Analysing classroom videos in teacher education— How different instructional settings promote student teachers’ professional vision of classroom management

Working with video cases may enhance student teachers’ professional vision, i.e. their ability to notice and reason classroom events and generate alternatives. To foster professional vision successfully, videos need to be embedded into adequate instructional environments that need to be examined regarding their effectiveness. This study investigates the effect of different instructional settings regarding video-based online courses on the development of student teachers’ professional vision (noticing, reasoning, generating alternatives). Participants were 280 student teachers. In a 2 × 2-pretest-posttest design, students attended a course assigned to one of four conditions (video analysis before or after conceptual input; video analysis with a comparative or non-comparative task). For the pre- and posttest, they analysed video clips using open writing and rating items to measure noticing, reasoning (subskill 1: interpretation depth, subskill 2: evaluation) and generating alternatives. We applied a multivariate growth model with time points (level 1) nested in individuals (level 2), regressing according random slope coefficients on conditions. Students improved across all course conditions. Students working with comparative tasks excelled in generating alternatives, while receiving conceptual input before working with the videos was slightly advantageous regarding video evaluation skills. The effectiveness of instructional settings depends on the intended learning goal. Concerning noticing and interpretation depth, the specific instructional setting seems less decisive. • Students increase their professional vision during a video-based online course. • Receiving conceptual input first hardly influences professional vision development. • Comparing videos is advantageous to foster generating alternatives.