Thank you James for the kind words for WestEd and for our Video in the Middle project! In our conception and design of the PD we focused on quality, access, flexibility and availability. We are excited that these PD modules will be available as Open Education Resources.

Do you know when these will be available for use?  We facilitated your VCMPD to many teachers in the Southwestern PA area and love your work!  We have been translating much of our PD to virtual as well but I love the structure you have created in VIM.  Will there be any final reports available with all the details or any presentations you will be doing in the future?

Hi Michele! Thank you for the great compliment of our VCMPD work! The VIM materials are based on the Learning and Teaching Linear Functions materials and include more updated resources. Our aim is to begin releasing the OER materials in the fall. We have published some papers and are presenting at several international and national conferences. If you email me nseago@wested.org, I can give you more details. Thanks again for your interest and enthusiasm!

Thank you Anne!

Wow! I am so happy that you found our video helpful in your thinking about asynchronous delivery of your PD.

I really did... and appreciated the nudge from seeing the super video!

Thank you Wendy. In our project, we conducted a RCT across three asynchronous delivery formats: structured independent, district-leader facilitated and project-staff facilitated. All three formats engaged in four, two-hour modules across 8 weeks. Participants across all formats followed the same canvas courses and responded to padlet walls and journal prompts. The difference between the facilitated groups and the independent group is that the facilitated groups had facilitators asking questions and posing prompts on the padlet walls, monitored participation and reminded people of timing. COVID impacted post data collection of the student measure and we were unable to observe classrooms for impact data. All teacher measures were completed online. We had a very little attrition due to COVID, perhaps because of the asynchronous format and online measures. We did decide to extend the timing an extra two weeks.

This is so interesting. Did you find a difference in engagement between the facilitated groups and the independent groups? At TERC we offer asynchronous facilitated online PD for elementary school teachers and find that while the work of facilitating is quite intense, the level of engagement in both a shared discussion forum and an individual journal is high. 

Thank you Myriam for watching our video. We did not find a difference in the engagement between the facilitated groups and the independent group. In fact, in an interview, one of our independent participant teachers remarked that she felt it was facilitated because of the questions that were asked within the modules. We hypothesize that the design of the modules with embedded questions and resources based upon our face-to-face PD experiences might have played a role in our findings.

Thank you, Nanette. Food for thought for sure. Great project!

Thank you David for watching our video! It is great that's you found our project engaging and innovative. We found very little impact from the pandemic on teacher engagement. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the asynchronous format allowed for a flexible and personalized approach to PD.

Thank you Eric! The most relevant in-person activities we found most relevant to translate into the asynchronous modules were: (1) doing the Mathematical task that they would view the students working on in the video clip prior to viewing and analyzing the video; (2) using specific prompts to frame the viewing of the video clip and then including follow-up questions focused on student ideas, teacher moves, etc., (3) inserting alternative perspectives for ways to solve and represent the task (by uploading a picture of their solutions to the task and viewing and commenting on their peers; and by examining a document that shows various ways to to solve and represent solution methods). In addition we provided additional insights strategically along the way with mathematician and mathematics educator commentaries. I hope this is helpful.

Thank you Lani! Essentially, we took what we had learned from facilitating and creating facilitation materials for the Learning and Teaching Linear Functions materials and designed the modules with that in mind. We purposely built into the modules multiple perspectives (various solution methods and representations, mathematician task analysis ppt., mathematics educator commentary on the video clip, and peer interaction around their own solutions to the mathematical tasks). In addition, we used focus questions for the video analysis and specific prompts that focused on the interactions between students, teacher and content. Essentially we embedded our prompts, questions, probes into the module design and inserted alternative perspectives (which we believed were so important in the face-to-face setting) along the way. Does this make sense?

Following up on this, I'm wondering what design features you followed, or whether the facilitation you describe here is what you mean by design features. Can you please elaborate?

Just want to add that I think that this is wonderful work! I'm looking forward to learning more about the crucial features to include in OL asynchronous PL for teaching mathematics!

Thank you Michelle for your kind remarks and for probing us regarding the design features.

The modules incorporate mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) as a design principle by creating multiple and varied experiences for teachers to examine and compare a variety of mathematical methods and representations, and to analyze the complex relations between content, pedagogy, and student thinking. Each module contains a common set of structured activities, where a video clip is at the center, or “in the middle,” of professional learning as teachers take part in an online experience of mathematical problem solving, video analysis of classroom practice, and pedagogical reflection. This structure is intended to support teachers’ professional learning related to mathematical knowledge for teaching (Ball & Bass, 2002) and NCTM’s (2014) Mathematical Teaching practices. 

Two additional design principles are also reflected in the modules: 1) All materials are rooted in the activities and materials of practice—authentic, unedited videos of classroom interactions, representing a practice-based theory of professional learning (Ball & Cohen, 2002), and 2) there are multiple opportunities for teachers to access alternative perspectives from students, peers, mathematicians and educators, following the principle of promoting multiple perspectives and accessing expert knowledge (Herrington et al., 2010).

Hopefully this helps clarify what we mean by design features.

Hi Darryl! We haven't noticed any relationship between the impact on teachers and the engagement with the PD. We found that teachers were engaged and they appreciated the flexibility that the asynchronous format provided them. We do feel like the two-hour modules were the right amount of time for teachers.

Hi Cindy! It is great to hear from you! Of course you recognize the years of experiences that went into this work of using video in PL as you were an important colleague in our use of the Learning and Teaching Linear Functions materials! We are currently in our final year of the project and plan to begin releasing batches of modules sometime in the fall. We are interested in getting feedback in various forms from people who are familiar and also not familiar with the LTLF materials. If you are willing, we would love your feedback!

Absolutely.  You know we'd be happy to contribute in any ways that you would be helpful.  So exciting to see where your work is now!

Great! We will be in touch!!

Thanks, Peter.  We do think that the design and structure of a professional learning experience, more than the mode of delivery, may be critical to supporting teacher learning.  We haven't investigated differences in teacher learning by particular mathematical practice (yet!) so we can't speak directly to your question exactly, but we have started to articulate the ways in which the design and structure matter for what teachers may have the opportunity to learn and how these ideas relate.  We've started thinking about the key ways that we moved from in-person PD to asynchronous environments, and we've realized that we built in a lot of facilitation moves into our asynchronous materials.  For example, we've built in activities that support teachers in making sense of the mathematics and orienting to the video or classroom artifact, and we've included prompts that encourage teachers to take an inquiry stance, even when working independently.  Essentially, these are ideas that we'd integrate beforehand or on the fly in face-to-face PD, and we've sought to take these to a new delivery method.  All this to say is that if you have key teacher learning activities that support those practices, knowing what design elements make them work in face-to-face PD, you may be able to move them to asynchronous or online environments.

Thank you!

Hi Jean, we are so glad that you found them interesting! We are currently working on finalizing the first set of modules and creating a website where they can be accessed. Eventually, the place to access them will be https://www.videointhemiddle.com/. I hope that is helpful!