Brendan Calandra

Using Video Editing to Cultivate Novice Teachers’ Practice

Abstract This article reports research concerning the effective use of video editing to help cultivate novice teachers’ reflective practice. The study reported here is part of a larger body of research on video-enhanced teacher reflection. For this study, we used a qualitative research design to examine two guided reflection activities for two groups of novice teachers. The first group debriefed with a teacher educator immediately after teaching their lesson. They later wrote about critical incidents that occurred during their teaching. The second group had no debriefing, but the participants were asked to capture their lessons on digital video, edit their video for two critical incidents, and reflect on the incidents in written form using the same rubric as the first group. Given that both groups used the same reflection guide, we found that students who developed video vignettes produced longer and more multifaceted reflections. We found implications of these results to be an important step towards facilitating novice teachers’ development.

Using Digital Video for Professional Development in Urban Schools: A Preservice Teacher's Experience with Reflection

Abstract This study used a variety of qualitative methods within the context of an exploratory single case study to examine the use of digital video as a means for a preservice teacher to capture personal teaching episodes and reflect on them as an integral part of her professional development. Results demonstrate how an urban preservice teacher’s work with digital video of her teaching promoted reflection and the development of teacher identity. Results also demonstrated how a teacher educator was able to use the digital video as a tool to help the beginning teacher identify effective practices.

Can Embedded Annotations Help High School Students Perform Problem Solving Tasks Using a Web-Based Historical Document?.

Abstract Two versions of a Web site on the United States Constitution were used by students in separate high school history classes to solve problems that emerged from four constitutional scenarios. One site contained embedded conceptual scaffolding devices in the form of textual annotations; the other did not. The results of our study demonstrated the situational importance of the annotations as well as the need for instructional Web designers to make their design intentions transparent. A holistic approach to examining annotational content is recommended in which teachers and designers consider how Web-based annotational content might function in instructional settings. An initial topology is also proposed for the annotations on the Web site used in this study.

Diffusion and reinvention of ePortfolio design practices as a catalyst for teacher learning

This paper reports a comparative analysis of case studies of seven prospective secondary mathematics teachers. The individual case studies described the participants’ experiences in an undergraduate preparation program during the implementation of a portfolio‐based credentialing process. The researchers studied how the participants’ electronic teaching portfolio (ePortfolio) design practices changed during their tenure in the program, and how acquiring these practices supported their development of habits of mind emphasized in the curriculum of their teacher preparation program.

A New Perspective on Preservice Teachers’ Video-Aided Reflection

Abstract This article adds to the literature on video-aided professional development for teachers by presenting a schema-based framework for analyzing teachers’ video-aided reflection on their own teaching. Qualitative analysis of two novice teachers’ video-enhanced reflection was used to demonstrate how the framework could be used. Results emphasized the importance of participants’ prior knowledge as a major influence on their ability to reflect. The authors contend that this is important because prior knowledge should determine the kind of guidance participants need in order to benefit most from video-aided reflection.

An Electronic System to Support Novice Teachers' Reflective Lesson Design

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an electronic support tool that can be used by teacher educators and novice teachers to foster habits of reflective, systematic instructional planning.Design/methodology/approach – The authors provide a rationale for their work, present a theoretical framework, propose a unique instructional design model, and illustrate one approach to implementing the model – as an electronic support system.Findings – The paper discusses a feasible and novel approach to promoting habits of systematic lesson design combined with guided reflection. Although the authors describe a particular electronic system as context for this paper, the theoretical model is flexible in nature and can be applied in many modern teaching contexts.Practical implications – It is hoped that the approach can be refined and implemented as part of a systemic effort to address like issues in teacher education. The paper will be of particular value to teacher, educators and educational researchers f...

Embodied Experiences in Virtual Worlds Role-Play as a Conduit for Novice Teacher Identity Exploration: A Case Study

This article presents a descriptive case study of teacher embodiment during a role-play parent-teacher conference in a collaborative virtual world. Using a single novice teacher as the primary unit of analysis, the article describes the nature of teacher embodiment by deconstructing the teachers various Discourses using Gees Building Tasks as an analytical tool and reconstructing them using embodiment literature as a synthesis tool. The findings indicate that well-designed experiences in collaborative virtual worlds coupled with meaningful reflection of those experiences have the potential to allow novice teachers to feel and act like a teacher, a phenomenon that is called embodiment in this article. The study provides theoretical and empirical basis for continued examination of the use of collaborative virtual worlds for clinical practice.

Preservice Teachers Experience Reading Response Pedagogy in a Multi-User Virtual Environment

Abstract This qualitative case study describes how 18 preservice teachers learned to nurture literary meaning-making via activities based on Louise Rosenblatts Reader Response Theory within a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). Participants re-created and responded to scenes from selected works of childrens literature in Second Life as a way to investigate reader response pedagogy in question. We found that, consistent with Harris, Mishra, and Koehlers (2009) TPACK activity types, these preservice teachers were able to learn about a technology integration activity within the context of building English Language Arts (ELA) pedagogical content knowledge.

A unique design for high-impact safety and awareness training

The authors were asked to design and develop a large-scale, web-based learning environment that would effectively assist international aid workers in conducting their daily tasks in the field, at home and in the office in a safer and more secure fashion. The design, development and dissemination of the training needed to be done quickly, inclusively and on a broad scale. This article describes related analysis, design and development, and in doing so illustrates the adoption and use of a unique, blended design approach.