Videocases in teacher education: the potential roles of situational and personal interests in teacher engagement and professional development

The advent of video technologies has increased access to video records of classroom teaching and learning called videocases. The use of videocases in teacher professional development often involves engaging teachers in video observation and analysis of classroom events to improve their instructional practices. Many studies have reported positive research findings that support video analysis as an effective teacher development tool. Specifically, video has been reported to aid reflection on teaching and learning. Although videocases have been largely beneficial for teacher learning and development, it is not without some challenges, one of which is teachers’ reluctance to have their classroom teaching recorded and practice exposed to critical evaluation of a third eye. This paper proposes the potential of an interest-based theory for securing teachers’ buy-in and support toward a successful implementation of videocase-based professional learning that can improve classroom practices and student learning. We make recommendations for extending the benefits of videocase analysis to many more teachers.