Project Overview

Teaching Evaluation, the first in our series of School Leadership Games, is a professional training tool that allows you to cultivate an eye for classroom observation, gain the skills necessary to construct an evidence based case on classroom practices, and improve understanding of how to present that evidence in a post observation conference setting. Teaching Evaluation is also the first in a series of school leadership games that will ultimately work together in a larger game, offering a complete simulated school leadership experience.

Sequence of Game Play

In Teaching Evaluation you are a school leader performing annual teacher observations and evaluations. The game consists of four segments of game play designed to both capture the components of the evaluation experience, and optimize learning.

1. Observation: In this phase you observe and takes notes on actual classroom video in real time. As a school leader, you are supplied with all of the pertinent tools to optimize your observation process such as lesson plans, an interactive classroom map, and a biography of the teacher. Game play in this phase emphasizes chunking the classroom viewing experience and coding those segments for later analysis.

2. Argument Construction: In this second phase, you have the opportunity to sort through your notes from the first phase and construct a coherent case for presentation to the teacher. Utilizing an argument construction tool, you can determine which segments of classroom interaction provide the best evidence by assigning them to specific categories of evaluation like task coherence and cognitive load. You can even assign weights to different pieces of evidence to determine which moments count the most.

3. Expert Feedback: In the expert feedback phase, an AI expert will give you "just in time" feedback based on the output of part 2.  By comparing your case to an expert case, the system will supply custom feedback highlighting segments of classroom practice that you may have missed, and offering interpretations of others. Like a sports analyst, the AI expert will draw on the actual footage and reanalyze it based on the criteria supplied by real life experts.

4. Conference: This is the final phase of game play.  All of that careful observation and argument construction can only take you up to the edge of change.  To actually impact teaching and learning in your school you have to sit down with the teacher and talk to them meaningfully about what they can do to improve classroom practice. Using a branching narrative structure, the conference phase will provide simulated dialogue with the teacher whose class you have viewed, and give you the opportunity to make your case. After the conference, the teacher will provide immediate feedback so you'll know if they listened to you, learned from you, or even like you after the conclusion of the conference.

Each classroom observation fits into the larger narrative arc of Teaching Evaluation.  Multiple turns of play are mapped onto a three year time line. Your cumulative record as a classroom evaluator will track your performance over that time and indicate the growth or loss of professional community in your school according to your demonstration of leadership skills in the evaluation process.

Project Status

Teaching Evaluation is in the design process with the first stage of the game completed as a stand alone application for video analysis which is available for download at the bottom of this page. The second phase is currently under active development. User testing and interviews with education and game professionals are also ongoing. We are continuing to seek out and develop relations with partners for development in other school leadership games, as well as actively seeking funding for on-going development.

Halverson's TE Beta