Case Study: Connecting University and School-Based Training at the University of Ottawa
29th May 2026
How Mosaic facilitated feedback, communication, and assessment during teacher candidate practicum placements in Canada.
In this case study, Paul McGuire, Principal Researcher and Ph.D. Candidate, at the University of Ottawa, reflects on how Mosaic supported a pilot programme connecting teacher candidates, home school associate teachers, and university supervisors during practicum placements.
“The University of Ottawa Faculty of Education places teacher candidates in schools across Ontario during their practicum year. We’ve been working with Mosaic to pilot a new approach to supervision and feedback – one that brings the university, the home school, and the teacher candidate together in a single connected system.”
“Without Mosaic’s willingness to try new ideas and new partnerships, this project would never have happened. This work opens the door to connect teachers and schools throughout our district – and to offer Northern Canadian school boards links that at this time are impossible to imagine.”
Background
“The traditional model of practicum supervision in Canada is constrained by geography. Teacher candidates are placed in schools spread across a wide region, and the distances involved make it impractical for university supervisors to visit more than once per year. Beyond this, there has historically been no integrated system connecting the home school associate teacher, the teacher candidate, and the university – communication relied on email, and feedback arrived long after the teaching moment had passed.
The main idea behind the pilot was to find a way to develop a community of practice where teacher educators could view and comment on teacher candidates’ teaching sessions – something that simply does not happen in Canada right now.”
Challenges
- “Teacher candidates received only one university supervisor visit per year, due to the distances involved in school placements across Ontario.
- Communication between associate teachers (home school) and university supervisors was carried out via email, with no shared system connecting all stakeholders.
- Feedback was often delayed – by the time it arrived, the teaching context had been lost.
- There was no mechanism for teacher educators from different parts of Ontario to observe and comment on teaching practice collaboratively.”
What Mosaic Changed
“Working with Robert Caudwell, co-creator of Mosaic, we fashioned a version of the platform that incorporated video annotation software and a variety of communication tools – allowing teacher candidates and educators to develop a meaningful, ongoing connection.
Since adopting Mosaic, the pilot has enabled us to:
- Connect teacher candidates, associate teachers, and university supervisors in a single platform during practicum weeks (Course Activities and Curricula)
- Capture and review teaching practice through video, with timestamped comments from teacher educators (Lesson Observations integrated with GoReact video annotation)
- Enable teacher candidates to reflect on their own practice in response to specific, time-stamped feedback (Reflections)
- Support associate teachers to understand programme expectations and make links between observed teaching behaviours and development targets (Lesson Observations, Course Activities)”
Impact and Outcomes
“Sometimes by the time you talk to them, some of the notes may require context as to why I’m saying it. So having that timestamp helps. There’s a lot of value for the pre-service teacher to be able to see their own behaviour and then have someone else – such as an associate teacher – describe the behaviour and its impact. The student teacher can really see it almost objectively.”
– Teacher Educator, University of Ottawa pilot
- “Teacher candidates received immediate, contextualised feedback for the first time — supervisors could timestamp comments directly to the moment of teaching behaviour being described.
- The pilot demonstrated that a community of practice across geographic boundaries is achievable, with teacher educators from different parts of Ontario participating in shared observation.
- Associate teachers gained clearer visibility of programme expectations, supporting stronger integration between school-based and university-led elements of training.
- The model opens new possibilities for Northern Canadian school boards, where geographic isolation has historically made any form of connected supervision impossible.”
Next Steps
“This developing relationship can offer a way for our university to establish links that at this time are impossible to imagine. We are exploring how to scale the model beyond the pilot cohort and to extend the community of practice to schools throughout our district.
- Expand the pilot to a larger cohort of teacher candidates and partner schools associated with the University of Ottawa.
- Explore how Mosaic’s placement and communication tools can further reduce reliance on email and informal coordination between stakeholders.
- Investigate how the model can be adapted for use in remote Northern Canadian communities where geographic barriers are most acute.”
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