ESERA Travel Award 2008

Angela Fitzgerald
PhD (Education) student – Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

My reason for applying for the ESERA travel award was directly related to the use of video footage in my research with a specific focus on further developing my knowledge of the technical and practical issues surrounding the use of video data. For me, the process of analysing video footage and developing appropriate sets of coding categories is crucial in the development of a rich understanding of effective science teaching in a primary school setting, which is broadly my research focus. However, with the use of video research in educational settings still in its emergent stages, the opportunities I have to work with others on this aspect of my study and my learning journey are relatively limited.

Through receiving one of the ESERA travel awards for 2008, I was able to travel to the University of Oslo (UiO) in Norway and spend a week working with a number of the education researchers connected with the ‘Classroom Analysis from Multiple Perspectives’ (CAMP) research group. These researchers had been involved in a four-year project (PISA+) using video research techniques, similar to those used in the Learning Perspectives Study (LPS), as a means of looking more closely at the problematic issues arising in Norwegian classrooms as identified by the PISA study.

Having only recently completed the main data collection phase of my research, I came to UiO with many questions about video data that centred mainly on the areas of coding and analysis. Being in the very early stages of the sense-making process, I planned to work with the members of the CAMP team in developing an understanding of the processes that they used to code of video footage and their subsequent approaches to analysis from a technical perspective as well as a gaining some form of practical approach.

All of the researchers that I spoke with and worked with during my week at UiO were extremely accommodating and open to assisting me with my requests. Over this time, I was introduced to some different possibilities for the coding and analysis of video data as well as confirming and strengthening some of my existing ideas and strategies. The CAMP team also identified a need for me to develop some strategies in data reduction as a way of coping with the amount of video (and interview data) that I have collected, which they offered advice and assistance in. From my discussions and interactions with a number of members of the CAMP team, I feel that I have been able to further develop and strengthen my knowledge base and understanding so that I can now more confidently, and hopefully competently, launch into the analysis of my own video data.

Many thanks to the members of the CAMP team for talking and working with me in the area of video research, and to the members of the Naturfagsenteret (National Science Centre) for enriching my knowledge of science education in Norway. I would especially like to thank Marianne Ødegaard for her kindness and willingness to assist with and cater for my research needs during my stay at UiO.