Panopto for self-submitted lesson observations [18-59] Home : ALT Annual Conference 2018

Public Group active 7 months, 1 week ago

Wed, Sep 12 2018, 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Authors: Scott Farrow, and Anne McLoughlin

Room: Rm 2.218

Theme: Participation through Learning Technology

Type: Poster & poster talk – 5mins

Description

Session Description

This poster presentation explores the findings of our study into how effective the use of Panopto video software has been, and the quality impact upon assessment and feedback. It also gives an opportunity to share our practice which could be used within other institutions that require observation of students practice.

This research informed pedagogy encourages participation through Learning Technology by using education technology (Panopto) to open up deeper discussion and critical reflection of their lesson observations. It also increases accessibility to the course by allowing those in settings where face to face observation is unachievable as well as allowing students to develop their digital literacy.

Session content: evaluation and reflection

As more students access distance-learning opportunities, there is a need for Higher Education Institutions to embrace technology as a means to move away from traditional approaches and provide innovative alternatives which ensure that all students have equitable experiences and that barriers of distance to not endanger this (Heafner, Petty & Hartsholme 2012).

Teachers on postgraduate specialist inclusion courses are required to have an observation of their practice of teaching and assessment. Observation of classroom practice is a fundamental concept of many teaching programmes. Lahiff (2015) emphasises that learning through practical experiences promotes an in depth understanding and O’Leary (2014) affirmed this by highlighting how the observer can nurture key pedagogical skills to promote the development of effective pedagogical practices. Many of our postgraduate students are distance learners making it impractical for a tutor to visit them all in person. The lessons that they undertake are usually one-to-one specialist lessons and up to an hour long, with around 60 students per cohort.

Panopto, lecture capture software, is used to provide a system where students can upload their self-recorded lessons securely to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). These can then be viewed by the observation tutor for formative, then summative feedback. Cockburn (2005: 373) raises the issue that there may be a feeling of an ‘infringement of professional rights’ when professionals are faced with observations. O’Leary (2012) expresses that issues such as these arise when teachers feel that observations are imposed on them rather than a positive, supportive process, which assist their continuous professional development needs.

Students are encouraged to use the recorded lessons to reflect on their own practice and evaluations on lessons have improved since students have been using this process. We also decided to use the system as a tool for teaching and learning. Recorded lessons have also been shown in face-to-face sessions for critical evaluation. This process is being used on one postgraduate course, which is blended learning with a required number of face-to-face teaching sessions and the additional teaching is online. The teachers on these programmes are nationwide. Panopto has given us the opportunity to streamline the students’ workflow, as well as provide detailed, swift feedback, secure access for moderators, a valuable reflection tool for students and a permanent record of assessment for quality assurance.

Additional benefits to this process are increased engagement between students and observers as face-to-face observation only gives students a limited time for feedback. It also helps to increase important digital literacy skills for students and has increased accessibility to our courses for those teaching in alternative environments where face-to-face observation are not possible.

References

COCKBURN, J. (2005). Perspectives and politics of classroom observation. Research in Post-Compulsory Education. vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 373-388.

HEAFNER, T.L., PETTY, T.M. & HARTSHOLME, R. 2012, “University supervisor perspectives of the remote observation of graduate interns”, Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 143-163.

LAHIFF, A. (2015). Maximizing vocational teachers’ learning: The feedback discussion in the observation of teaching for initial teacher training in further education, London Review of Education, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 3.

O’LEARY, M. (2014). Classroom observation: a guide to the effective observation of teaching and learning, Routledge, London.

O’LEARY, M. (2012). “Exploring the role of lesson observation in the English education system: a review of methods, models and meanings”, Professional Development in Education, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 791-810.