.
The initiative aims to improve the teaching and classroom
management of new teachers, as well as the collegial
interaction and collaboration between educators through
Mursion mixed reality simulations. Future educators practice
leading a classroom of digital avatars that are being controlled
by a “digital puppeteer” that allows the avatars to behave and
react to the educator candidate and each other in unique ways
during the training sessions. No two sessions are ever the same.
This experience allows pre-service teachers to practice
new techniques, hone their skills and receive feedback from
College of Education faculty in a controlled environment.
The avatars provide a realistic teaching experience while not
affecting the learning outcomes of real students.
Qualified Candidates and Mentorship Promote
Educator Success in UW-E4 Program
The UW-E4 program was initiated with the approval of
TEI Proposal 2017-05: Enterprise for Elevating Educational
Excellence - UW-E4. This innovative program seeks to
cultivate promising high school students into well-prepared
teachers. This innovation came about from the need to attract
Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy
Education and Professor, Cynthia Brock, mentors Ph.D. student Adeline Borti.
promising students who may pursue other careers instead
of education, the need to provide candidates a practice-rich
preparation experience, as well as the need to provide a
network to support new teachers entering the profession.
Wyoming Educators Rising chapters will be created in
high schools across the state to engage promising students
in experiences and learning modules that provide them
meaningful experiences on what it feels like to be an educator.
Top high school students would be selected to be UW-E4
Fellows and would be exposed to education professions
through the extensive online modules and resources provided
by Educators Rising and during E4 Summer Institutes held
on the UW campus in Laramie. Program Fellows would also
be required to take courses during high school that count for
college credit so they can enter UW as rising sophomores.
Once enrolling at UW, educator candidates would not be
allowed to declare a specialization until they have completed
clinical observations in all grade levels and content areas.
This aspect of the E4 model provides candidates with guided
observation experiences in all fields so they can make an
informed decision when declaring a specialization, including
knowledge of the greatest supply and demand needs in
Wyoming schools. Traditional courses at UW would be
replaced by modules that candidates can complete at their
own pace.
E4 Fellows will gain student-teaching experience through a
residency for the entire duration of their final academic year at
UW, in contrast to UW’s typical student teaching experiences
that occur only in the spring semester. After graduation, if
hired by a Wyoming school, E4 Fellows will take part in a
four-year professional induction and mentorship program to
ensure they continue to receive support and guidance as they
begin their careers.
Watts has been working to start Educators Rising chapters
in schools across the state during the spring 2018 semester.
The first high school students from the chapters are expected
to attend the inaugural E4 Summer Institute in 2019. The first
group of students to complete the entire fellowship will not
finish the induction and mentorship portion of the program
until 2028.
Instilling Ethical Behavior into our Graduates
Ethics are an important part of any functioning society or
professional field. Instilling ethical behavior into educator
candidates helps to ensure children can learn in a safe and
morally conscious environment. TEI Proposal 2017-09:
Ethical Educator Program, approved in November 2017,
aims to embed professional ethics development throughout
the teacher preparation curriculum at UW.
Professor of Elementary & Early Childhood Education, Michelle Buchanan,
works with a young student
This approach will ingrain candidates with a sense of how
to best mitigate risk when they are confronted with an ethical
dilemma. Candidates gain a deeper understanding with this
method in contrast to a model that includes only a single
course in professional ethics.
The ethics strand in the curriculum will incorporate
elements of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators,
developed by the National Association of State Directors
of Teacher Education and Certification.
Pre-service teachers will be immersed with ethics through
case studies embedded into coursework and by completing
the ProEthica® program. This modular online training
program presents real-life ethical challenges a teacher
candidate must solve through videos, simulations and
activities. Access to this program has been funded by TEI.
Ethics will also be embedded into the student-teaching
assessment pre-service teachers must undergo. Teacher
candidates will be asked to reflect on the ethical dilemmas
they experienced while student teaching and how they
navigated those situations based on their training.
Outcomes Data to Guide Innovation at UW College
of Education
Innovation should always be informed by valid, reliable,
meaningful data. A recent national analysis showed that
educator preparation programs lack sufficient data to inform
improvements and innovation.
The approval of TEI Proposal 2017-12: Common
Indicator Set, put the wheels in motion for UW to help solve
this problem by joining the Deans for Impact Common
Indicators System, a national consortium of educator
preparation programs which will collect and analyze data
elements in order to drive innovation in the field.
This innovation will allow the College of Education to
guide its decisions on program improvement based on data
that has been systematically gathered, analyzed and can be
compared to other member institutions.
The college will launch a search for a data scientist as part
of a UW data science cluster hire. This new full-time position
will oversee the implementation of the Common Indicators
System and other assessments related to continuous program
improvement and the implementation of approved TEI
innovations. TEI will provide funding to support the work
of the newly hired data scientist, including necessary any parttime
personnel.
Equipped with good data and the new data scientist, the
college will be poised to make necessary improvements to
programs in a timely manner in order to better serve the state
of Wyoming. It will also allow for the continuous assessment
of the value TEI innovations provide as they are implemented
and integrated into the current programs.
Professional Development Options Improve Skills
of Early Childhood Educators
In Wyoming, it can be geographically difficult for pre-service
early childhood educators to gain professional experiences.
It can also be equally as hard for seasoned professionals in
early childhood to participate in professional development
opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills. TEI
Proposal 2017-08: Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach
Network aims to expand the field placement options and
professional development opportunities for early childhood
educators, in addition to providing an early childhood
education undergraduate degree at UW.
This innovation will create the Wyoming Early Childhood
Outreach Network (WyECON) to act as an organizing
body to provide high-quality field experience options for
pre-service teachers and to make existing professional
development opportunities available to all early childhood
educators, regardless of their geographic location. These
opportunities will be conducted through a statewide network
of community hubs where early childhood education
professionals will feel free to gain new techniques and openly
discuss their needs and challenges with peers.
The development of an early childhood undergraduate
degree will be explored to provide a pathway for educators
to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming.
If this degree program is developed, WyECON participants
would be able to complete professional development modules
to earn credit toward their degrees at UW.
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