Federica Olivero explains
There is much written about the so-called 'divide' between research and practice in teaching. Among the explanations for the reluctance of teachers to engage with educational research is the mistrust of representations of the classroom in academic writing. Can you believe it? How accurate is the 'reality' being described and commented on?
The act of teaching is a complex one. Various forms of knowledge - practical knowledge about managing a classroom, the tacit, intuitive knowledge of experience, subject knowledge, knowledge about learning about specific learners and their learning styles - all of these are interacting and combining in the heat of the classroom moment. For thinking and reflecting about action in ways that might develop insights into practice we need a 'cooler' situation. One where observers can stand outside the action and make connections with their own experience. This more detached relationship to what is happening is necessary to provoke a deeper enagagement with research, and to encourage innovation and risk-taking.
The videopaper offers this 'cool space' and addresses the issue of the portrayal of teaching and learning in ways that are believable. It is a new form of publishing which marries the traditional research paper with video footage of real classroom situations. Although the footage is analysed and commented on from a specific perspective, observers are free to make their own interpretations, challenge or develop the commentary of the videopaper writers. The evidence of classroom activity used by the writers is shown, not described. Even with the problem of 'selective editing' this is a useful step in offering 'realistic portraits of practice'.
A video paper consists of video extracts from classrooms, text, slides, and internal and external hyperlinks. The construction links raw data and video with analysis and observation. The reader of a videopaper is in control of how it is read. An order is suggested but this is not prescriptive and the text can be encountered in a non-linear way - like browsing web pages.
For a more detailed account of videopapers, including how to create your own, go to Publications:
Seeing is Believing: using videopapers to transform teachers' professional knowledge and practice. Federica Olivero, Rosamund Sutherland and Peter John, Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 34 2 June 2004.
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