Digital Platforms as Catalysts for Reflective Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

Reflection is an important component in teacher education to help student teachers improve the quality of their teaching practice. Through reflection, student teachers can identify strengths and weaknesses and activities to improve and enhance their teaching skills. With the development of technology and communication in this digital era, many technology platforms can facilitate the reflection process to be more interactive, documented, and collaborative. This article will theoretically present the reflection process that integrates digital platforms in teacher education implemented through a distance education system. Schon's Reflective Practitioner Model, Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, and Vygotsky's Social Constructivism are used to analyse the role of digital platforms in facilitating authentic, meaningful, and impactful learning in teacher education programs to enhance teacher professional growth. With digital platforms, students can conduct structured reflections, share reflections with colleagues and lecturers, obtain direct and ongoing feedback, and build a digital reflection portfolio. Meanwhile, supervising lecturers can use digital platforms to monitor the development of prospective teachers' reflections in real time. By integrating digital reflection into the teacher education curriculum, graduates will have pedagogical self-awareness, strong critical and evaluative thinking skills, and initiative in professional development. In addition, a reflective learning community will also be built.