Second Life’s Influence on a K-12 First Year Teacher’s Self-Efficacy and Curriculum Development
Abstract: K-12 first year teachers encounter a range of obstacles from classroom management, curriculum, and being confident in decisions. First year teachers desire more support from fellow colleagues, mentors, principals, and other resources (Kupferman, Nyer, & Wilkens, 2011). To provide more support to first year teachers, mentorships must be continued and incorporated into schools that currently do not have mentor programs and should take place in more than one venue to fit into time constraints and encourage lifelong collaborative partnerships. Partnerships between fellow colleagues, just as educators want students to be lifelong collaborators. This presentation will demonstrate Second Life destinations rich in educational collaboration and how Second Life can affect a first year teacher’s self-efficacy and curriculum development. Work-in-progress research is being conducted to see if a difference exists between first year teachers in traditional mentorships and first year teachers in a Second Life/traditional mixed mentorship.