A team of researchers, led by Paul Seedhouse, has recently been awarded €270K from the ‘Erasmus Plus KA2 Strategic Partnerships for School Education grant’. The project, which also includes Paul Miller and Jon Haines (School of ECLS, Newcastle University), brings together six partners from five countries, and aims to improve the quality and efficiency of education and training by using ‘Video Enhanced Observation‘ (VEO), an innovative technological approach to support initial teacher training and continuing professional development.
The project builds on work undertaken by Newcastle University spin-off company VEO Ltd, which has developed a VEO iPad App for classroom observation. This App adopts a novel and data-driven approach to classroom observation by enabling the observer to tag a whole range of different aspects of both teaching and learning, which can then be reviewed.
The project will customise the App so that it can be used across a range of different country contexts – including the UK, Germany, Finland, Turkey and Bulgaria – and will create a set of downloadable training resources. The project also has a research strand, which will analyse the methodology and its impact. This will ensure maximum access at a European level and inform policy development. Having published empirical evidence will enhance credibility of VEO with teachers and head teachers.
The anticipated impact will be evidence of improved teacher performance, improved confidence and motivation in teachers and a demonstration of how this technology can be used to provide a more targeted, effective and cost-effective method of professional development.
You can read more about the research grant in the local north-east news here. You can learn more about VEO by following their Facebook and Twitter accounts.