Collaborative Studio Experiences between South Korean and American Pre-Service Teachers: a Case Study of Designing Culturally-Responsive Virtual Classroom Simulation

Virtual classroom simulations can offer pre-service teachers unlimited opportunities for teaching practice that help them sensitize to classroom diversity. The purpose of this case study was to describe a collaborative simulation design studio initiated between two universities in South Korea and U.S.A. while American pre-service teachers visited South Korea for five days as part of the student exchange program. This paper presents the main components of the design studio program with detailed descriptions of design activities, in which South Korean and American pre-service teachers created four classroom management scenarios and corresponding virtual students/classrooms. We also shared how the design studio experiences helped participants understand different classroom cultures by analyzing their responses to the reflection questions, design outcomes, and the researchers’ observation notes. The results showed that the design studio experiences were beneficial for participants to understand different classroom cultures. The analyses revealed two major themes emerged from participants’ responses to cultural differences and similarities: classroom management and student attitude. In addition, participants shared perceived benefits of the collaborative design studio experiences: social engagement and tangible experiences.