Video Ethnography for Chinese and English Speaking Educators to Study Action Research Peter Chan School of Education Brigham Young University-Hawaii chanp@byuh.edu John Bailey School of Education Brigham Young University-Hawaii baileyj@byuh.edu Abstract: As part of an ongoing research and development effort to improve the quality of teachers in China, this project developed two video ethnography CD-ROMs that featured real-life studies of eight Chinese teachers facing pedagogical problems such as problem-based learning, teacher-student relationship, service learning, and so on. One of the CDs also included the study of a group of American educators using action research to tackle a specific problem occurred in student-teaching. Because they are in both languages, English-speaking educators may also use these CDs for comparative studies.
Introduction Action research has been advocated in English educational literature for at least half a century (Kemmis & McTaggert, 1982; Holter and Schwartz-Barcott, 1993). Many educators see it as a professional development strategy for teachers because of its utility in improving practices (Holly, 1990; Jacullo-Noto, 1992; Lieberman, 1988; Oja & Smulyan, 1989). However, it is a relatively new concept in Chinese literature and has rarely if ever been practiced by Chinese teachers or teacher-educators, despite the Chinese government’s encouragement in practitioner-initiated research as a means to raise teaching quality and to disseminate knowledge. Besides, it is also difficult for Chinese teachers to synthesize new theoretical methodologies without real-life examples. Hence, there is a need to provide practical training to the world’s largest teaching force on action research. This project was a response to meet such need. It was an experimental project by a number of educators at Beijing Normal University and Brigham Young University to develop an instructional system using the video ethnography technology developed by Carl Harris and others. It featured Chinese and American educators applying action research in real-life situations. The finished products were two video ethnography CD-ROMs containing studies of eight Chinese teachers and a group of American educators with bilingual subtitles. Its short-term application was being a training tool in the third annual Chinese International Conference on Teacher Education in July 2002 where Chinese educators representing many parts of the country participated. These conference attendees were expected to become practitioners and trainers of action research to reach a larger teacher population. Although the initial users of the CD were Chinese educators, English-speaking educators may also use it for comparative education and action research purposes because of its bilingual features.
The Study The eight Chinese teachers featured in the video ethnographies came from three different schools in three different provinces—two from an urban elementary school in Xian, two from a rural high school in Zhumadian, and four from an urban high school in Beijing. They obtained training on action research either from the second annual Chinese International Conference on Teacher Education or from a colleague who
attended the conference. In the video ethnographies, they revealed their most pressing pedagogical problem, the methods they used to identify and implement solutions, their analysis of the results, and the new theories and questions they developed. Their problems and solutions involved problem-based learning, teacher-student relationship, service learning, cognitive strategy, discovery learning, and other issues that are in current discussion among world educators. Each study focused on one teacher showing videos of solution implementation, artifacts, and other visual contents illustrating the research process. It also included audio and text explanation and insights from the case teachers and an American educator. The group of American educators featured in the video ethnography illustrates a different way of applying action research. They did not face a pedagogical problem but that of a teacher education one. The study showed how the teacher-educators, school administrators, teachers, and student teachers worked together to solve a real-life dilemma. This study was included to allow users to see a varied way of applying action research to different cultures and circumstances. The video ethnography technology of this project emphasized a non-intrusive capturing of authentic happenings or in other words, it practices the principle of video vĂŠritĂŠ. Its interface allowed users to have multiple studies under the same theme. Each study was divided into probes of key elements in action research. Each probe contained video illustrating the element and audio and text perspectives anchored in the video. It allowed users to study a common topic from multiple viewpoints and to construct their own interpretation through exploration of established studies and creation of their own studies using a Custom Study feature of the interface. This project also added a Practice Exercise function to allow users to start their own action research following the guidelines provided.
References Holly, P., & Southworth, G. (1990). The developing school. London: The Falmer Press. Holter, I.M., and Schwartz - Barcott,D. (1993). Action Research: What is it? How has it been used and how can it be used in nursing? Journal of Advanced Nursing 1993:128; 298-304. Jacullo-Noto, J. (1992, April). Action research and school restructuring: The lessons learned. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco. Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (1982). The action research planner. Victoria, Australia: Deakin University Press. Lieberman, A. (Ed.). (1988). Building a professional culture in schools. New York: Teachers College Press. ED 300 877 Oja, S. N., & Smulyan, L. (1989). Collaborative action research: A developmental approach. Philadelphia: The Falmer Press.