Pre-service teachers online practicum during the pandemic

• Main Authors: Ugalingan, Gina B., Edjan, Dianne B., Valdez, Paolo Niño M.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Student teaching—Philippines; Student teachers—Philippines; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- —Influence; Teacher Education and Professional Development
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/11182
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Covid-19 pandemic posited the challenging task of providing the pre-service teachers (PSTs) the opportunity to render teacher-training hours in actual classrooms. Their traditional face-to-face practicum teaching experience on their assigned partner public school was halted due to the imposed quarantine especially on the basic education since March 2020. As an intervention, the online tutorial session was implemented to serve as the practicum teaching experience of six (6) PSTs major in English from a private university in Manila. This study examined the PSTs’ experiences by collecting and analyzing their reflections. Results showed that despite the numerous challenges like data privacy, administrative protocols and technical limitations, the implementation of online tutorials paved the way for the PSTs to accomplish their remaining six- unit course. The results showed that they encountered different factors affecting their positive and negative practicum experiences in the online setting. It was revealed that their positive experiences were related to their capacity to adjust, accessibility of information, availability of online tools and course materials and flexibility of video conferencing applications. On the other hand, their negative experiences were related to the limitations of online communication, lack of knowledge in the subject matter, lack of time management and technical difficulties.