College of Education and Human Development

CEHD's Innovative Use of Video Coaching is Enhancing Teacher Preparation

Every two weeks, Summer Haury takes out her iPhone and props it on a desk. She then gets ready to videotape herself in front of a class of squirmy sixth graders.

This is a regular assignment for the teacher preparation program she's enrolled in as a graduate student at George Mason University. Once she's uploaded the 3-5 minute video clip, Summer's professor watches it and adds time-synched comments and questions.

The feedback loop is then closed when Summer discusses the digital notes with both her professor and her mentor teacher at the elementary school where she's doing her internship.

This video-based observation and coaching allows Summer and other aspiring (pre-service) teachers to watch, reflect, adjust, and improve their teaching performance for the next time.

It's an innovative approach now in its second year at the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason, one of the first education schools in the Washington, D.C. region to make use of a new, cloud-based technology called Edthena. The secure platform facilitates a coaching approach for teachers that is regularly used with athletes, musicians, and others where technique is critical to success.

At Mason, education students are asked to record themselves as they incorporate a particular teaching method while on assignment as student-teachers in public schools throughout Northern Virginia. They may be asked, for example, to videotape themselves conducting a read-aloud mini-lesson with second graders in order to model comprehension strategies.

"It gives us a rich basis with which to collaboratively discuss with the teacher candidates what we observe, almost in a play-by-play manner," said Seth Parsons, associate professor of education.

"We can re-visit precise teaching moments and ask questions such as 'What was your intention in doing this here?' or 'Was the reaction from the class what you were expecting here?'. By highlighting moments in the video for reflection and coaching, the teacher candidates gain a deep learning experience that's a bridge between their course work and field experience," Parsons said.

Within each video, the professors offer praise, point out strengths, question assumptions, and identify areas for improvement. The annotated videos are a touchpoint for discussing many aspects of good teaching, from instructional quality to classroom management to student engagement. The graduate students end up taking a step back and change their perspective to consider how their teaching "moves" impact individual pupils and the classroom as a whole.

 

George Mason University is among several top-ranked education schools that are using the Edthena platform to enhance teacher preparation. After a student-teacher uploads a video, a faculty member or supervisor can add questions, suggestions, strengths, and notes.

 

"I was able to see simple things, like my tendency to stand on the left side of the room more than the right, and complex things, like my preference for asking too many follow-up questions without enough wait time," said Laurel Taylor. 

Parsons noted that a video approach "makes inherent sense to the mostly 20-somethings in our programs." The graduate students have grown up with YouTube video and commenting, and their generation tends to be comfortable sharing aspects of themselves on social media.

Even so, it's not an easy thing to see and hear yourself on video in a professional setting for the first time.

"There's definitely an initial period of anxiety among the students about videotaping themselves," said Associate Professor Audra Parker, the academic program coordinator for the Elementary Education program and the person who spearheaded the video coaching approach at the college.

The faculty understand this. There's an element of vulnerability when trying out techniques as a student-teacher in the often fluid environment of a classroom… and then having your performance reviewed by multiple supervisors. And so the first assignments are always low key: the graduate students start off by videotaping themselves giving a two-minute tour of their student-teaching classroom.

"Any initial apprehension quickly fades away once they see the value of video in their professional development," said Parker. "Soon the students notice things about how they are teaching or about a child's behavior that they were not aware of before."

Adding video coaching to Mason's teacher preparation program was a significant undertaking propelled by faculty members committed to clinically-rich teacher education.

"Without video, post-observation reflections between a student and a coach need to happen very soon after the observation is conducted," said Parker. "By using this approach and removing the required immediacy, students are not burdened by the emotional responses that often occur right after a lesson. Now they are able to be much more objective in their reflections."

Video coaching in teacher preparation was first piloted at George Mason in spring 2014 by the Elementary Education master's degree program and also by the Secondary English Education master's degree program that is led by Professor Kristien Zenkov. The faculty immediately recognized its potential for creating more timely, effective, collaborative, and purposeful debriefings with students. The next year, video coaching was fully adopted by the programs.

“We actually went from zero use of video to pretty consistent use across courses and field experiences, all in the span of a year," said Parker.

The college's experience in implementing the Edthena tool is chronicled in a recently published book chapter called "Exploring the Use of Video Coding in Literacy and English Teacher Preparation."

 

This article was written by Pam McKeta.

 

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About CEHD

George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) includes two schools: the School of Education, one of the most comprehensive education schools in Virginia, and the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. CEHD offers a full range of courses, certificates, and degree programs on campus, online, and on site to more than 4,000 students each year. CEHD is fully accredited by NCATE, and all licensure programs are approved by the Virginia Department of Education. George Mason University, located just outside of Washington, DC, is Virginia's largest public research university.

For additional information:

• CEHD Communications: cehdnews@gmu.edu
• Elementary Education program: gse.gmu.edu/elemed
• Secondary Education program: gse.gmu.edu/seed

Follow CEHD on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MasonCEHD or Twitter at @MasonCEHD.