Source: Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, Volume 26, Number 3, Spring 2010.
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)
Although video self-analysis has been used for years in teacher education, the camera has almost always focused on the preservice teacher.
In this study, the researcher videotaped eight preservice teachers four times each during their student-teaching internships. One camera was focused on them while another was focused on their students.
The research questions that guided data collection and analysis included the following:
What are preservice teachers' perceptions of the value of video self-analysis?
Can video self-analysis of their teaching and their students' responses help preservice teachers become better noticers and interpreters of classroom interactions while they are occurring?
Can they improve their withitness?
How can teacher education programs use video self-analysis to better prepare preservice teachers for teaching?
Their perspectives both before and after watching DVDs of themselves and their students' responses provided the qualitative data for this study.
Findings indicate that the participants strongly believe in the effectiveness of video self-analysis to help them notice classroom interactions and improve their "withitness."
Specific benefits included seeing themselves from the students' perspective, reducing annoying mannerisms, improving classroom management, becoming better able to notice how well students understood, and becoming more aware of their reflection-in-action.