Memphis City Schools (MCS) is implementing video as a primary component of teacher professional growth and support in all of the district’s 180 schools. As part of the large scale adoption of video, MCS will have at least one video capture device in each of its schools, providing teachers with greater access to using video as part of their improvement process. One of the district’s goals is to create a video library using their own teachers in a Memphis classroom to provide examples of local definitions of teaching effectiveness.
Teachscape is collaborating with the district to provide the video solution that will be used for teacher development, support, and evaluation.
“The use of Teachscape’s video technology allows our teachers to be their own first observer,” said Monica Jordan, coordinator of reflective practice and teacher support at Memphis City Schools. “Teachers have so many ways in which they can use video to enhance their practice. They can use it for self-reflection, feedback, instructional planning, lesson prep, co-teaching, and more.”
MCS educators started using video-based technology for professional development during their participation in the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The use of video as a tool for reflection and development went viral,” said Jordan. “As a result of the MET Project, teachers started using video to deconstruct and analyze their lessons and saw its value in improving their teaching effectiveness, and ultimately student achievement.”
Teachscape’s video capture and sharing solution allows educators to capture a complete lesson or lesson segment from any video-recording device and use it to reflect on specific areas of instructional practice as part of the ongoing professional learning process. Video is stored securely and easily accessed via Teachscape's web-based software for educators to review, comment, and share videos with colleagues anytime, anywhere.
“Video has also improved the way administrators and teachers interact during the observation and evaluation process – conversations are more authentic and feedback is more valuable,” said Jordan. “Teachscape’s ability to work with our district’s framework, in addition to their system’s ease of use, has allowed us to get all administrators and educators – even those not comfortable with technology – using the system effectively.”
