Bridging between Research and Practice: Supporting Professional Development through Collaborative Studies of Classroom Teaching with Technology

This book presents a fresh approach to bridging the perceived gap between academic and classroom cultures. It describes a unique form of research partnership whereby Cambridge University academics and school teachers together grappled with and reformulated theory—through in-depth case studies analysing practice using interactive whiteboards in five subject areas. The inquiry exploited the collaborators’ complementary professional knowledge bases. Teachers’ voices are particularly audible in co-authored case study chapters. Outcomes included deeper insights into concepts of sociocultural learning theory and classroom dialogue, more analytical mindsets, sustained new practices and ways of working collegially.
The book reflects upon the power of lesson video review and details how the co-inquirers negotiated “intermediate theory”—bridging educational theory and specific settings—framed in mutually accessible language and embodied in interactive multimedia resources for teacher development. These include video clips, analytic commentary from multiple perspectives, lesson materials, plus optional prompts for reflection and critique—not models of “best practice”. The resources make pedagogy explicit and vividly illustrate the book’s ideas, offering theory-informed yet practical tools designed with and for practitioners. Hennessy and colleagues have tested a model of ongoing, teacher-led development and innovation, professional dialogue and classroom trialing stimulated by discussing selected multimedia resources.