Video Streaming, Case Study, and NVivo as Tools for Teachers and Researchers in a Literacy Center

• In Event: Digital Video in Literacy Research, Teacher Education, and Professional Development: Demonstrations of Research Techniques and Practices

Abstract

Purpose:
Literacy centers or reading clinics have long valued video for its affordances in teaching and learning and for research. However, these affordances also raise a number of concerns (Heath, 2010). Among these concerns are logistical questions: How does a center manage data in a time of dwindling supports?) and ethical concerns (e.g., How does a center maintain ethical boundaries around data involving children while at the same time trying to maximize the use of this data for research?). There are also pragmatic concerns about the use of digital resources (e.g., we can collect and archive lots of digital data, but to what end? What purpose does this serve for instruction or research?). To explore these and other questions, we will present an overview of a video database project used for instructional and research purposes in the context of a literacy clinic.

Theoretical Framework:
Videos collected in the center are part of an ongoing project to study teacher development and expertise in literacy and reflective practice. Video is used as both a teaching tool and as a means of facilitating reflection (Rosean, et al., 2008; Schon, 1983) as teachers work toward literacy specialist certification.

Method, Context, and Data
The clinic serves as a practicum site for literacy specialists pursuing state certification. Twice a week literacy specialists meet with a child who has an identified reading/writing difficulty. Each session is video taped and streamed so that literacy specialists can view, reflect, and adjust their instructional practice with guidance from instructors (Rosean et al., 2008). Video clips are also shared with other specialists and instructors in a debriefing seminar. For research purposes, video is imported into NVivo and linked to electronic artifacts (e.g., lesson plans, reflections, reports). NVivo thus functions as a database management tool and a tool for video analysis for an archive that at present houses approximately 1,000 hours of video interactions.

Results/Demonstration
We will also provide a demonstration of preliminary steps in coding video (e.g., tagging video within broad parameters, narrowing and prioritizing tags, delineating longer contextual segments, refining research questions and creating and working with codes) wherein research team members identified potential research questions and dilemmas. We will address some logistics of working with NVivo and working across a large data set using open and pre-identified coding schemes and using NVivo as a database management tool.

Significance
In recent decades, the role for reading clinics or centers has broadened--indicative of the field’s shift toward the “literacy center” (Freppon, 1999). Those reading clinics/literacy centers that exist in higher education contexts and continue to offer diagnostic and instructional services to children and families are under increased pressure to maintain high quality instructional services and high-profile research trajectories. Digital data sources (e.g., video, electronic documents) afford opportunities for establishing databases that allow literacy centers to maximize instructional goals and research trajectories. This session presents a demonstration of how researchers can maximize video as a teaching and learning tool for reflective practice while at the same time addressing essential research questions.

Authors

• Mary B. McVee, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Jennifer A. Schiller, University at Buffalo - SUNY