360-Degree Videos in Teacher Education to Develop Preservice Teachers' Theory-Based Interpersonal Knowledge

• In Event: Using Simulations to Prepare Teachers for Equitable Education

Abstract

Preservice teachers (PSTs) often struggle with managing their classrooms. They are challenged by for example disruptive student behavior or unmotivated students (Admiraal, Wubbels, & Korthagen, 1996). A strategy to handle these struggles is creating positive teacher-student relationships, also known as PSTs’ interpersonal competence (Author, 2015). An important element of PSTs’ interpersonal competence is noticing and interpreting relevant classroom events to react on (van Es & Sherin, 2002). For these interpretations, PSTs require theory-based interpersonal knowledge, which can be defined as knowledge about developing and sustaining positive student-teacher relationships and developing supportive classroom environments.
A useful method to stimulate PSTs’ knowledge development are videos (e.g., Stürmer, Könings, & Seidel, 2013). Videos can illustrate the richness and complexity of classrooms by real-life authentic cases (Beck, King, & Marschall, 2002), provide opportunities to watch experienced teachers teach, and connect observations to theories (Star & Strickland, 2008). Because of recent technological developments videos can be watched within 360-degree, with the advantage that viewers can choose their own perspective when observing classroom interactions (Aguayo, Cochrane, & Narayan, 2017). When watching a 360-degree video on a mobile phone with a virtual reality (VR) headset, an immersive experience is created, which gives a feeling of being presence in an actual classroom (Yoh, 2001).
This study explores the development of PSTs’ quality and structure of interpersonal knowledge after an intervention watching 360-degree videos with a VR-headset combined with theoretical lectures in teacher education. A mixed-method design was used with a pre- and post-test. PSTs’ interpersonal knowledge development can be visualized via changes in PSTs’ knowledge structures regarding the teacher-student interpersonal relationship. Concept maps were used as a tool to visualize these interpersonal knowledge structures. To study knowledge (structure) development, PSTs’ concept maps (N = 141) were analyzed using social network analysis, which included comparison with expert concept maps and measuring structural and conceptual relevance. To gain more insights in PSTs’ knowledge development, interviews were used at the post-test.
Results showed that after the video-lecture combination PSTs had more organized and structured concept maps using more links and clusters. Especially in concept maps of PSTs who used the VR-headset throughout the whole intervention the number of clusters increased. Therefore, it seemed that providing PSTs with theoretical lectures added with observing immersive video fragments led to an increased structured concept map. This is possibly because of VR’s immersive ability to offer realistic situations and its ability to disconnect PSTs from their surroundings.
It was also shown that PSTs used more relevant concepts. In the interviews, PSTs (n = 12) reported that at the pre-test they placed everything they could think of regarding the teacher-student relationship into the concept map. At the post-test, PSTs mostly based their concept maps on the theory they learned during the video-lecture combination.
These more organized concept maps after the intervention imply that the combination of theoretical lectures and watching 360-degree videos can be an asset for teacher education to improve PSTs’ knowledge structures about a certain topic, such as interpersonal teacher behavior.

Authors

• Hanneke Theelen, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

• Antoine van den Beemt, EindHoven University of Technology

• Perry den Brok, Wageningen University