Rio Salado College’s online Teacher Preparation “Virtual Practicums” are professional videotapes of actual live classroom experiences that demonstrate significant classroom techniques critical for students to learn that may not be available during practicums or student teaching experiences.  The Virtual Practicums (VP) are created and developed by Master Teachers thereby providing Master Teacher application of quality teaching techniques. The VPs also provide a value added element to content areas that students find difficult such as Phonics, Classroom Management, Beginning Weeks of School and Structured English Immersion.

Additionally, Virtual Practicums have been developed in the area of special education to provide teaching strategies for disabilities that are extremely hard to locate or the variety of experience is so limited that it is not adequate to prepare students for their required teaching responsibilities.

Virtual Practicums help meet the critical need for providing teacher education candidates with as much experience as possible in situations directly related to school-based practicum settings for which they will be held accountable upon being certified to teach.  They model effective teaching strategies, and have resulted in excellent student learning through relevant and useful classroom experiences.   The success of the VPs has many colleges and universities expressing great interest in obtaining them for use in their teacher education programs.