Collaboration in Action: A Comparison of Mixed Reality Simulation and Live Role-Play

More than two-thirds of students with disabilities spend 80% or more of their school day in general education classes. To maximize student success, collaborations among educators (general and special education teachers) and between educators and caregivers are essential for student success. However, many new educators report feeling ill-equipped to use effective collaborative skills with other professionals and caregivers to meet the needs of their students. The responsibility for ensuring that preservice teachers are prepared to collaborate falls on teacher preparation programs. Therefore, preservice teacher educators need effective and socially valid methods for embedding collaboration skills into coursework. We conducted a conceptual replication, utilizing a randomized pretest-posttest design to compare the effects of two practices focused on collaborative skills: mixed reality simulation and live role-play. Across groups, all participants increased their collaboration skills; significant differences between groups at post-test were not revealed. We discuss implications for both teacher educators and researchers.