Brophy Using Video in Teacher Education Introduction

Brophy, J. (2004). Introduction. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Using video in teacher education (pp. ix - xxiv). New York: Elsevier.

Introduction:

• "History indicates that enthusiasts tend to usher new technologies into education with predictions that they will foster quantum leaps in the state of the art. This initial enthusiasm typically becomes tempered as attention shifts from the technology's affordances to its constraints, and as research findings accumulate indicating that its effects on learner outcomes are disappointing (typically not negative, but modest and mixed rather than routinely powerful and positive). To the extent that the new technology does indeed offer unique affordances that can be exploited cost effectively, it tends to be adopted by teacher educators and used for the purposes to which it is best suited. The new technology is assimilated into the ongoing state of the art, but it does not bring about a revolutionary restructuring of it (p. ix)."
• Limitations of video: "One was that teachers in general and novices in particular usually do not gain many new insights or ideas about improving their teaching from simply watching classroom videos. If they do not have a clear purpose and agenda for viewing the video, they are likely to watch it passively, much as they might watch a television program (p. x)." I would also say that novices need a clear purpose and focus for their observation as well as discourse around what they are watching.
• Research on Video in Teacher Education
  • "...teachers more knowledgeable about constructivist teaching made better use of the materials than less knowledgeable teachers, who often missed out on opportunities for systematic learning because they used only a subset of the suggested activities (p. xii)." I would add that this information jives with Darling-Hammond's research.
  • "They (video cases) present a more open-ended, less-cued stimulus more likely to launch discussion of teachers' actual practice, offer an immediacy not possible in narrative cases, and convey a richer form of input that captures more of he social fabric and other contextual details of classroom practice (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2000) (p. xiii)."

Resources:

• Clarke, D., & Hollingsworth, H. (2000). Seeing is understanding. Journal of Staff Development, 21, 40-43.