What does effective professional development look like?
Decades of research shows that traditional forms of professional development are ineffective. To make sustainable improvements to teaching and learning, teachers need to engage with all of the proven components of effective adult learning. These include access to theory, feedback and coaching.
Our research-led video-enabled platform makes it affordable and scalable to access all the activities shown by research to improve teaching practice.
Featured Research
Evaluating the efficacy of remote professional development
“This rapid evidence assessment aims to summarise the efficacy of remote professional development (PD) approaches to support school leaders and PD providers with decisions they are making about PD provision given social distancing requirements caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Click here for a summary of the report’s findings.
Read the full report here
A Rapid Review of Remote and Blended Teacher Education
“The Covid-19 pandemic has forced educators to shift to remote and blended education approaches at an unprecedented scale and speed. This shift includes teacher educators supporting pre-service teachers and continuing professional development providers. Many teacher educators are now expanding their remote learning provision and, in some cases, getting to grips with remote teacher education for the first time.”
Click here for a summary of the report’s findings.
Read the full report here
Evaluating the role of video in supporting reflection beyond INSET
“This article considers the impact of a video-based initiative aimed at sustaining engagement and reflection. Teachers worked with mentors on a one to one basis in a process of reflecting on their own videos and clips from other teachers. The study uses interviews, recordings and transcripts of video-based talk to evaluate the design of this video-led mentor CPD (continuing professional development) intervention and to evaluate the nature of video-based reflection in this process. We provide suggestions for how a video-based CDP intervention might help to promote reflection in teachers as well as recommendations for other educators considering video-based alternatives”
Click here for a summary of the report’s findings.
Read the full report here
Video-Supported Collaborative Learning: The Educators Manual
“video can be an excellent tool when combined with collaborative learning. Video bridges theory and practice, which develops students’ reflection skills and supports the development of agency. This Teacher’s Manual introduces some practical examples on how and why educators across Europe have applied pedagogical models in their teaching and learning activities.”
Click here to download the manual
Evaluating the impact of IRIS Connect
“The overwhelming majority of teachers believed that the intervention was a good use of time and had improved their teaching. There was also strong evidence that the programme changed teachers’ thinking and classroom practice.”
Click here for a summary of the report’s findings.
Read the full report here
Live remote coaching found to be ‘transformative’ for teachers
Research conducted by MirandaNet found that using IRIS Connect’s video technology can enhance teacher practice and help reduce attrition rates
Download the research paper >
The importance of effective CPD
The Going Beyond CPD whitepaper moves discussion away from the importance of effective CPD for individual teachers (building human capital) to the importance of collaboration (building social capital).
Using video-based CPD to deliver training over distance in South Africa
In a revolutionary project, teachers in Johannesburg were given training and support using IRIS Connect’s video professional learning platform.
Six secondary schools in the Ekurhuleni South District of Johannesburg are piloting a new model for teacher training and development. Using our platform and video technology, the project’s aim is to establish an effective approach to supporting educators at schools who are reintroducing math at grade 10 (equivalent to GCSE in the UK). The use of IRIS Connect is enabling subject specialists to deliver scalable support over distance.
Using IRIS Connect to develop communities of practice
This paper summarises the initial findings of the impact of using IRIS Connect for developing communities of practice. Research undertaken by Professor Christina Preston, of the University of Bedfordshire and the MirandaNet Fellowship.
Key findings include:
– 99% of teachers reported an increase in conversations between teachers about teaching in their school;
– 96% felt they were willing to take more risks;
– 94% said their teaching had improved;
– 88% felt there had been a positive impact on collaboration;
– 88% said their confidence had risen.
Video observation and coaching
Read this overview of a project conducted by the EEF, Whole Education and IRIS Connect. This project piloted a professional learning programme with a group of schools using IRIS Connect to explore the use of video technology to support the development of classroom dialogue and feedback.
Guidance for using video observations
Download this free classroom observation toolkit from Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research. You’ll find practical guidance for educators on how to use video observations to accelerate teacher development.
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Further research and reading:
- External Evaluation of the University of Sussex In-School Teacher Education Programme (INSTEP) – University of Sussex
- The impact of self-regulated, independent learning on pupil outcomes – Education Endowment Fund
- The Camera in the Classroom: Video-Recording as a Tool for Professional Development of Student Teachers – Rachel Lofthouse and Peter Birmingham
- Teacher Collaboration and Sharing Across 5 Countries – Creative Classrooms Lab Project
- Experts in Teaching – Skive College of Education, VIA University College
- The Importance of Action Research in Teacher Education Programs – Gregory S. C. Hine
- Making the Network for Teacher – Graham Newell
- Improving the Impact of Teachers on Pupil Achievement in the UK – Interim Findings – Sutton Trust Research
- Investigating the Effectiveness of a Telepresence-Enabled Cognitive Apprenticeship Model of Teacher Professional Development – R. Shawn Edmondson, Ph.D
- The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence – Matthew A. Kraft, Brown University. David Blazar, Harvard Universylan Hogan, Brown University
- Changes in Teachers’ Instructional Skills During an Intensive Data-based Decision Making Intervention – Emmelien A. van der Scheer
