The College of Education is set to implement an “augmented reality” program that will fully immerse students within the college in digital classrooms. The program, referred to as the Mursion system, will be used in addition to student teaching to provide education majors with opportunities to experience the teaching process first-hand.
Dr. Rebecca Watts, Executive Director of the Trustees Education Initiative, said that the Mursion system will start upon faculty completion of trainings.
“Faculty in the College of Education will be completing training in the next couple weeks and begin using the augmented reality experiences in their courses after they have completed their training,” she said.
Watts said extensive research has gone into planning for the program.
“Significant research supports the use of augmented reality to simulate teaching experiences as a component of professional educator preparation,” she said. “Please see the extensive Literature Citations and Summary of Literature Review on Pages 12 through 13 of the proposal.”
Watts said that the program will require annual costs, but will be largely covered by grant money.
“The program will cost: $68,280 in 2017 to 2018; $70,400 in and $67,900 in 2019 to 2020,” she said. “The Trustees Education Initiative has received funding from multiple sources, the first of which is a five-year, $5 million grant from the Daniels Fund.”
Derek Allison, a senior majoring in secondary education, said that he is supportive the program and looks forward to students being able to experience education theory in action.
“I support this: In the College of Education, we spend a great deal of time on the theory of education,” he said. “Theory is all well and good, but it is not strictly followed when put into practice.”
Allison said that his personal experience within the college has shaped his opinion on such a program.
“When considering my experience in the CoE, I am continually reminded of something President Eisenhower said with regard to planning for battle which I think applies to planning to teach young people: ‘Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable,’” he said. “Other than the teaching practicum very late in the Teacher Education program, we have no real world experience from the teacher’s perspective in a classroom provided by UW.”
Allison said that he has no substantial concerns regarding the program.
“There may be concerns regarding the cost of this program; however, I have none,” he said.
He also said that the nature of population spread in Wyoming calls for such a program.
“Laramie is small and relatively isolated. We only have a few schools, fewer still when students are divided into elementary and secondary education where we could possibly observe or co-teach,” he said. “Nearby Cheyenne with more opportunities is expensive and time-consuming for a student to visit.”
Watts said that the main goal of the program is to provide hands-on opportunities for future teachers, but will not replace student teaching.
“The main goal of the program is to provide educator candidates early experiences in practicing their teaching and classroom management skills,” she said. “It will provide educator candidates (college students preparing to be teachers) the opportunity to apply the theories they learn in their classes before they apply those theories as student teachers in the final year of their college program.”
