Conference Agenda

Educators often struggle to provide pre‑service teachers with opportunities to practise theoretical knowledge in realistic situations (Chernikova et al, 2020). Although many teacher education systems strive to integrate theoretical and practical components, OECD (2013). Analyses show considerable variation in how practicum is structured and implemented across and within European countries. Pre‑service teachers should be able to practise essential teaching skills; the amount and structure of practicum vary considerably both between European universities and within universities in individual countries. This inconsistency highlights a growing need for alternative and complementary formats that allow students to develop classroom leadership in a more equitable, structured and pedagogically meaningful way (OECD, 2013).

The aim of this scoping review is to map studies focused on virtual learning environments and simulation- based training in teacher education with a focus on instruction to enhance pupils’ writing abilities. To address the aim, one of the research questions explored in the study is:

What characterizes previous research on simulation in teacher education?

Increasingly virtual learning environments and simulations have thus become central tools in teacher education (McGarr, 2020; Piro & O’Callaghan, 2019). By enabling interaction with avatars representing pupils in scenarios that reflect real classroom dynamics, simulations provide a structured way for students to gain experience without the ethical constraints of practising on real pupils. These environments can operate asynchronously or synchronously, and authenticity may be enhanced through a Human in the Loop (HIL) model in which an operator controls the avatars in real time, allowing for spontaneous and unpredictable interactions that mirror genuine classroom behaviour (Howell & Mikeska 2021).

Piro and O’Callaghan (2019) highlights how simulations support students’ progression from a limiting form of learning—where they oscillate between old and new knowledge—to a more stable, pre‑professional form of learning. Because this process differs between individuals, simulations sometimes need to be adapted to the student’s current stage of development. Also, Howell and Mikeska (2021) outline the reflection as essential for this learning to be effective, and group‑based reflection has been shown to promote deeper development of leadership skills than individual reflection. Importantly, such reflection must focus on the student’s didactic choices rather than solely on the technical reactions of the avatars, ensuring that the learning remains pedagogically grounded.

Simulations also provide a safe environment as Cohen et al (2020) highlights in their study in which students can take risks, experiment with alternative strategies and make mistakes without consequences for actual pupils. However, researchers emphasize that simulations should not prioritise technical realism above pedagogical intention. Instead, they must be designed to reflect the diversity of real classrooms to avoid reinforcing stereotypes and narrow representations of pupils.

Universities have therefore begun to explore how virtual environments might support pre‑service teachers in practising classroom leadership before entering school‑based placements. Samuelsson, Samuelsson and Thorsten (2021) investigated how simulated classroom environments can offer teacher students opportunities to develop leadership skills. Their study demonstrated that virtual environments, particularly those that allow interaction with student avatars, help students understand how theoretical knowledge intersects with practical decision‑making in classroom situations. Participants reported feeling more prepared and confident before undertaking their school‑based practicum, suggesting that virtual environments can serve as a vital bridge between coursework and practice.

Taken together, the literature indicates that combining theoretical knowledge with opportunities to practise in virtual simulations offers significant benefits for pre‑service teachers. Virtual environments complement traditional practicum by providing equitable experiences in classroom leadership and creating space for reflection, didactic decision‑making and the development of essential competencies needed to create structured, motivating and inclusive learning environments in future teaching practice (Cohen et al 2020; Howell & Mikeska 2021).

The persistent gap between the theoretical knowledge acquired at academic institutions and its practical application in the field remains a fundamental challenge in teacher training. The teacher educator serves as the critical mediator in this process and constitutes a vital bridge between theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the classroom (Fridman and Aaronson, 2025). By virtue of their role, teacher educator must possess a broad theoretical foundation and assist the student via a process of reflection and integrative connection between the experiences in the field and the pedagogical principles being taught (Shavit-Miller et al., 2022).

To facilitate an effective reflective process, teacher training often employs systematic frameworks, such as the Korthagen's ALACT model. This model requires the pre-service teacher to link classroom actions (stages 1–2) to an awareness of essential aspects, personal skills, and perceptions (stage 3), before formulating theory-based alternative actions (stage 4). However, for this process to be fully realized, there is a need for broad and immediate access to a variety of pedagogical and didactic theories that can illuminate the event from multiple perspectives (Korthagen, 2004).

The challenge lies in the fact that the breadth and depth of a teacher educator's theoretical knowledge is limited, as they are not necessarily an expert in every pedagogical discipline as many teacher educators have emerged from the education system after many years of teaching in a limited number of fields or disciplines. In this context, Orland-Barak's (2005) concept of 'lost in translation' is relevant to examining the lack of a dedicated academic background for the educational role; the lack of an appropriate theoretical foundation may limit the ability of these leaders to provide reflective feedback grounded in a wide range of perspectives and approaches. In recent years, there has been a growing understanding that the teacher educator, as someone entrusted with training the future generation of teachers, must himself undergo specialized professionalization and training processes. This training is seen as essential to fulfilling his role and aims to expand his teaching repertoire while deepening his professional identity. It is appropriate that these processes take place in a supportive environment close to the authentic teaching context, while relying on peer dialogue and analyzing examples from the field (Ullman-Darom & Rubin, 2022).

