The future of virtual environments is evident in many fields but is just emerging in the field of teacher education. In this article, the authors provide a summary of the evolution of simulation in the field of teacher education and three factors that need to be considered as these environments further develop. The authors provide a specific example of the work at two universities that use a specific virtual environment, TLE TeachLivE™, in teacher education. This environment is already being used in teacher preparation at 32 universities to collaboratively find ways to enhance teacher practice while using a standardized tool often found in medicine, business and military training, and virtual simulation.

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Rural schools face challenges in training and retaining qualified teachers, especially special education personnel. This article describes how an interdisciplinary team at the University of Central Florida developed TLE TeachLivE™, a virtual reality application designed to serve as a classroom simulation to support teachers and administrators to practice skills for instruction and management.

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Abstract. The focus of this chapter is on the application of a framework for remotely delivering role-playing experiences that afford users the opportunity to practice real-world skills in a safe virtual setting. The framework, AMITIES, provides a single individual the capabilities to remotely orchestrate the performances of multiple virtual characters. We illustrate this by introducing avatarenabled scenarios that range from teacher preparation to effectively dealing with complex interpersonal situations such as resistance to peer pressure and participation in job interviews (either as the interviewer or the interviewee).