Sex, Practicals and Video Tape
Jane Copeland
Student Support Services
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in collaboration with the Equal Opportunity Office undertook a study of gender dynamics in laboratory classes. Much of the descriptive data was generated through the use of video. Analysing this footage produced some real surprises.
The study initially focused on gender issues, but in watching the tapes the researchers discovered a number of other glaring teaching and learning problems of which they weren't previously aware. These included students who were constantly passive and uninvolved, students who were bored, and demonstrators giving explanations the students didn't understand. Demonstrators were sometimes too focused on managing the equipment and the experiment to be aware of these issues, of which the department might have remained unaware if not for the serendipitous video. The clip below shows a student waving his hand over his head, indicating that the demonstrator's explanation "went right over his head".
Viewing video footage of the teacher-student interaction can be a very good way of uncovering hitherto unnoticed teaching and learning issues.
