Sherin New Perspectives on Video in Teacher Education

Sherin, M. G. (2004). New perspectives on the role of video in teacher education. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Using video in teacher education (pp. 1 - 28). New York: Elsevier.

Introduction

Selected Uses of Video in Teacher Education

• Microteaching
• Interaction Analysis
• Modeling Expert Teaching
• Video-Based Cases
  • Just cases, not video-based cases: "Specifically, cases were thought to provide teachers with relevant knowledge about teaching in a format that was useful. Not only were they based in the context of teaching, but because of our tendency to hold knowledge in chunks, the hope was that cases could be easily indexed and recalled by teachers. Furthermore, teacher educators expected work with cases to help novice teachers become accustomed to reflecting on teaching and to aid in the development of professional problem-solving strategies (p. 6)."

• Hypermedia Programs
  • "...when a video is digitized, one can move from point to point rapidly and there can be multiple organizations and presentations of the same video material (p. 8)."

• Field Recordings
  • Teacher educators have changed how they view field recordings. Video was once thought to be a replacement for face-to-face supervision, thus saving the supervisor time while ensuring the preservation of the supervisor's feedback. I would argue that such a belief indicates that the feedback is valued but the interaction in context is not. It also goes against what Badiali, Nolan, & Zembal-Saul have written about critique through practice.

• Looking Across Selected Uses of Video in Teacher Education

Affordances of Video for Teacher Education

• Limitations:
  • "First, a person viewing a video of a classroom is placed in a passive role (p. 10)."
  • "Second, the information captured by the video camera may be much more limited than if someone were observing in a classroom live (p. 10)."
  • "Third, a videotape of a lesson does not necessarily capture the wide-variety of contextual information that underlies people's actions and comments (p. 11)." It does not capture the lesson in the sequence of other lessons within a unit.

• Video is a Lasting Record
  • It can be revisited over time.
  • Participants no longer have to rely on memory to recall the situation.
  • "In contrast, in some ways, video provides better access to classroom practices than a teacher or an observer usually has (p. 12)."
  • Video permits the teacher to see things that are missed during the act of teaching. Their surveillance becomes universal.

• Video Can be Collected and Edited
  • "Video can be collected, edited, and reorganized into a format that differes from its original presentation (p. 12)."
  • "In addition, video can be integrated with other media such as graphics and text (p. 13)."

• Video Affords a Different Set of Practices
  • "In particular, video allows one to enter the world of the classroom without having to be in the position of teaching in-the-moment and to manipulate the world in ways not possible without the video record (p. 13)."
  • "First, when watching a pedagogical dilemma on video, one does not have to respond with the immediacy required when in the classroom live. Video affords the luxury of time. Thus, a student's comment or action on video can be a subject for reflection rather than for action (p. 13)."
  • "Second, viewing video opens up the possibility of seeing alternate pedagogical strategies (p. 14)."
  • "Third, similar to the role that video plays in educational research, video provides teachers the opportunity to engage in fine-grained analyses of classroom practice (p. 14)."

Redefining the Role of Video in Teacher Education

• Video Clubs
  • Sound similar to a CFG but the participants bring video as the conversation catalyst. They meet over time. They have a facilitator but do not necessarily use protocols.
  • "But where video clubs take particular advantage of video is in engaging teachers in a new set of practices (p. 16)."
  • Video clubs allow for deeper reflection and analysis of practice (p. 16)."
  • "Moreover, the practices that are available to teachers in a video club may even change over time as they develop new ways to examine issues related to student thinking and pedagogy (pp. 16-17)."

• Hypermedia Representations of Practice

• Video Analysis Tools
  • VAST (Video Analysis Support Tool) is a type of analysis tool that assists teachers in focusing on different aspects of teaching. The tool prompts the teacher to focus on a part and then walks the teacher through a series of questions in order to deepen their reflection on the practice. My thoughts - The description makes it feel like it takes away from the professionalism of the teacher. The teacher is not selecting the object of focus; a technology selects it. How is it the same and different from a peer who prompts through questioning? It just seems to take out the teacher's developmental level and readiness. I wonder to what extent it is individualized for the needs of that teacher. It seems as if it is driven by the educational reform fad of the time. I wonder if it could be considered guided observation.
  • VAST allows teachers to be more specific when describing their practice. (Could the same be said for other software programs like Studiocode?)

• Extended Records of Teaching Practices

• Video Networks

Toward the Future

• The debate over structure - "Determining one's own focus for investigation might be better suited to experienced teachers, particularly those who have already acquired reflective capabilities. But counter-arguments are possible. A well-structured task might be required in order to prompt experienced teachers to view teaching and learning in new ways (p. 23)." It sounds like teachers could be engaging in "peer coaching with a computer." Would it still be considered a "peer" then? What could we call it? I wonder about its effectiveness and whether or not it would promote isolation. What about the benefits the peer gets from peer coaching? I do not think that the computer is reaping any of the benefits.
• "Along the same lines, researchers should work towards the creation of new analytic tools designed specifically to support teachers in explorations of video. Such tools could do much to put the affordances of video in the hands of teachers (p. 23)."
• "Video preserves classroom practice in a rich context, it can be catalogued and combined with other data in formats that allow powerful investigations of teaching and learning, and it invites teachers to develop expertise in new kinds of practices (p. 23)."