Global Education
A short video clip focused on how the University of Warwick uses GoReact to encourage reflective practice
To increase self-reflection in teacher training, Jonty Leese shares how the University of Warwick uses GoReact with an instructional coaching model (shout out to Jim Knight).
Jenny Gordon:
How do you think that video or other technologies can make that feedback loop better or more efficient in a post COVID world?
Jonty Leese:
So I think there’s always a place for that face to face contact in school. And I don’t see us ever going to a completely virtual sort of remote role in the English education system. I think there’s a place where potentially for an iPGCE or something like that, where you are dealing with a remote cohort, then that by its very nature would lend itself beautifully. I think one of the interesting things that we’ve adapted this year is we’ve gone very heavily down the instructional coaching model, where instructional coaching, one of the key principles is the idea of actually videoing is one of the powerful ways of self reflecting. And I was privileged enough to attend a seminar by Jim Knight, who’s one of the gurus of instructional coaching. And he emphasized that point, and that really struck a chord with us when we spoke about it in our department.
And so a lot of our paperwork is around the instructional coaching model, which gets students to self reflect, gets them to get evidence of what they’re doing. I think that’s where video, by its very nature, is incredibly powerful. So our model is there’s a weekly coaching meeting using the instructional coaching paperwork, and that’s driven by the students. But if you can then build in that loop, that regular weekly loop of where you’re getting evidence, demonstrating where the problem with your questions are. And as Karen said, you can time stamp, you can review synchronously or asynchronously. If you’re the teacher, you can then get other people to drop in.
Then you’ve got very powerful evidence to show where a student is, and ultimately, very, very easily, you can record them again over several weeks and they can then actually self reflect and see actually you’re right. I wasn’t very good at asking questions, or I actually didn’t use the room very well. Here’s the evidence, and here’s the evidence now of how I’ve progressed and how I’ve moved it forward, and actually turn that into a strength. So I think it’s all about tangible evidence that can impact and actually help students move forward and develop.
