School of Education

Teaching Philosophy

Our teacher preparation programs provide all first-year students with Surface Pro tablet for a small fee when they enroll in the program. The tablets come with a stylus, provide access to Microsoft Office 365 Cloud and Desktop Applications such as Outlook Email, Word and Teams. Throughout the coursework, students in our teacher preparation programs (BA and MAT), acquire knowledge about the software programs, and develop skills to design lessons and deliver content, collaborate and communicate with each other seamlessly in person and online.

Programs Across the Curriculum

Webster’ teacher preparation programs have been using features, functions and data analytics from educational software programs such as VEO (Video-Enhanced Observation) and Mursion, a virtual teaching simulation to document teacher’s classroom presence and to collaborate in a community of critical friends for their teaching professions. These technologies are used in a micro-teaching lesson study model facilitated by a University instructor working with small groups of teacher candidates. This forms a trusting "community of practice" due to an interactive and ongoing exchange of information and feedback among group members.

VEO is a software that allows video footage to be uploaded and examined systematically using “tag sets” that are built around various teaching behaviors to be examined. A tag session yields data about the demonstration (or lack thereof) of various tags in the tag set, and allows an individual to pinpoint specific teaching behaviors to improve.

Mursion is a simulation software that allows teacher candidates to participate in various teaching simulations in a virtual classroom with a virtual group of student avatars being “driven” by a trained simulation specialist. Small group simulations allow for a more focused experience in the simulator for an individual student. Consequently, a trusting relationship is built among teacher candidates as a cohort with the help of Webster University field experience program supervisors who are appointed to work closely with these teachers in training. This trust is established due to an interactive and ongoing exchange of information among members of this teaching community, providing a shared experience for their teaching practices. 

Teaching Approaches

Testimonial

“The interactions I had with VEO and Mursion at Webster University greatly impacted how I teach today. VEO taught me to be reflective, analytical and responsive to how I previously taught, and use this information to improve it in the future. Mursion taught me to be prepared to teach a lesson under any circumstances with a diverse student populous.”

Kayla Martin

BA Education - Secondary Mathematics; BS Mathematics, '21

Webster University's Department of Teacher Education was awarded the 2022 Frank Murray Award from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), and is the only school in the state of Missouri to receive this award. 

Faculty and Staff Voices

Basiyr Rodney, EdD, Chair of the Department of Teacher Education

“This external recognition proves to others what we already knew. When we genuinely trust and support each other, we can do tremendous things. The best is yet to come!”

Stephanie Mahfood, PhD, Interim Dean

“I'm pleased our accreditors have recognized the ongoing collaborative effort, reflection and adjustment this requires. Our goal is to prepare educators who are able to do the same kind of work for the students they will teach."

Nicole Lee-Johnson, PhD, Director of the EdD Program

“I am very excited about us winning this award. It’s inspiring and motivating when we see the 'we' in the picture for celebrating the award.”