Edthena Integrates Videos From Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching Project

Readers may have noticed that we here at Edthena have been keeping ourselves pretty busy lately pushing new and exciting changes to our platform, collaborating with our partners to publish new content, and releasing new applications, like our Edthena iOS app.

We wanted to share another recent development: Teachers and coaches using Edthena now have access to the complete library of Measures of Effective Teaching Extension (METX) videos.

The METX library, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the largest video collections of classroom practice, with more than 2,100 recorded lessons.

“Learning is collaborative, and learning to improve teaching is no exception,” said Steve Cantrell, the chief research officer at the Gates Foundation and co-director of the Measures of Effective Teaching Project. “But it’s hard to bring a group of adults into a classroom at the same time to observe and learn from real classroom practice. Edthena solves this problem for teachers and their coaches.”

Teachers and coaches will have many options for how to utilize the METX videos as part of their learning. Some examples include:

• Sharing METX videos to a group for collaborative conversation within a professional learning community
• Independently analyzing METX videos as a check for understanding about implementing a specific skill as part of an Exploration

“I think what’s exciting is that this isn’t just a library of videos to watch passively. By integrating the METX videos into Edthena, we’ve transformed this library into one that can be used actively as part of collaborative discussions about teaching,” said Adam Geller, founder and CEO of Edthena. “Many districts and universities want example videos that can be used alongside teacher-created videos, but securing the content often proves too challenging.”

Cantrell agrees. “It takes a lot of time and energy to develop a shared understanding of good teaching. Edthena’s use of commenting at specific moments in the video makes this much easier,” he said. “Edthena will help coaches and instructional leaders do their work better.”

The METX library in Edthena offers a special benefit for coaches and teachers because it includes three videos of every lesson: a front view of the board, a wide-angle view of the room, and a split-screen view. As a result, teachers have the option of focusing on what the instructor did, the overall interaction between instructor and students, or both.

“When I asked MET teachers to help improve teaching and learning, they opened wide the doors to their classrooms,” said Cantrell. “These teachers believed that their practice, both their struggles and their triumphs, had value to others far beyond their schools. Now with Edthena, this vision has become a reality.”

Have any questions for us about the METX library? Feel free to shoot an email to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.