Using Online Collaboration to Improve Prospective Teachers' Analysis of Teaching

• Published in: Mathematics teacher educator Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 26 - 38
• Main Authors: Spitzer, Sandy, Phelps-Gregory, Christine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) 01-03-2018; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• Subjects: Collaborative learning; Computer Mediated Communication; Decimals; Educators; Guidelines; Intervention; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Lesson Plans; Mathematical concepts; Mathematics; Mathematics education; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics teachers; Online learning; Outcomes of Education; Peer Relationship; Preservice Teachers; Skill Development; Teacher education; Teacher Education Programs; Teachers; Teaching Methods; Video Technology
• ISSN: 2167-9789; 2167-9789
• DOI: 10.5951/mathteaceduc.6.2.0026

To engage in lifelong systematic learning, prospective teachers (PTs) must be prepared to analyze teaching on the basis of its effects on student learning. The authors present results of an intervention study aimed at developing PTs' ability to analyze a classroom video sample. The intervention used an online discussion board activity structured along three research-based dimensions, which allowed PTs to build their analysis skills outside of class time. Evidence for this intervention's effectiveness includes findings that PTs engaged deeply with their peers' ideas, many changing their mind about the lesson's success, and that PTs' final reflections showed increased attention to the mathematics of the learning goal. However, after the intervention, many PTs continued to take nonmathematical evidence as indicators of student learning. Implications illuminate key design features of interventions as well as the affordances and challenges of using online interactions for improving PTs' lesson analysis skills.