Using Collaborative Video-Cued Narratives to Study Professional Learning: A Reflective Analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes the collaborative video-cued narrative (CVN) as an alternative methodological approach to studying professional learning. The CVN approach conceptualizes professional learning as a process in which teachers and students of professional education work collaboratively as “co-inquirers” to understand and enhance professional learning in practice. Aligned with this epistemological stance, CVNs capitalize on the advantages of three existing methodologies (i.e., video-cued ethnography, narrative inquiry, and action research) and cyclically use five key steps to study and improve professional learning, including 1) making video-recordings of learning activities, 2) identifying critical learning incidents, 3) cutting video clips of critical learning incidents, 4) using video clips to cue narrative reflections and develop action plans, and 5) taking action to improve learning in practice. In this paper, I first review the major epistemological and methodological issues in the existing literature on professional learning. Then, I elaborate on the theoretical and methodological grounds of CVNs and why, in theory, it can be a powerful alternative approach to studying professional learning. Next, drawing on interviews with eight students and my own reflective teaching journals in a doctoral course context, I analyze my experience in using CVNs to study professional learning in the context of teacher educator preparation. The analysis results suggest that CVNs seem effective in elevating students’ consciousness of professional learning, empowering their agency in enquiring into professional learning, and creating extended space and materials for professional learning. However, CVNs may cause ethical issues, such as coerced participation or “faked” learning, if a trustworthy relationship is not yet established and then sustained throughout the research process. In conclusion, I discuss how future studies can take on and further develop CVNs to pluralize the research approaches to studying professional learning.