Articulating Design Principles for Productive Use of Video in Preservice Education

Despite the potential of video for professional learning, the field lacks an integrated framework to inform teacher educators’ pedagogical decision making, particularly in the context of preservice teacher education. This article aims to make a conceptual argument about productive ways of using video in preservice education contexts. Drawing on situative and sociocultural perspectives, we theorize how and under what conditions video can be used productively. We discuss existing frameworks and tools that guide the design of video-embedded learning environments. We then present an integrated framework, the principled use of video (PUV) to specify principles, processes, and key considerations for creating a system of video-embedded activities. The merits and potential pitfalls of the PUV framework are discussed using an illustrative case. We argue that productive use of video that facilitates the desired learning of preservice teachers involves attention to both the learning ecology and underlying theories of preservice teacher learning.