VideoPaper in context: case reports from the field

Abstract

VideoPaper Builder (VPB) was originally funded in 2001 through the National Science Foundation's ‘Bridging Research and Practice’ program in recognition of the software's promise to articulate the relevance and facilitate the dissemination of educational research to practicing teachers. After four years and two subsequent software upgrades, the project came to a close. But use of the software has if anything increased since then. The author joined the development team shortly after the initial release, and has continued to integrate the use of VPB across a wide range of contexts: as a tool for self‐reflection in teacher education; to develop a shared vision of classroom events in teacher mentoring; as a site for collaborative documentation in professional development programs; as a tool for articulating decision‐making in student‐directed film‐making. This article documents VPB in these projects and presents case reports of reflections by the participants. The author offers his own thoughts on the meanings this diverse population created in their videopapers, and why the concept continues to appeal to cohorts of new authors.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Federica Olivero, Ricardo Nemirovsky, teachers of Project LOCAL, Linda Beardsley and the Tufts University Teacher Education Program.

Notes

1. Following the program's own designation I use the term ‘apprentices’ to refer to the preservice teachers in this section.

2. http://ase.tufts.edu/local/doinghistory.asp

3. Using Final Cut Pro we produced Quicktime videos that were 60 MB/10 minutes or less.