Exploring a Collaborative Synchronous Online Learning Environment in an Initial Language Teacher Education Program

This qualitative study explores pre-service language teachers’ experiences in a collaborative synchronous online course in language teacher education program in Turkey. A course was designed to equip pre-service language teachers of English with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively incorporate technology into their teaching and self-learning practices. Adopting a generic qualitative inquiry design, data were collected over 14 weeks from 63 pre-service EFL teachers through weekly reflection papers, online surveys, and face-to-face follow-up semi-structured interviews. The study found that technology-enhanced collaborative online course had a positive influence on participants’ engagement, interaction, and professional development with participants perceiving the course experience positively. The findings suggest that collaborative online courses, when they are effectively taught, can be a valuable professional development opportunity in initial language teacher education programs.