Using mobile devices and the Adobe Connect web conferencing tool in the assessment of EFL student teacher performance

Abstract

This paper describes a project to use mobile devices and video conferencing technology in the assessment of student English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher performance on teaching practice in Ecuador. With the increasing availability of mobile devices with video recording facilities, it has become easier for trainers to capture teacher performance on video without recourse to expensive purpose-made video camera equipment and time-consuming editing of video material. Mobile devices and web conferencing tools enable trainers who may be widely separated geographically to share video material of student teacher performance as the basis for the calibration of classroom practice assessment. Ecuadorian EFL teacher trainees on teaching practice were recorded using mobile devices. Videos were then uploaded to a video sharing website and made available to all participating trainers. Using the Cambridge ESOL Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) score criteria, teacher trainers were asked to rate student performance as captured in the video sequences using the four band rating scale (1-basic; 4-very good). The video material then served as the basis for an online discussion and calibration of student teacher performance using the Adobe Connect web conferencing tool. Trainers were then asked to evaluate the efficacy of mobile device-recorded video material and web conferencing platforms as instruments in the assessment of student teacher performance.