Teaching has long been a closed-door practice, with great instruction hidden by the long-standing cultures of schools. Yet, through research, we know that professional development is not effective, peer observation helps teachers, and technology exists to easily share teaching practices across local, regional, national, and international boundaries.
What if teachers had their own “sandbox” of actual teaching videos of their classes to share and collaborate with other teachers from around the world?
Separate from formal evaluations, coaching, and other existing tools, this system would allow teachers to exponentially increase the amount of observations they give and receive within any given year thus supporting highly effective and rapid teacher growth and development. We had the recent opportunity to meet with Nate McClennen, co-founder of ImproveClass at SXSWEdu in Austin, TX, USA.
ImproveClass is a ground-up peer teacher growth and development network created by teachers for teachers.
The system is a goal-oriented, anonymous, crowd-sourced, and high-frequency video observation framework that is focused on peer feedback. The network runs parallel to and reinforcing of existing school evaluation systems as a safe and feedback rich system.
McClennen states, “We believe that the time has come to change the paradigm around the “closed-classroom” model. We know that there are amazing teachers in the world that can learn from one another, and technology now enables us to do this in a simple, collaborative and anonymous manner.”
ImproveClass seeks to crowdsource teacher excellence and leverage the collective insight of millions of teachers from around the world to help education improve globally.
The model will open up classrooms in ways that have never occurred before and create opportunities for teacher growth and development that far exceeds any existing system. With each video linked to a specific goal, teachers like the one shown below were able to get quick actionable feedback – in this case about how to make a technology class more learner centred.
Are you a great teacher looking for support?
Do you want advice on how to improve your teaching? Do you want to see how other teachers implement similar curriculum? If so, join the global community at www.improveclass.com. They’ll help you share a quick observation and collaborate with a global network of supportive peers. Follow the Quick Start Guide below and get started!
Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us via info@teachpitch.com.