Making Teaching Transparent: The Use of Accessible Video Models in Pre-Student Teaching

• In Event: Technology as a Course Innovation: Insights From Diverse, Urban Preservice Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

The use of video cases, as a supplement to text, has been shown to be a powerful instructional tool for teacher educators (Copeland & Decker, 1999; Welsch & Devlin, 2007), providing a bridge between theoretical learning and clinical experiences, crucial for pre-service teacher learning (Zeichner, 2010). The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effect of viewing video records on subsequent performance in teaching. Participants of the study were first-semester teacher candidates preparing for initial fieldwork teaching.

Specific research questions included:
1. How does the opportunity to view video records of teaching support teacher candidates’ own performance?
2. How does viewing video records of teaching impact teacher candidates’ subsequent planning and reflection?


Participants were 50 teacher certification candidates from two class sections in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) enrolled in a first semester Methods in K-12 ESL course. As a routine part of this course, each teacher candidate is required to spend 35 hours as a classroom assistant in a K-12 setting, providing tutoring and small group instruction, and then submit a lesson plan and 30 minute video of themselves delivering small group instruction. These video lessons are then rated according to a rubric focused on TESOL classroom practices such as discourse adaptations, text support, and language learning activities. Both class sections were required to read descriptions of lessons that were rated as meeting standard, above standard, or below standard in relation to this observation rubric. In a mixed-method, quasi-experimental design, one class section had in addition to the readings, online access to videos that represented these rubric levels.


Data included the rubric ratings of the 50 30-minute videos of teaching, which were scored by instructors as well as a third, outside rater, as well as demographic information about the participants. These data were analyzed using inferential statistics. Other data were candidates’ lesson plans, and reflection papers, which were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) to identify patterns across the data set that were then assigned codes. Codes were compiled to generate themes that addressed the research questions.

Based on preliminary analysis, the online video examples supported performance on the teaching demonstration lesson, with the experimental group overall scoring significantly higher than the comparison group. The subsequent lesson plans and reflection papers did not show between-group differences, but the reflection papers did indicate that the experimental group was able to “see” more during their observations, with links frequently made to the categories of the observation rubric.

Scientific & Educational Significance
Across institutions of higher education, the ease, affordability and accessibility of digital video records of teaching have made this a tool increasingly used in teacher preparation. This study suggests how video may be introduced early in the teacher education program as a means to develop candidate’s understanding of classroom practice. Rather than spending hours observing in an unstructured and unsupervised manner in early fieldwork, focused video analysis may be a means to innovate course design.

Authors

• Laura Baecher, Hunter College - CUNY

• Shiao-Chuan Kung, Hunter College - CUNY