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Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of computer-mediated video observations on the development of teaching-analysis skills in preservice teachers. The following questions guided the study: 1) Are live-classroom or computer-mediated observations more effective in developing critical analysis skills? 2) Does student background, gender, or experience with technology have a discernable effect? 3) What are the qualitative differences, identified by the subjects, between live and virtual observations? 4) What improvements in the researcher-designed computer program were indicated? A pretest, posttest design was used. Subjects were enrolled in three intact classes of college students: one class of music majors in a Foundations of Education class, and two separate classes of early childhood majors in music methods classes. Eight treatment periods were used with each group. Using various delivery systems, all subjects were asked to observe and analyze the same lessons: music majors observed in a live-classroom or an online computer-mediated situation; one class of early childhood majors also observed via an online computer-mediated video; and the second class of early childhood majors used projected video. Subjects analyzed the observations using a researcher-developed observation rubric. Findings revealed no significant differences between groups on the pretest or posttest measures. However, effect size estimation and an analysis of a question subset revealed differences between the early childhood groups. Self-reported data on satisfaction, impact on knowledge, advantages/disadvantages, discourse analysis, and analysis of time revealed important contextual information about the strengths and weaknesses of approaches to field experience.