Virtual Reality for Teacher Training: An Experiential Approach to Classroom Conflict Management

This chapter discusses the use of virtual reality (VR) in the training of preservice secondary education teachers in Spain as an integral part of their learning process. The authors propose some premises from which to design a training program to improve preservice teachers' communicative competence and their ability to manage conflict impacting the classroom climate. First, it explains the experiential and experimental potential of a virtual learning environment (VLE), its ability to create personalized virtual worlds, as well as the possibility to generate insightful instant feedback and feedforward. Finally, an example of a prototype scenario designed on this conceptual basis is provided. Furthermore, the chapter presents an overview of an educational proposal to implement this experiential immersive opportunity for preservice teachers to interact and manage disruptive situations in a safe and reliable environment conducive to the development of key communicative competences and strategies to turn conflict into a learning opportunity.