Open Learning,Electronic Communications and Beginning Teachers

The largest post graduate initial teacher education course in the UK was introduced by the Open University in February 1994. The course is innovative in a number of ways: it is the first large scale distance taught pre‐service course in the UK; all students are loaned a computer for the duration of the course; and computer conferencing is used extensively for communication between students, part‐time tutors and the course team. In this paper the use of the computer conferencing element is described and evaluated, and ways in which electronic communications can be developed for this to be a truly effective medium for supporting the development of beginning teachers’ competence and confidence are discussed.