Using an Online Video Annotation Tool to Initiate Teacher Dialogue Around Ambitious Science Teaching

• In Event: 77.038 - Discourse in the Digital World: Design and Facilitation of Online Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

Objectives

Online video annotation tools are increasingly being used to support teacher learning around problems of practice as they provide a context for teacher dialogue and shared sense-making (Rich & Hannafin, 2009). In science education, video has been used to support teachers in gaining knowledge and skill around noticing and responsiveness to students’ thinking (Authors, 2015a). While prior work has examined whether and how productive dialogue is supported in these contexts (Borko, Jacobs, Seago, & Mangram, 2014), less is known about how technological tools can be utilized to initiate teacher dialogue around particular problems of practice. Like athletes who warm-up before high-intensity workouts, teachers can “warm-up” before engaging in “high-intensity” dialogue around problems of practice. We are interested in how technological tools can support teachers’ warm-up work. In this study, we demonstrate how video annotation supported initial dialogue around ambitious science teaching [AST] (Windschitl, Thompson, & Braaten, 2018) among pre-service secondary science teachers [PSTs].


Theoretical Framework

We adopt a sociocultural theoretical perspective where teacher knowledge is situated and socially constructed (Greeno, 2006; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Informed by AST (Windschitl, Thompson, & Braaten, 2018) and Noticing frameworks (van Es, 2011), we examine data generated in an online video annotation tool to answer: How does an online video annotation tool support initial dialogue around AST practices for PSTs?


Methods, Data Sources, and Analysis

Six PSTs participated in this study. An online video annotation tool was utilized to initiate independent asynchronous noticings around AST practices prior to video club sessions. Data included 18 video-clips of PSTs' practice (3 each) with corresponding video-tags and annotations. Tagged moments were coded for agent(s) in focus and presence of AST practice(s). Annotations were coded for noticing activity (interpret, etc.) and intent (to suggest an AST discourse move, etc.).


Results and Discussion

We found that tagging and annotating activities supported initial dialogue around AST. PSTs tagged moments where eliciting student ideas and supporting ongoing changes in student thinking were evident. Further, PSTs' annotations included AST language in their interpretations and responses to moments they had tagged.

We think affordances of this video annotation tool supported these findings. The tagging feature made PSTs' noticing visible and provided the impetus for initiating dialogue around AST. The annotation feature allowed PSTs to comment on the moments they had tagged. Therefore, while the course assignment provided the AST focus, the online annotation tool allowed PSTs to initiate discussion around specific instances of AST they noticed in their peers' videos.


Scholarly Significance

As a precursor to video club, video annotation technologies have affordances for PST learning. Annotation makes PST noticing visible to them, their peers, and to us as teacher educators. This primes PSTs to talk about someone else's AST practice in addition to their own, and provides a "warm-up" to dialogue by focusing PSTs' noticing and giving them an opportunity to initiate discussion around that focus. This study can inform the design of other online video annotation tools that support teachers' dialogue and shared sense-making of classroom practice.

Authors

• Heather Jo Johnson, Vanderbilt University

• Melissa J. Luna, West Virginia University