PRE-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING IN THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM: PILOT STUDY

The pilot study will be presented in a Virtual classroom environment. Virtual classroom is an application based on the Unity 3D engine. The user puts on 3D glasses, and finds himself/herself in a virtual primary, school model where several pupils can sit on the seats to interact with. There is also a virtual whiteboard in the classroom, where the user can write notes, as well as a map with a pointer. The application is used during the teaching of didactics for pre-service geography teachers, where expansion to other disciplines is expected. In the pilot study, there were 10 students of the 1st year of Geography Teaching, whose task was to present a short explanation in a virtual classroom, focused on selected critical points of the geography curriculum. Before starting the VR training coin se, the students completed a questionnaire, focusing on their experience with real teaching and VR. The pilot study was conducted in three successive stages. First, the students tried working in a virtual classroom (presented themselves and a geographic theme), provided basic feedback, and were given a virtual session at lower secondary school level. In theft next class, they presented a pre-prepared theme in a virtual classroom, received feedback from teachers and other students who evaluated theft performance according to a single evaluation form, and reflected on the work in Virtual Classroom. During the last stage of the project work, the students taught the same topic again, and tried to give a better performance, reflecting comments from the previous level. After completing the process, the students completed another questionnaire to determine their responses to the application of VR in teacher training. It is clear from the results of the pilot study that the presentation of individual students in a virtual classroom is a good way to open both subject and didactic topics in teaching didactics. It turned out that pre-service teachers very often focus their training and self-learning on the professional (disciplinary) accuracy of the presented curriculum, and are less concerned with the didactic aspects of the topics taught - how to explain and motivate pupils to learn, etc. The ability to explain the problematic areas of the curriculum can be systematically developed in a Virtual classroom, as well as the two-stage approach used, seem to be the appropriate methodological basis. When comparing the first and second performances in a virtual classroom, it is clear that students are getting better, so this pedagogical work simulator can be successfully used as one of the possibilities of pedagogical training, in conjunction with their own school practice. At the same time, we came to the conclusion that some students suffer from cyber sickness while working in a virtual classroom, and cannot fully concentrate. However, it is also beneficial for these students to be able to participate in the role of reflective evaluator and colleague for didactics lessons, using a Virtual classroom.