Blended online learning in initial teacher education: A Professional Inquiry on preservice teachers’ inquiry projects

Online and blended learning bring opportunities and challenges, including more opportunities for authentic activities (Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis, 2011). Blended online environments are now a common mode for pre-service teacher education, providing interesting opportunities to develop and showcase alternative approaches that blend with practice in the field. This paper presents a case study of an online course that supported 55 student teacher inquiries into the practice of teaching. The author describes some successful strategies, using a range of e-learning tools, including the university’s Moodle learning management system, in the professional inquiry focused course that she led. The study informs course and programme redesign to encourage student teachers to develop their own networks of practice during pre-service tertiary education.