Pedagogy On Demand: Evaluating A Multimedia Resource To Support Preservice Teachers Understanding Of Classroom Teaching.

Author(s):

James Watters(presenting / submitting)Carmel Diezmann

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 07 A, The Role of Digital Technology in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-G107

Chair:

Shosh Leshem

Contribution

A central strategy in preservice teacher education is the practicum. Drawing on principles of situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) the practicum should blend the strengths of the theoretical orientations of university educational studies with the practical and tacit knowledge of teaching (Cooper, Orrell, & Bowden, 2010). Problems with the practicum have been long recognised in Europe and elsewhere (e.g., Blunden, 2000; Groundwater-Smith, Deer, Sharp, & March, 1996; Rajuan, Beijaard, & Verloop, 2008). Many students express dissatisfaction with poor supervisory teachers and lack of opportunity to observe or engage in a diversity of practices supported by supervising teachers with different approaches.

This paper reports part of a design project to develop a virtual classroom which we call Pedagogy on Demand or a POD (Diezmann & Watters, 2015). The effectiveness of this approach is exemplified by the work of a number of researchers (e.g., Barab & Squire, 2004; Mayer, 2002, 2008; Reeves, Herrington & Oliver, 2005). This resource, being web based and embedded in learning management systems, will enable students to engage in dialogue about practices with peers and lecturers. Central to the development of a virtual classroom is the digital recording of episodes of teaching illustrating diverse approaches. This paper focusses on preliminary evaluation of the POD.

Our analysis is framed by the notion of situational awareness (Endsley, 1995). Experienced teachers as experts possess a situational awareness implying that they are able to take note of salient events, theorise these events and propose actions. Such behaviour is the essence of reflection-in-action (Schön, 1998). What novice teachers notice in a lesson varies but tends to be superficial and descriptive (van Es & Sherin, 2002; Sherin & Russ, 2014). Finnish and German studies on whether instructional intervention improves preservice teachers’ levels of situational awareness called for further research as the findings were unequivocal (Sunder, Todorova, Moeller, 2015; von Aufschnaiter, Alonzo & Kost, 2015). It was important to understand how in a multimedia resource to build critical levels of noticing by preservice teachers. Hence the need to document what graduating preservice teachers see as significant events in a lesson.

Our research questions were thus framed as:

What do preservice teachers identify as noteworthy when observing a proficient teacher implementing a mathematics lesson contextualised on an aspect of sport?
In what ways does a virtual classroom complement preservice teachers’ insights into professional teaching practice?

Method

The design and development of one pilot POD focussed on a virtual classroom in which a teacher was presenting a lesson on the concept of angles. To generate interest the lesson was embedded in a sport-related context of designing a mini-golf course. The focus lesson was conducted by a female teacher with 30 years teaching experience to a group of Year 6 middle years students at the end of the school year. Participants in the study were nine volunteer graduating preservice teachers (PSTs) drawn from three universities who had completed a one-year post graduate entry teacher education course majoring in mathematics and/or science teaching but had not started teaching. Participants attended a two hour session during which time they, in pairs and one threesome, reviewed the POD and embedded focus video. The video was edited to present approximately 32 minutes of a 90-minute lesson with a focus on the teacher behaviour. PSTs were briefed to annotate an observation sheet while watching in pairs or a threesome the video lesson which lasted 30 minutes. The observation sheet was presented as a time line with simple instructions to report “Particular interesting events”, comment on “what’s happening and “interpret the event”. They were also briefed to indicate what principles might apply to the event. The video was stopped at 10-minute intervals to enable the groups to discuss what was happening. Subsequently they participated in a one-hour discussion of the POD and videoed lesson. Conversations were recorded, transcribed and analysed using van Es and Sherin’s (2002) rubric based on analytical chunks which are utterances or text that recognise and explain a specific event. They identified four levels of analytical chunks, which we briefly describe as: descriptive, evaluative, analytic and principled. Following the review of the POD and video, two focus groups were conducted (~60 mins) in which PSTs were given opportunities to share and discuss their perceptions of the lessons. They were also asked to reflect on what value the POD might have been in their preservice courses. These discussions were recorded and analysed thematically using inductive approaches.

