Our Principal, Russell Burt, introduced to us a AI powered tool called Vosaic. The plan is to use Vosaic to video ourselves taking a lesson, and then use it to analyse our interactions and give feedback based on specific questions we might ask. In this way we can get detailed feedback on our teacher practise. I wasn't too sure about it all, but of course needed to get on board and give it a go.
At the end of term 1 had an initial practise run with the tool. I set it on my table, and because there wasn't a lot of space on my table, I put my laptop on the floor, and proceeded with a typical reading lesson. Once the students were ok with the equipment (they had a few questions about it), I guess I videoed about 6 or 7 minutes before stopping the recording. When I got time, I uploaded the video to Vosaic and the first thing I noticed was that when looking at the transcript, it showed that I had spoken for around 43% of the time, and that the other 57% was silent. What?? It took a bit of working out to realise that because my laptop was on the floor, it hadn't picked up the kids talking. Hence the silence.
So then I needed to work out the best way to ensure the students' voices would be heard. After sitting with a colleague who was also having some initial challenges, we worked out that there was a button on the Vosaic that needed to be pushed in order for the speaker to work. Problem solved! So now on to another try at videoing.
This time when I uploaded the video to Vosaic, I had a good opportunity to see the benefits of the technology. Apart from a detailed transcript of the lesson, it provided an AI summary of the lesson.
Then I was able to ask specific questions about the lesson. So I asked - What could the teacher do to encourage greater discussion within the group?
After a few seconds AI came up with some suggestions, and ideas around what research says.
