Educators now have access to more than 2,000 videos and recorded lessons
Teachers using Edthena, an online video coaching platform for classroom observation, now have access to the complete library of Measuring Effective Teaching Extension (METX) videos.
The METX library, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the largest video collections of classroom practice with more than 2,100 recorded lessons.
“Learning is collaborative, and learning to improve teaching is no exception,” said Steve Cantrell, the chief research officer at the Gates Foundation and co-director of the Measures of Effective Teaching Project. “But it’s hard to bring a group of adults into a classroom at the same time to observe and learn from real classroom practice. Edthena solves this problem for teachers and their coaches.”
Accessing the METX videos inside the Edthena platform makes it possible to interact with and analyze the teaching videos using the Edthena commenting tools. While watching a video, it will be possible to add comments at specific moments in time. Comments can also be linked to any teaching framework in use by the organization.
Launched in 2011, the Edthena platform helps schools and districts implement video coaching within a professional development process. Teachers upload videos of classroom instruction and share with colleagues who provide time-stamped comments. Now teachers can pick videos from the METX library for analysis, too.
Teachers and coaches will have many options for how to utilize the METX videos as part of their learning. Some examples include:
● Sharing METX videos to a group for collaborative conversation within a professional learning community
● Independently analyzing METX videos as a check for understanding about implementing a specific skill
“I think what’s exciting is that this isn’t just a library of videos to watch passively. By integrating the METX videos into Edthena, we’ve transformed this library into one that can be used actively as part of collaborative discussions about teaching,” said Adam Geller, founder and CEO of Edthena. “Many districts and universities want example videos that can be used alongside teacher-created videos, but securing the content often proves too challenging.”
Cantrell agrees. “It takes a lot of time and energy to develop a shared understanding of good teaching. Edthena’s use of commenting at specific moments in the video makes this much easier,” he said. “Edthena will help coaches and instructional leaders do their work better.”
The MET project was launched in 2009 as a research partnership of academics, teachers and education organizations committed to investigating better ways to identify and develop effective teaching practices.
During the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years, more than 350 teacher volunteers from six school districts video-recorded their lessons in order to help researchers and educators identify and develop examples of great teaching.
The METX library offers a special benefit for coaches and teachers because it includes three videos of every lesson: a front view of the board, a wide-angle view of the room, and a split-screen view. As a result, teachers have the option of focusing on what the instructor did, the overall interaction between instructor and students, or both.
“When I asked MET teachers to help improve teaching and learning, they opened wide the doors to their classrooms,” said Cantrell. “These teachers believed that their practice, both their struggles and their triumphs, had value to others far beyond their schools. Now with Edthena, this vision has become a reality.”
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