Bondar O.V.
Evaluating and implementing video
technologies in class
Video is a
valuable and possibly underused classroom tool. Video
as a listening tool can enhance the listening experience for our students. The
setting, action, emotions, gestures, etc, that our students can observe in a
video clip, provide an important visual stimulus for
language production and practice.There are four phases of
evaluating and implementing video technology.
1) Content and
instructional presentation
In the first phase,
teachers evaluate the video technology for its content and instructional
presentation, which means how it fits with the outlined goals and objectives of
the lesson or the course. Goals should always be tied to student achievement. They should be measurable. The goals should be linked
to a year-end assessment or other standards-based means of determining if
students have reached an established level of performance [1]. To establish the
goal, write it in simple, direct language that can be understood by almost any
audience. An example of a good goal would be "to improve students'
persuasive oral presentations." This goal is accurate, complete, and non-trivial
[2]. First ask, "How can I accomplish this goal?" Then ask, "Can
I use technology to realize this goal?"
2) Planning for instruction
In the second phase you
have to list the skills the students will need to accomplish the goal. Using
the persuasive oral presentation example, you would list the skills the
students would need to accomplish this task. Be precise. For example, if you
want
good oral presentations,
you might want the students to have good eye contact, appropriate gestures and
a strong persuasive introduction with facts to support it. Since a good instructional strategy
is to show students a model of what they are expected to do, you might start by
showing a model of persuasive presentations on video or DVD. Students would
then need to analyze what makes a good presentation and what doesn't. Part of
the evaluation of the video technology at this point is to evaluate how easy it
is to use and how appropriate the linguistic features are. Also, what are the
aesthetic qualities of the material?
3) Designing tasks for
students
In phase three, the instructor needs to design
tasks for the students to practice the skills taught. As you design tasks,
include the instructional strategies for teaching the skill. In the persuasive
oral presentation example, you might teach the students the skills of 1)
organizing around a topic sentence using a mini-lesson in lecture format, and 2) including supporting
details using direct, whole class
instruction as your instructional strategy. Imagine your thematic unit
is "animals." You teach the students to make a controversial topic
sentence such as "Dogs make better pets than cats." The class might
brainstorm three supporting details: 1) Dogs come when you call them, 2) Dogs
will go swimming with you, and 3) Dogs are more companionable than cats. Using peer-mediated learning as your
instructional strategy, you ask the students to practice their speeches. They
make introductory and concluding remarks.
While accomplishing the task of practicing speeches in pairs or small
groups, the students will need to monitor their oral grammar and pronunciation
as well as the organization of the speech and their overall presentation
skills. You may have given mini-lessons on these topics in advance, and the
class has analyzed the speeches in the prepared videos. The students are now
ready to videotape each other and analyze their speeches like they did the
prepared videos.
4)Assessment
In faze four, the instructor needs to assess whether or not the goal was met.
Did the students accomplish the task during the guided practice activity? Can
they now do it on their own? How do you know? How do the students know if they
have mastered the skills? The teacher should provide a rubric or scoring guide,
which the students can make based on the prepared video models they analyzed.
Students should be able to fill in the scoring guide during guided practice.
These should be aligned to the skills and standards expected by your program,
school, district or region. For the persuasive oral presentation, you might
want to make sure students include a strong, controversial topic sentence with
three convincing details and supporting evidence. You might want students to
pause after each thought, make eye contact with everyone in the room, have good
posture, and use correct grammar and pronunciation. The other part of assessment includes
evaluating your use of the technology. Were the prepared video examples
appropriate models? Solicit feedback on the videotaping experience. Did the
students find the videotaped feedback helpful? In the oral presentation
example, it is possible to use all the latest in "video" gadgetry.
The movie examples can be shown on DVD, and students can analyze the persuasive
language and idiomatic expressions of the characters. Students can use the
latest digital video cameras to make their own speeches and put them on the
Web. They use all the language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and
writing) to accomplish this task.
Literature
1.
.Schmoker, M. 1999. Results: The key
to continuous school improvement, 2nd ed.
2.
Schreck, R. & J. Schreck. 1991. Computer-assisted language learning. In Teaching English as a second or
foreign language (2nd ed.), ed. M. Celce-Murcia, 472-486.