The possibilities and constraints of multimedia as a basis for critical reflection

The use of video evidence as a vehicle for promoting discussion and critical reflection is well established in educational literature in the field of professional development and is gradually becoming more accepted as a research method. There is general agreement also that in relation to image‐based research the combination of video evidence of practice and professional dialogue promote critical reflection and can be instrumental in bringing about changes to that practice. Our aim in this paper is firstly to explore briefly our use of video images as a catalyst for promoting rich dialogue that supports multiple perspectives, meanings and interpretations of classroom events. We describe from a very practical perspective the trials and tribulations of developing a methodology for collecting and analyzing video recordings of classroom practice. Secondly, we describe our attempts to capture and narrate the experience as a multimodal account (Kress & Leeuwen, 2001 Kress G Leeuwen T 2001 Multimodal discourse: the modes of contemporary communication (London, Arnold) ) for dissemination purposes. The experience of coming to understand and work with the possibilities and constraints offered by the integration of media such as graphic/video image, text, music and becoming familiar with the language of ‘roll‐overs’, ‘one‐stop‐shops’, ‘rendering’ was for us a very steep learning curve which proved both exciting and challenging.