Comparing Vignette Instruction and Assessment Tasks to Classroom Observations and Reflections

Abstract

The growing body of research on the use of vignettes in teacher education courses suggests that vignette-based instruction and assessment tasks may represent a viable alternative to traditional forms of scaffolded instruction and reflective essays following classroom observations, thereby creating a bridge between college and K–12 classrooms for teacher candidates. In this study, the authors compare the effectiveness of vignette instruction and assessment tasks with teacher observation-reflections on subject matter mastery in two sections of an online graduate educational psychology course. One section completed vignette assessment tasks while a second section wrote reflective essays following K–12 classroom observations. Both sections also completed a cumulative posttest (ten forced-choice items, a vignette task, and a video reflection task). Results confirmed the null hypothesis that there would be no significant differences in mastery of subject matter across the two groups, extending the effective application of the vignette as an alternative to reflective essays following classroom observations.