Using video annotation tool to enhance student-teachers’ reflective thinking and communication competence through a collaborative learning community

Reflective thinking skills and communication skills are the core competences of many professions, particularly in teacher education. With the advancement in information technology, video annotation tool (VAT), has been developed as medium to facilitate student-teacher’s reflection in their communication skills. This study aims to investigate the effect of applying VAT on improving student-teachers’ level of reflective thinking and communication competence. Eighty student-teachers from two classes of the course “Comprehensive School Guidance” in 2018 participated in this study. Participants were required to take two video shootings for their practices on consultation with parent and then uploaded the videos to a collaborative learning community at an e-platform. Among them, forty students were in non-VAT class where they posted an overall peer-comment in the learning community after viewing the video clips, while others in VAT class were instructed to create several video bookmarks of selected short video segments for giving peer-comments which allowed for simultaneous display of specific video segment and comment. Student-teachers were required to accomplish two reflective journals as well as pre- and post-questionnaire at an e-learning platform to review their own communication skills after each practice. The reflective journals were segmented into units of analysis, and each segment was rated according to the Ryan and Ryan (2013) 4-level model of reflective thinking, which included “reporting and responding”, “relating”, “reasoning” and “reconstructing” respectively. The average reflective thinking score obtained in each reflective note was the indicator of reflective thinking competence. Two 2 x 2 mixed ANOVAs were conducted to respectively examine whether student-teachers in the experimental (VAT) condition could improve their reflective thinking in their reflective journals and communication competence in their pre- and post-questionnaires more significantly than those in comparison (non-VAT) class over time. Focus group interviews were also conducted after the course to investigate how VAT could support students’ learning process, and their perceptions of the strengths and limitations of using VAT. Statistical analysis revealed that in comparison to those in non-VAT group, student-teachers using VAT in peer-learning increased their average reflective thinking score in each of the reflective notes in reflective journals more significantly. Moreover, same analysis revealed that the use of VAT in peer-learning could not promote higher rise in communication competence over time. Future applications of VAT in reflective learning and skill practice in teacher education programme will be discussed. Copyright © 2018 The Author.