Expected Outcomes

Our first research question focussed on what preservice teachers would note of interest in a lesson. Three themes emerged in the written responses. First, there was similarity in what was identified as noteworthy. All PSTs identified between 8-11 interesting events which were similar – brainstorming, eliciting prior knowledge, questioning strategies, group work, higher order thinking, teacher reinforcing task directions, encouraging hard work and referring students to success criteria. Second, of the nine PSTs only one, Libby, in her written observation sheet indicated a level of analysis that related the observed event to principles and theory. The remainder provided detailed descriptions of salient events but in terms of interpreting these events they simply expanded their descriptive statement. Third, noteworthy was the use of terms like “prior knowledge”, “brainstorming”, “think-pair-share”, “scaffolding”, “group discussion” which indicates adoption of terminology characteristic of the profession and reflecting the content of their preservice courses. In the follow up focus group discussions, students revealed a similar pattern. There was little attempt to analyse what the teacher did and why. Nevertheless, the teacher was described as “awesome” whose behaviours and practices contrasted significantly with those they had previously seen on practicum experiences. Most described seeing transmission style teaching. A few students, notably Libby, did reveal a deeper understanding of the practices. For example, in discussion one episode she stated “I've got differentiation strategies in action there. … she was really probing what their prior knowledge was, and using that as a way of getting everybody to the same point ...” With regard to research question two that sought insights into the value of the POD for preservice teacher education the general consensus was that the resource would have been time saving and valuable in that it gave insights into what was exemplary teaching.

References

Barab, S., & Squire, K. (2004). Introduction: Design-based research: Putting a stake in the ground. The Journal of the Learning Science, 13(1), 1-14. Blunden, R. (2000). Rethinking the place of the practicum in teacher education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 25(1), 1-16. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2000v25n1.1 Cooper, L., Orrell, J., & Bowden, M. (2010). A conceptual framework for work integrated learning. In Work integrated learning: A guide to effective practice (pp. 37-54). London: Routledge. Diezmann, C. M., & Watters, J. J. (2015, August). Using envisioning the future of science education training: Designing resources for pedagogy on demand. Paper presented at the European Science Educators Research Association conference, Helsinki, Finland, August 30-September 4 Endsley, M. R. (1995). Toward a theory of situational awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors, 37, 32-64. Groundwater-Smith, S., Deer, C. E., Sharp, H., & March, P. . (1996). The practicum as workplace learning: A multi-mode approach in teacher education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 21(2), 29-41. doi: 10.14221/ajte.1996v21n2.3 Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Mayer, R. E. (2002). Cognitive theory and the design of multimedia instruction: An example of the two-way street between cognition and instruction. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2002(89), 55-71. doi: 10.1002/tl.47 Mayer, R. E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American Psychologist, 63(8), 760-769. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.760 Reeves, T., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2005). Design-based research. A socially responsible approach to instructional technology research in higher education. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 16(2), 97-116. Sherin, M. G., & Russ, R. S. (2014). Teacher noticing via video: The role of interpretive frames. In B. Calandra & P. J. Rich (Eds.), Digital video for teacher education: Research and practice (pp. 3-20). London: Routledge. Sunder, C., Todorova, M., & Moeller, K. (2015). Pre-service teachers’ noticing of student ideas in videos – a video analysis. Paper presented at the European Science Educators Research Association conference, Helsinki, Finland, August 30-September 4 von Aufschnaiter, C., Alonzo, A. C., & Kost, D. (2015). Using learning progressions to support pre-service physics teachers’ noticing. Paper presented at the Annual International Conference of NARST, Chicago, April 11-14 Van Es, E. A., & Sherin, M. G. (2002). Learning to Notice: Scaffolding New Teachers’ Interpretations of Classroom Interactions. Journal of Technology & Teacher Education, 10(4), 571-596.

Author Information

James Watters (presenting / submitting)

Queensland University of Technology

Faculty of Education

Brisbane

Carmel Diezmann

Australian Catholic University