Archived Video Conference Lessons and the Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers (Lecciones grabadas en vídeo-conferencia: valoración de un programa de Formación del Profesorado)

Graham Passmore

Description

Abstract
Introduction. In this study, nine pre-service teachers worked in group (three groups of two and one group of three) to deliver a series of seven lessons via desktop videoconference from a Faculty of Education to elementary students in their classroom.
Method. Each group delivered 2 lessons over a 4-week period. During delivery, the lessons were archived to disk. Each pre-service teacher viewed the performance and submitted reflective advice for improvement to an asymnchronous text thread before planning for the next lesson began. The archived lessons where subsequently examined for evidence of high and low-level teaching practice against performance indicators of a modified version of the Ontario Teacher Performance Appraisal Manual. The modified Manual contains 37 indicators in three teaching domains: professional knowledge, teaching practice, commitment to pupils and pupil learning.
Results. Low scores were found on all seven indicators of professional knowledge and there was a mixed performance in the teaching practice domain (9 low and 5 high). Pre-service teacher performance was high on the majority (12 of 16) of the commitment to pupils and pupil learning indicators. It is argued that high and low results obtained in studies such as this might be used to provide pre-service teachers with guidance between the videoconference lessons that lead them to improvements in their classroom teaching
Resumen
Introducción. En este estudio, nueve maestros en prácticas dieron siete lecciones, por medio de conferencia por vídeo desde una Facultad de Educación, a estudiantes de primaria que se encontraban en su aula.
Método. Las lecciones se grabaron y se archivaron
después fueron examinadas buscando evidencias de prácticas docentes buenas o pobres, según los indicadores de rendimiento definidos en el Manual de Evaluación del Rendimiento de Profesores de Ontario. El Manual contiene 37 indicadores en tres dominios de la docencia: conocimiento profesional, práctica docente, y compromiso con los alumnos y con su aprendizaje.
Resultados. Las puntuaciones para los siete indicadores de conocimiento profesional fueron bajas, y el rendimiento en el dominio de la práctica docente fue irregular (9 bajo y 5 alto). El rendimiento de los maestros en prácticas fue alto para la mayoría (12 de 16) en los indicadores del compromiso con los alumnos y su aprendizaje.
Discusión. Se defiende que los resultados tanto buenos como pobres se pueden utilizar para dar dirección a una Facultad de Educación y poder modificar su programa hacia una mejor preparación de los futuros maestros.

Sujets

• Visioconférence

Informations

• Publié par: erevistas
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English

Extrait

Archived Video Conference Lessons and the
Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers



Graham Passmore, Wayne Melvilla


Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario



Canada

[e-mail]


Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, nº 12. Vol. 5(2), 2007. ISSN: 1696-2095. pp: 433-452 - 433 -
Graham Passmore et al.

Abstract

Introduction. In this study, nine pre-service teachers worked in group (three groups of two
and one group of three) to deliver a series of seven lessons via desktop videoconference from
a Faculty of Education to elementary students in their classroom.

Method. Each group delivered 2 lessons over a 4-week period. During delivery, the lessons
were archived to disk. Each pre-service teacher viewed the performance and submitted
reflective advice for improvement to an asymnchronous text thread before planning for the next
lesson began. The archived lessons where subsequently examined for evidence of high and
low-level teaching practice against performance indicators of a modified version of the
Ontario Teacher Performance Appraisal Manual. The modified Manual contains 37 indicators in
three teaching domains: professional knowledge, teaching practice, commitment to pupils and
pupil learning.

Results. Low scores were found on all seven indicators of professional knowledge and there
was a mixed performance in the teaching practice domain (9 low and 5 high). Pre-service
teacher performance was high on the majority (12 of 16) of the commitment to pupils and
pupil learning indicators. It is argued that high and low results obtained in studies such as this
might be used to provide pre-service teachers with guidance between the videoconference
lessons that lead them to improvements in their classroom teaching.

Keywords: Videoconference, pre-service teacher performance

Receipt of manuscript 20-11-2006
Initial acceptance: 14-08-2007
Final acceptance: 25-08-2007
- 434 - Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, nº 12. Vol. 5(2), 2007. ISSN: 1696-2095. pp: 433-452
Archived Video Conference Lessons and the Assessment of a Teacher Training Program

Introduction

In Passmore and Goodman (2005), nine pre-service teachers worked in groups (three
groups of two and one group of three) to deliver seven desktop video conference lessons to
elementary students in remote classrooms during the academic portion of their teacher
training. Each group delivered two lessons over a four week period (one lesson was cancelled due
to technical problems). Each lesson was archived to disk so that all of the pre-service teachers
could watch, and reflect upon, the teaching performance and then submit those reflections to
an asynchronous discussion thread. The objective was for each group of pre-service teachers
to use their own reflections and the reflections of their peers to develop plans of action for the
next lesson by which improvements in their teaching might be realized. The performances
were measured along the three domains (professional knowledge, teaching practice,
commitment to pupils and pupil learning) of a version of the Canadian Province of Ontario’s Teacher
Performance Appraisal Manual (2000) that Passmore, Fredrickson and Bowen (2006)
developed.

