The possibilities and constraints of multimedia as a basis for critical reflection

Abstract

The use of video evidence as a vehicle for promoting discussion and critical reflection is well established in educational literature in the field of professional development and is gradually becoming more accepted as a research method. There is general agreement also that in relation to image‐based research the combination of video evidence of practice and professional dialogue promote critical reflection and can be instrumental in bringing about changes to that practice. Our aim in this paper is firstly to explore briefly our use of video images as a catalyst for promoting rich dialogue that supports multiple perspectives, meanings and interpretations of classroom events. We describe from a very practical perspective the trials and tribulations of developing a methodology for collecting and analyzing video recordings of classroom practice. Secondly, we describe our attempts to capture and narrate the experience as a multimodal account (Kress & Leeuwen, 2001) for dissemination purposes. The experience of coming to understand and work with the possibilities and constraints offered by the integration of media such as graphic/video image, text, music and becoming familiar with the language of ‘roll‐overs’, ‘one‐stop‐shops’, ‘rendering’ was for us a very steep learning curve which proved both exciting and challenging.

Notes

Institute of Education, The Manchester Metropolitan University, 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2RR. Email: [email protected]

The project ran from December 1997 until February 2001. The policy was set out in TTA (1996, 1999) and the argument in Hargreaves (1996).

A symposium on this subject was presented at BERA in 2000 by the four research and evidence based consortia (Threlfall, 2000; Cordingley, 2000; Elliott, 2000; Baumfield & McGrane, 2000; McNamara et al., 2000).