Online initial teacher education: a systematic review of the literature

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on online initial teacher education. This review is timely given the growing numbers of online students studying teacher education in Australia and beyond. The paper begins with a presentation of the search protocol including search terms, databases, and inclusion/exclusion criteria that resulted in 492 refereed articles being included in the review. Analysis of title and abstract of these articles allowed insight into a variety of factors and trends, including journal of publication, year of publication, research approach, and key focal areas. Two well-established research focal areas emerged: technological pedagogical innovations and student experiences of studying teacher education online. Two emerging research focal areas were teacher educator experiences of teaching online and online teacher education in traditionally experiential specialisations, such as drama and outdoor education. When all the articles are considered holistically, a fragmented and siloed research approach is revealed, evidenced by a large number of journals publishing articles on multiple focal areas, leading to considerable repetition among the evidences presented across the articles. As such, this paper highlights the need for a more coherent and organised approach to research in online teacher education and its dissemination to all stakeholders.