Learning to focus on students: the effect of pedagogical training on university teachers’ visual attention

Abstract

<p>While the role of experience in teacher gaze has been widely studied, the role of pedagogical training remains underexplored, yet relevant in the higher education context where teachers might not have any pedagogical training. Utilising video clips of content- and learning-focused lecture situations, this triangulation mixed-method study explored the effects of a short pedagogical training on university teachers’ visual attention on the elements of teaching-learning situations, their numerical evaluations of these situations and their experiences of changes in their thinking about teaching and learning. At the level of visual attention, the training was most effective for participants who did not have any previous pedagogical training: they focused more on students after the training. The reflections pointing to remarkable changes in thinking were as well made by teachers without previous pedagogical training. Additionally, all participants evaluated the learning-focused situations higher after the training. The pedagogical implications of the results are discussed.<br></p>