In recent years, there has been a growing trend in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teacher training. AI can create classroom management simulations, assist in writing lesson plans, and improve the quality of feedback and reflection from pre-service teachers (Kumari, 2025). The use of chatbots based on generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) in teacher training represents a profound change in the perception of the roles of the pre-service teacher and the teacher educator. Acting as a cognitive assistant, the chatbot enhances pre-service teachers' training through simulations and real-time theoretical application in lesson planning (Biberman-Shalev, 2025). It supplements the teacher educator's role by providing an extensive and adaptable knowledge resource.

The aim of this research is to explore the impact of the integration of AI-based chatbot tools into the pedagogical feedback process of pre-service teachers as part of their training.

Research Questions

1. How does the integration of AI chatbot tools affect the theoretical grounding of pedagogical feedback compared to traditional feedback based on professional intuition?
2. In what ways does the use of chatbot tools expand the variety and scope of "action toolboxes" and strategies suggested to pre-service students during the feedback process?
3. To what extent does AI chatbot contribute to the structural consistency and objectivity of feedback?

The role of teacher educators in initial teacher education (ITE) extends beyond simply imparting knowledge. Their teaching methods must also reflect the complexities of the teaching profession (Loughran & Menter, 2019). In the Philippines, ITE teacher educators have traditionally delivered face-to-face instruction that emphasises strategies such as modelling and simulations (Sigua et al., 2015). Before COVID-19, technology was primarily used to supplement learning rather than as the primary medium for instruction. Recognising the potential of remote teaching, which proliferated during the pandemic, the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED, 2023) issued the "Updated Guidelines on Onsite Learning in Higher Education", which allows ITE providers to offer a portion of their courses online, off-site, or in self-paced formats, indicating that remote teaching is likely to remain a component of Philippine ITE.

At the onset of the pandemic, the term "panicgogy" was used to describe pedagogy driven by uncertainty rather than deliberate design (Baker, 2020). Drawing on transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 2006), the disruptions caused by COVID-19 created a "disorienting dilemma" that compelled teacher educators to reevaluate their prior assumptions about ITE (Young et al., 2022). Our previous systematic review (Sarmiento et al., 2025) found that teacher educators innovated their instruction and explored new technologies during the pandemic. They demonstrated reflexivity and resilience, contributing to professional growth and creating conditions to undergo the phases of transformative learning. The last phase, wherein teacher educators have successfully reintegrated their practices, moving from panic-driven adaptation to intentional remote teaching methods, is what we conceptualised as "metamorgogy". The term is coined from metamorphosis and pedagogy, highlighting a transformative journey akin to a caterpillar's change to a butterfly. Metamorgogy offers an alternative perspective on the dynamic and evolving nature of pedagogical practice (Korthagen, 2016). It also underscores the importance of teacher educators who can transform their practice when confronted with disorienting dilemmas (Young et al., 2022). As technology became integral to ITE during and after the pandemic, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework serves as a useful lens for analysing how metamorgogy developed in the practices of teacher educators.

The TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) extends Shulman's (1986) concept of pedagogical content knowledge by integrating technology. In 2019, contextual knowledge was added to the model to highlight the importance of educators’ understanding of available technologies and the specific instructional environments in which they work (Mishra, 2019). Cheng et al. (2025) and Khong et al. (2023) indicated that TPACK is a key motivator for teachers' behavioural intentions and engagement in remote instruction. Their studies emphasised that when educators actively draw on their TPACK, they are better equipped to integrate technology meaningfully into their pedagogy.

While the TPACK framework offers a useful account of meaningful technology integration, it does not explain how these domains are reconstructed when pedagogy is disrupted. Transformative learning theory offers a complementary perspective for understanding how teacher educators, through critical reflection, exploration, and re-evaluation of their teaching, can reconstruct their pedagogical practices and adopt new strategies (Mezirow, 2006; Young et al., 2022). We theorise that when teacher educators reach the reintegration phase of transformative learning, which we conceptualise as metamorgogy, they can apply TPACK in a more deliberate and contextually responsive manner in remote teaching environments. To contribute to empirical research on remote teacher education beyond the emergency phase and to understand this transformation in the Philippine context, this study was guided by the TPACK framework in addressing the question: What remote teaching practices emerged among Filipino ITE teacher educators in the post-pandemic period?