Designing Online Video Analysis Tasks to Scaffold Asynchronous Instructional Coaching for History Teachers

• In Event: Designing Online Experiences to Support Teacher Learning and Professional Development Across Content Areas

Abstract

The recent proliferation of online platforms to support asynchronous video analysis (e.g., Edthena, Torsh, ClassForward) begs the question of how such platforms might be used in the context of online professional development. The study draws on data from a 3-year design-based study and examines how novice instructional coaches use asynchronous analytic tasks as scaffolds to support productive teacher video analysis. We ask: (1) to what extent did the introduction of asynchronous analytic tasks correspond with changes in the focus and quality of coaches’ feedback? (2) to what extent did the introduction of the asynchronous analytic tasks correspond with changes in the focus and quality of teachers’ video analysis?

Research on effective professional development underscores the value of ongoing subject-specific instructional coaching (Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017). Yet, few school districts devote resources to supporting social studies teachers. The current project grew out of an effort to design a sustainable model of coaching that (1) leveraged the instructional expertise of local teacher leaders and (2) overcame the logistical hurdles that limit the scalability of face-to-face coaching models by shifting coaches’ classroom observation and feedback to an online video platform.

An impressive body of research has explored the instructional potential of video for both preservice and inservice teachers (for a review, see Guadin & Chalies, 2015). Researchers have found that video analysis can support teachers in becoming more reflective, and more attentive to student thinking (e.g., Rosaen, Lundeberg, Cooper, Fritzen, & Terpstra, 2008). A handful of studies have traced the effects of video-based professional development experiences on teacher instructional practice (Sherin & van Es, 2009) and on student learning (Allen, Pianta, Gregory, Mikami, & Lun, 2011; Roth et al., 2011). Importantly, all of this research was conducted in face-to-face contexts, in extended professional development or teacher education settings. A handful of coaching models (e.g., Allen et al, 2011) have incorporated asynchronous video analysis in their models, and these models rely on expert coaches who select short segments for teacher analysis.

Our presentation focuses on the templates for analytic prompts that we introduced in Year 2 after noting that coaches and teachers rarely interacted in the online comments. The templates included an observation or suggestion and a task. For example: “In watching your video, I noticed _______. One goal of this lesson [or type of instruction] is _______. Can you identify three moments in the video where you could have _______?” In comparing online comments before and after the introduction of the tasks, we found marked differences in the quality and focus of both coaches’ feedback and teachers’ comments. In particular, coaches’ feedback to teachers became more timely, focused, specific, actionable, and direct. Teachers increased their attention to content, student engagement and specific instructional decisions, and they were more likely to reflect on alternative actions and include rationales to explain their observations. These findings respond to a recent call to explore the affordances of online video platforms as promising mechanisms to scale instructional coaching programs and overcome logistical and financial hurdles that limit current efforts.

Authors

• Abby Reisman, University of Pennsylvania

• Sia Brown, University of Pennsylvania