USING VIDEO RECORDER FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHER REFLECTIONS AND SELF-EVALUATIONS

L. SOSIBO

7 DECEMBER, 2010

Introduction Teaching practice evaluation- most essential and most

controversial component of TEPs Pre-service teachers’ performance evaluated thru two

major forms of TP evaluations: formative and summative Formative: coaching, diagnosis and feedback- provides info

related to the improvement of instruction Summative: (grades/marks)provide info related to success or

failure Stryk & McCoy (1993) regard formative evaluations as

primary and summative as secondary Arguments for TEPs to invest more resources in

formative evaluations (Andrews & Barnes (1990) Other evaluation formats- portfolios and observations

by mentor and evaluators Problem: Subjectivity of evaluation formats (Gordon,

2007)

Self-Evaluation Due to subjectivity of existing formats,

there is a need for pre-service teachers to perform self-evaluation (both for formative and summative evaluations)

Why Self-evaluations?• Self-evaluation is growing in popularity

internationally• However, it has not been widely explored in most

South African TEPs• Rolheiser and Ross (n.d.): Self-evaluation -

students judging their own quality of work based on evidence and explicit criteria for the purpose of doing better work in the future (p.1)

Self-evaluation (Cont’d)

• Students who self-evaluate their progress tend to be more in control of their learning (Olina & Sullivan, 2004)

Self-evaluation allows pre-service teachers to evaluate themselves, which helps them focus on their strengths and weaknesses (Stryk & McCoy (1993)

Students who self-evaluate tend to have more positive attitudes toward learning and higher self-efficacy perceptions than those who do not (Zimmerman and Kitsantas, 1999 in Olina & Sullivan, 2004)

Self-evaluation encourage students’ autonomy and higher order thinking skills, augment intellectual independence and self-confidence and heighten students’ ability to make judgments (Omelicheva (2004)

Stryk & McCoy (1993) advocate the use of videotape, while Subedi (2009) advocates a reflective diary

Video RecorderCoombe & Canning (2002)

“In today’s technological age, no other audiovisual aid can match the potential of video recorder. Video can be exploited in a number of ways to encourage self-assessment in the classroom. For example, students can be videotaped or they can videotape each other and then assess their language skills. An obvious advantage to the use of video is that students can assess not only their communicative or language skills but their paralinguistic (i.e. body language) skills as well”.

Sultana & Sharmee (n.d.) Video recordings of teachers provide them with totally

objective information They tell exactly what is really said and done They can tell the teacher about her voice, gestures, verbal

mannerisms, etc. However, videos alone without reflection and self-evaluation

are meaningless and cannot bring about improvement in teaching practice

Video Recorder (Cont.d)Stryk & McCoy (1993)

Provides pre-service teachers with specific info regarding their performance

Helps them to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses

Allows them to evaluate their teaching performance as often and as many times as they desire

If videotaped alone with the class, videotaping may be less threatening than evaluation by supervisor

Video Recorder (Cont.d)

HargieHead & Morrow (1986)

Provide a worksheet that can be used to perform video self-evaluation containing these items: Voice, gestures and bodily action (posture, use of space,

etc., and what these communicate Whether the items above enhanced (or detracted) from

the message of speech, strategies to reinforce/change their use to enhance speech

Dialogue with audience, interest and enthusiasm in topic

Lessons learned from the speaking opportunity Areas of improvement and strategies (including steps

and detailed plan) for improvement

Video Recorder (Cont’d)Bedics & Webb (1971)

Report a study in which pre-service teachers analyzed their videotaped teaching sessions. The following conclusions were made:

Pre-service teachers tended to focus on: Their personal characteristics: voice(pitch, quality,

clarity, dialect); verbal mannerisms; personal appearance The teaching behaviors: enthusiasm, verbal behavior

(amount of talking by teacher) Awareness of learner behaviors: eye contact with

learners, discipline (control), learner attentiveness, learner participation, recognition/naming of individual learners

Lesson: objectives/outcomes, preparation, questioning techniques, learners’ needs (intellectual, emotional, social and physical), pacing.

RIFTAL Project Video record micro lessons and demo

lessons for use by FET students (could be used by GET as well)

Micro lessons-for pre-service teacher self-evaluation- based on the reasons given

Demo lessons: by subject didactics lecturers and school-based mentors Lecturers and mentors can get opportunity to

evaluate their own teaching practice Pre-service teachers can observe best-practice

examples and learn from them Demo lessons- HS students visit univ- improve

image of university- perceived as an ivory tower

Thembelihle High School

Mrs Dos Reis Teaching Acc

Mr Thomas

Progress Made Seven micro lessons (4 Econ, 2 Acc & 1

IsiXhosa Communication videos recorded) One Acc demo with Thembelihle HS students More micro and demo lessons still to be made Commitment by 2 Maths didactics lecturers

and 1 High School CAT teacher Assistance and commitment from Fundani-

tremendous- Special mention: Benny Karlie- video and

website New partnership: Dr E. Ivala & Mrs D. Gachago

Challenges Lack of willingness by some subject didactics

lecturers to make video-recorded presentations

Mentor anxiety about being video recorded Anxiety and apprehension result from fear of

being judged by student teachers Yet, these materials are meant to create

opportunity for growth for lecturers, mentors and student teachers l

Misunderstanding of the concept- micro lessons-full lessons instead of micro lessons

Highlights a need for training on conducting micro lessons

Future Prospects Hoped that: Research, which informs our practice as

teacher educators will develop from this project

More buy-in/commitment of colleagues and school mentors

Lecturers and pre-service teachers will see the benefits of potential growth and development embedded in this project

THANK YOU