Things for Future Reference

• Great tips:

• Surviving the Dissertation: Tips from Someone Who Mostly Has

• 20 Best Sites for Helpful Dissertation Tips

• Book for Qualitative Research:   The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (2nd ed.) by Johnny Saldana

• Articles posted on Teachscape's website:  Teacher Effectiveness Research

• Video:  Using Video To Improve Practice

• Graduate Handbook

An Obvious Flaw...

I convinced a teacher friend of mine to set up the Teachscape camera in her classroom and record one of her class sessions. After recording, she came back to me and acknowledged that the system was very easy to use and that she wanted to use it more often. However, she also pointed out something that seems rather odd.

The new Teachscape Reflect system utilizes iPads to record and upload lessons. But, because playback and editing occurs via the web, the iPad cannot display the video as it is Flash-based. It seems rather silly to me that playback and editing cannot occur on the same device on which it was recorded. So, teachers would not be able to record a session and then see it immediately. Rather, since it takes about 15 minutes to upload about 50 minutes of video, teachers would have to wait to begin their self-reflection. Further, they would have to go and find another piece of equipment on which to watch it.

I told the teacher to make sure that this is one of the things that she mentions on the feedback form at the end of the year. I know I will be.

Gaps and Questions

The more I read for the Lit Review, the more I find that I’m reading the same thing: video recording in the classroom has been studied to death…for new teachers. I have yet to find any literature that sought to implement video self-reflection in classrooms with experienced educators. While this is a gap that I wish to fill with my own research, I wonder why no one else has followed up on this rather obvious and easy question.

Another void in the research literature that seems rather apparent is why such technology has to be “pushed” onto some educators. Even though I have over fourteen years teaching experience, I know that I still have a lot to learn about myself and my own practice in front of a classroom. And while I don’t know of any teachers who would argue against that point for themselves, I know of some who would balk at recording themselves in front of students. What I don’t know is why.

Lastly, in all of the articles I have read, the successes reported seem to revolve only around teacher opinion of how they have improved their practice. There does not seem to be any evidence of how video self-reflection has a direct tie to student achievement. Of course, if teachers are improving their practice, one would think that there is an obvious correlate in student success. Perhaps. But without a direct, one-to-one connection, we are relying merely on teacher opinion on which to measure the usefulness of the equipment.

Finally got my hands on a Reflect Camera!

Last Monday, I was tasked with teaching my teachers an in-service lesson during faculty meeting. The principal had asked me to share a PowerPoint he had received on classroom management. Because the slideshow contained the same boilerplate material that I knew my teachers would already have known, I decided to kill two birds with one stone: I would teach the lesson as he wanted, but I would also take the opportunity to record it with the Teachscape Reflect iPad system. This would also afford me the opportunity to discuss the system with my teachers (aka, my future test subjects!).

The initial setup was a breeze; however, I am certainly glad that I got the system out and tested it well before faculty meeting. This is because I found out that the account that the district had initially set up for us was changed. While it was not big deal to create a new one, it was better to do it while I had time on my hands rather than in a rush. Once I was in, I noticed that Teachscape had really simplified the setup for the iPad. There is a large, red record button. Press it once to record and press it again to stop. This could not have been made any easier for technophobic teachers. After recording, one other obvious button was marked upload. And that’s it.

The lesson went well and many of the teachers seemed somewhat interested in using the camera. Unfortunately, no one rushed up to me to borrow it for the next day. One of the challenges of technologies such as this is that teachers sometimes nod in agreement that it’s a good idea, but their action stops with the nod—they never see its benefit for their own practice.