1. Using YouTube to Develop & Assess Pre-service Teachers’ Expertise in Instruction & to Help Develop Peer Networks – within an Online Course Empire State College Master of Arts in Teaching Program Eileen O’Connor, Ph.D.

2. Agenda Background on the course & the needs of the course ; research questions Findings from the YouTube pilot Conclusions, improvements, and next steps – within teacher education Some general findings for all instructors

3. Course Particulars Pre-service teachers who are learning to become science teachers; career changing adults An associated course is face-to-face and allows these teachers to practice but content-pedagogy experts are not always available Purpose of YouTube pilot—to have students: develop a microteaching that they share with peers & the instructor that can aid in their development as K12 teachers, that can serve as a course assessment , and that can encourage peer networks

4. Course particulars: the nature of the course interactions The online course itself is highly interactive and tech-enabled online course: Second Life for meetings and discussions Talk-aloud discussion boards for planning Networking students in an expressed instructional objective

5. Demographics: Career-changing adults

6. Research questions Can the use of readily-available video-recording and sharing applications, such as YouTube, provide more opportunities for pre-service teachers working in a largely online environment to practice teaching before they enter the classroom? How can having more opportunities for content-expert faculty review help these students grow as research-based science teachers? Can students in online courses develop more collegial relationships through YouTube sharing? What areas appear as problematic when students self-created and posted these videos – from a technical perspective and from a presentation perspective? How did the YouTube serve as an assessment tool within the course? How has the use of student-developed videos improved the course effectiveness? What can be gathered from this study that could inform online courses in general? How self-videotaping and posting be used to improve future courses with pre-service teachers?

7. You & your online students get to know each other

8. Findings: students get to know each other More personal interactions were apparent: Peer help with creating and posting the YouTubes Students discuss their presentation style Do I look shifty eyes? Students comment about themselves personally Not happy with the beard  it was shaved Personalities become apparent From show-off-y to competent to quiet

9. Findings: learning the technology Some technology struggles in the beginning; but quickly overcome – issues at the beginning: Uploading problems – timing out / too long Embedding the right links No Helpdesk – students helped each other Initial handout from the instructor with some “basics” The icebreaker to test the process was very helpful - and students enjoyed their presentations

10. Ways students worked Sophisticated video-editing was clearly stated as NOT being required; this was not per se a technology course

11. View students’ actual work

12. Findings: now you can analyze performance characteristics Such as the style of teaching that was evident:

13. Students were creative in displaying data & its use

14. A “performance based” assessment Brings in a vital aspect of instruction and review: The process of creating the microteaching is instructive in-and-of itself As evident in the scientific quality within the productions even without specific coaching on how & what to present Kindly but pointed review Mastery of many areas but still not student centered or interesting More similar to actual classroom observations The content-pedagogy instructor can now observe technique, technology integration, & aspects of comfort in front of an audience Difficult qualities to assess in online environment

15. Findings Good science & tech . . . however: Too much to an adult audience – their colleagues Despite criteria, notes, rubrics, and comments But improvement by the second microteaching Too much “this is what you show know about science” and not enough engendering of the questions that science addresses Too little evidence of why K12 students would be interested or engaged in the science

16. Benefits Good way for online instructors to get to know students – in an asynchronous manner Easy to use: The learning curve for the technology is small Network students for peer support Important communication skills that teachers need: Good modeling for their own classroom; K12 students work well in this environment

17. Value to the students Practice with the technology and with the teaching; learning how to assemble materials needed, how to address the standards Getting to know their peers better Using 21st century skills

18. Value in teacher prep Practicing with assembly of all the materials and ideas needed when teaching: Requires the integration of many areas: the science; the lessons; the technology; and the videotaping  goes beyond what is evident in a lesson plan Provides practice in speaking and later critiquing The natural concern about speaking with colleagues as evident in comments to the audience and introductions Also, these students may soon have to do a demo lesson on a job interview

19. Value to using YouTube, in general

20. Lessons learned for teacher ed: more research & development needed Very valuable techniques – show the good and the bad of teaching As we were taught – but movement towards best practice VERY difficult to change practice – we teach how we were taught Requirements for improvement – in the outcomes and the instruction (the technology itself was mostly supportive) A more realistic conception of pre-classroom teaching needs and how they are assessed must be developed More YouTube models of best practice – they should be analyzed and discussed by students before they create their microteachings; more scaffolding and assignments on the student-centeredness aspects Criteria & rubrics should better alignment with desired outcomes within the video format – need to highlight the new expectations Address ways to bring in the unseen audience Consider creating more specific peer review – anonymous, perhaps

21. Pilot outcome Very worthy – providing a whole new face for pre-service teacher education Closer to the classroom – than written lesson plans; much better assessment of preparation for teaching However, lack of “real” students may have skewed this towards a performance for other scientist Performance-based assessment – heralds our adult students: good concrete experience Need to bring the course itself into better alignment with this performance approach  areas in need of improvement were highlighted

22. Notes to prospective implementers Valuable way to assess performance but we need to improve the evaluation of live performances and not simply “papers” Particularly useful in clinical programs and/or where performances are required Model the techniques you want Easier said then done In teacher education, you need a new mental model of teaching; the YouTube gives evidence to the deeper thinking of students The instructor will have students continue to use these videos in the fall semester’s course