Passmore et al adapted the Ontario Teacher’s Performance Appraisal Manual (TPAM)
in a multi-step process that eschewed indicators of teacher performance that would not
manifest in archived videoconference lessons and by rewording the remaining indicators (where
necessary) such that they pertained to videoconference lessons. The structure of the TPAM
(and the modified version) is such that each of the three domains is comprised of a number of
competencies, and each competency is comprised of a number of performance indicators.
Table 1 provides examples of competencies and their indicators that illustrate this structure.

Table 1: The structure of the modifed TPAM
Domain Competency Performance Indicators
Commitment to Teachers demonstrate commitment to Shapes instruction appropriately so that it is helpful to
Pupils and Pupil the well-being and development of all students who learn in a variety of ways
Learning pupils
Effectively motivates students to improve student learning
Professional Know- Teachers know their subject matter, the uses appropriate diagnostic techniques to assess student
ledge Ontario curriculum and education- difficulties
related legislation
employs formative assessments to check for understanding
Teaching Practice Teachers communicate effectively with demonstrates a positive, professional attitude when
pupils, parents and colleagues communicating with students

communicates clear, challenging and achievable
expectations for students

Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, nº 12. Vol. 5(2), 2007. ISSN: 1696-2095. pp: 433-452 - 435 - Graham Passmore et al.


The Passmore et al. modified scale contained 76 indicators of teacher performance; the
original TPAM contained 132 indicators. While the TPAM is copyrighted and cannot be
duplicated in full in this document, Table 1 presents sufficient examples of the modified
TPAM’s competencies and indicators that the reader can grasp its nature. Passmore and
Goodman selected, through careful review, 37 of the adapted indicators (the indicators that
they thought would be most likely to manifest in lessons that concern the material that was to
be taught in their study).

Once the lessons were delivered and archived three reviewers gauged the quality of
the performances. They rated each indicator along a four-point rubric (unsatisfactory,
satisfactory, good and exemplary). That is, they rated the frequency with which the teacher groups
exhibited the behaviour of each indicator. Always displaying the behaviour warranted an
“excellent” rating. Displaying the behaviour with decreasing frequency warranted lower ratings
thus: consistently performing the behaviour (good), generally performing the behaviour
(satisfactory), and infrequently performing the behavior (unsatisfactory). In addition to the
frequency with which behaviour was exhibited, the Passmore and Goodman (2005) reviewers
made judgments as to their quality. On receipt of the reviewers’ ratings Passmore and
Goodman (2005) generated median scores for each indicator. They converted them from
unsatisfactory through exemplary ratings to the numerical values one through four respectively.
Summing the values for the indicators enabled the generation of total teaching scores for each
lesson. By plotting total scores over time, Passmore and Goodman found that the groups’ total
scores increased over the course of the study.

This study revisits the Passmore and Goodman (2005) data. The goal is to identify
performance indicators where the groups’ performances were consistently high, consistently
low or changed (increased or decreased) over time. The findings we present, while limited by
the small size of the Passmore and Goodman (2005) study, are used to illustrate how a
Faculty of Education might have used them to gauge the efficacy of the performances of the class
(the groups of pre-service teachers) in respect to particular indicators, competences and
domains and to provide feedback (between and over the course of multiple videoconference
lessons) to realize quantifiable improvements in the class’ teaching. It should be said that had the
Passmore and Goodman study involved individual pre-service teacher-lead lessons the
advisements could have been directed toward individual teachers. That is, numerical ratings for
- 436 - Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, nº 12. Vol. 5(2), 2007. ISSN: 1696-2095. pp: 433-452
Archived Video Conference Lessons and the Assessment of a Teacher Training Program

indicators might be used to provide advisements to individual pre-service teachers such that
their teaching improves with time.

Literature review

Known uses for videoconferencing in education include: the delivery of educational
courses and programs, the provision of learning opportunities for professionals in regional
areas, and pre-service courses for prospective teachers (Passmore, Fredrickson & Bowen,
2006; DeBourgh, 2003; Andrews & Klease, 2002; Jones & Sorenson, 2001; Cifuentes &
Murphy, 2000; Hearnshaw, 2000; North, Strain & Abbot, 2000; Boylan & Francis, 1999;
Dolhon, 1999a and b). Two research efforts that hold particular relevance to the work of
Passmore and Goodman (2005) are Rosen (2003) and Chun, Sharpe, Crawford, Gopinathan,
Khine, Moo and Wong (2000). In Chun et al. (2000), pre-service teachers watched video clips
of their practicum teaching and commented on their own efforts. The researchers held that the
reflective process of watching and commenting facilitated the teachers’ growth and
develo