Preservice teachers' Professional Development in the Context of Heterogeneity Based on Digital Leraning Units

Abstract

This article presents a digital learning concept fostering preservice teachers’ reflective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms. Drawing on findings of educational disparities in the PISA studies, and based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPDE), the digital learning units treat the dimensions heterogeneity of “Gender,” “Cultural Background,” “Socio-economic Background,” “Cognitive-motivational Learning Prerequisites,” and “Disability.” The units were developed and evaluated in university teacher education programs within the project “Level – Lehrkräftebildung vernetzt entwickeln” (Qualitätsof-fensive Lehrerbildung, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Goethe-Universität Frankfurt). Embedded in blended learning scenarios, the digital learning units aim at fostering content knowledge, professional beliefs, and reflection. They allow preservice teachers to work individually based on their level of prior knowledge. The (video-based) tasks encourage a change of perspec-tive and self-reflection with regard to social categorizations. The learning units en-tail working with academic texts and research studies. Peer feedback can be edited digitally and linked to a digital portfolio for the reflection of the learning process. The online format allows teacher trainers to employ the digital learning units across disciplines and phases of initial teacher training. In addition to the basic units, a unit introducing the topic of student heterogeneity was created for students and for teacher trainers, providing insight into the didactic tools and methods used and giving an overview of all units. A formative evaluation with teacher students and
trainers reveals positive results with regard to the applicability of the digital units in teacher educational programs.