Video-based Analysis for Teacher Development in Physical Education

The world in the 21st century is a world of technology and revolution in different aspects of life. The increasing desire of young people to use technology (van Laarhoven & van Laarhoven-Myers, 2006) at home, at work, and during leisure time has made industry come up with a variety of tools to be used. In such a scenario, the video recording analysis method has become a helpful tool in researchers’ and educators’ hands, allowing them to observe and assess a class, conduct pedagogy research, and so forth. For some time, video has been used to record and analyze human movement for health issues. Physical education professionals and coaches took advantage of technology to improve their athletes’ performance using video capture. The video gave them the opportunity to analyze and inform their athletes for better performance during competition. Video-based observation has been used in several studies conducted in schools, for different disciplines and for different reasons, such as to compare different teaching styles, to compare teaching behaviors of teachers, to compare student participation in class, or teaching effectiveness (Constantinides et al., 2013). In physical education, there is a growing interest among physical educators to incorporate digital technology in their teaching (Pyle & Esslinger, 2014; Thomas & Stratton, 2006). In this paper, however, the focus of the discussion is on how this technology may help the teacher develop and provide more effective lessons to the students. Therefore, the process of video recording is analyzed, the value-based observation is thoroughly discussed, as well as the value for the teacher who wants to develop his teaching. Furthermore, suggestions are made for physical education teachers who may use this method in the future for their own development in teaching physical education.