Project background
Theoretical background
The professional perception of students' learning processes is THE key to effective teaching by teachers. How can future teachers be enabled to perceive teaching in its processes and facets professionally, i.e. filtered by recourse to knowledge, already during their studies?
Professional teaching perception (PU)
Research question
Teaching is characterized by a simultaneity of different levels of action and decision-making. The demands on teachers are correspondingly complex and multi-layered. This becomes clear when looking at the theoretical modeling of professional competence according to Meschede (2014) and Blömeke, Gustafsson & Shavelson (2015): Through recourse to theory-based knowledge, beliefs and action scripts, teachers perceive teaching situations in a filtered manner. Simultaneously, they derive courses of action based on the perception and decide which of them to implement. Prospective teachers are confronted with particularly great challenges when it comes to acting appropriately in the classroom. They need learning opportunities to link knowledge with action and how they can use action scripts in a targeted manner. Compared to a cold bath in practical experience, working with videos or video vignettes represents an advantageous intermediate step in the initiation of instructional action competence. Vignettes can be paused and repeated - they can be perceived and options for action can be developed without being exposed to immediate pressure to act (Kersting et al. 2012). The use of video vignettes thus represents a highly didactic approach to situated learning. It enables the development and utilization of teaching situations in university education (Blomberg et al. 2013).
Previous work has established measurement tools and shown increases in PUW depending on different boundary conditions (Kunter & Klusmann 2010; Rehm & Bölsterli 2014; Straub, Geißel & Rehm 2020; Meister et al. 2020). For the field of learning at and with vignettes for the initiation or promotion of PU, there is a desideratum here in the systematic preparation of teaching concepts with instructional videos. VidNuT addresses this need for products. The goal is the development of a common, EU-DSGVO-compliant vignette database for use by institutions of teacher training. Specifically, video vignettes with task stems will be created as an online learning environment in four teaching subjects for a total of twelve topics of learner presentations. The learning environment will be integrated into different teaching settings.
Research question
Project structure
Classroom videos and vignettes as an excerpt represent a part of the reality of the entire classroom event (Meschede & Steffensky 2018). Now, in order not to obtain indiscriminate or even distorted excerpts of classroom reality (Dinkelaker 2018), video shooting and vignette genesis are to be related to the current state of vignette research with consideration (e.g., Gold et al. 2017; Meschede & Steffensky 2018). The VidNuT project team includes subject matter didacticians, experts in digital design, digital online learning environments, and evaluation. The project structure in VidNuT thereby increases the reach, thus the impact of the project, in two ways. The VidNuT project is carried out in cooperation with several so-called "small subjects" and it is interdisciplinary beyond subject didactics. The self-expression "small subjects" has a double reference both in terms of the traditionally smaller number of students in higher education compared to subjects such as mathematics, German, history, English and others, and in terms of the scope in the timetables of the participating countries. A cooperation of several of these subjects at different university locations significantly increases the number of students reached and at the same time improves the exchange between the subjects or between the lecturers at the project locations. The interdisciplinary composition of the project team ensures not only the sharing of subject didactic expertise on learner perceptions, professional competence and video vignettes, but also that the vignettes are optimally conceived and designed in terms of video technology, that the integration into the digital online learning environment is technically seamless, and that the project is evaluated and disseminated across all stakeholders.
Participating locations of the VidNuT project
In the project, teaching videos are shot at the different locations and vignettes are generated for use in jointly designed course formats. Ideally, the vignette-based section of the respective courses comprises six seminar sessions of 90 minutes each. In addition, detailed information about best practice teaching concepts is generated and hypotheses for further research projects are obtained. These are developed at the respective university locations by the so-called VidNuT designers and accompanied by specialist, didactic and research methodological expertise from the VidNuT experts.
Didactic anchor
Students' conceptions play a prominent role in teaching-learning processes (e.g., Gropengießer & Marohn 2018). A focus on student conceptions as a significant theoretical framing of subject didactic research and development work thus represents a supporting approach to professional perception of science and technology teaching events. In VidNuT, existing works on student conceptions are reviewed and are fundamental for the structured design of the scripts for the vignettes.
Project structure within VidNuT (video vignettes in science, technology and textiles)
Best practice or good practice in dealing with pupils' ideas is shown in the video (Blomberg et al. 2013) and the students can learn from it and share their perceptions and options for action in a co-constructive way.Course concepts that are based on the current state of vignette research .
PUW is promoted in the VidNuT project by focusing on learner ideas clearly outlined on a specific part of the subject-related didactic theoretical framework, and work with the vignettes in the courses is based on this. The digital learning environment is being expanded to include new editing and annotation functions.
Project progress
Specifically, the following content areas are addressed in the teaching video vignettes at the various project locations in the participating departments:
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VidNuT 1: Redox (chemistry: PH Tirol site)
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VidNuT 2: Acid-base (chemistry: University of Vienna)
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VidNuT 3: Nature of Science (Chemistry: PH Heidelberg)
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VidNuT 4: Optics (Physics: PH Schwäbisch Gmünd)
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VidNuT 5: Energy conversions (physics: University of Bozen)
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VidNuT 6: Warmth (physics: PH Tirol)
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VidNuT 7: Robots or robot-like machines (technology: PH Tirol)
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VidNuT 8: Electrical engineering (technology: PH Ludwigsburg)
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VidNuT 9: Mechanics / energy supply (technology: PH Schwäbisch Gmünd)
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VidNuT 10: Cover (textile: PH Luzern)
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VidNuT 11: Textile value chains (Textile: PH Tirol)
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VidNuT 12: fiber-color-surface (textile: PH Bern)
An essential part of the networking of the participating universities in the project are the joint retreats of the project participants ( TPM : Transnational Project Meeting for the exchange of VidNuT experts; C : Learning, teaching, training activity for the VidNuT designers to acquire skills; ME : Multiplier events for the dissemination).
A total of 36 lesson video vignettes with context materials and task master files are being developed and further developed as eLearning learning environments for LehrOnline: three vignettes plus materials and tasks are developed for each subject and location, i.e. nine in technology, nine in textiles, etc. In addition to the lesson video vignettes developed in the project ( O1 ) and the generation of course concepts as well as the establishment of the eLearning platform ( O3 & O4 ), a manual is created that is intended to describe the concrete procedure for development ( O2 ).
In addition, it is theoretically clarified in which competency modeling the PU is located, what models or heuristics for vignette design, task generation and design of the course conceptions in the project will be. Another level deals with the investigation of empirical research questions in the context of the event formats (qualitative or quantitative). These are included in a subsequent project exchange phase in order to finalize the concepts and incorporate them into the university curricula based on evidence. All students of the courses as well as the course leaders are evaluated or questioned.
In further digital meetings ( V1 & V2 ), the needs-based content on the selected media (e.g. supplementary advice on the video shooting workshop by the digital designer) or the course concepts (exchange via World Cafés) as well as research methods (advice and consultation for the empirical evaluation) include. The Critical Friends also play an advisory role in the project, external university lecturers from the subjects involved, who check the VidNuT products and provide feedback.
Critical Friends:
Prof. Dr. Maike Busker (Europa Universität Flensburg)
Prof. Dr. Heike Derwanz (Universität Oldenburg)
Prof. Dr. Jan Grünwald (Univ Mozarteum Salzburg)
Prof. Dr. Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer (Universität Graz)
JProf. Dr. Nico Link (Universität Dresden)
HS Prof. Dr. Beate Mayr-Zinser (KPH Edith Stein)
