Impact of Critical Events in an Animated Classroom Story on Teacher Learners’ Online Comments

Abstract

We examined the effect of reference to critical events in an animated classroom story on the quality of teachers’ comments in an online learning experience. We analyzed data using systemic functional linguistics and logistic regression. We found statistically significant evidence that participants made more reflective and evaluative comments and proposed more alternative teaching moves when they referenced critical events than when they did not. The study contributes to validating a theoretical distinction between reference point and reference object in the literature on video assisted, online teacher education: While attached reference objects help learners be more focused and productive, those qualities differ depending on reference points included in those reference objects. This study also provides preliminary evidence to support the practice of selecting clips that deviate from instructional norms when designing video-based professional learning opportunities.