Teachers can't be in two places at once, can they? Thanks to new educational software invented at the UW College of Education, novice teachers at Newport Heights Elementary are beginning to wonder.

UW College of Education Professor Reed Stevens developed the digital application called "Video Traces" to help educators share resources and knowledge to encourage learning. The technology creates a brief audio/visual presentation that new teachers can use to share specific issues in their classroom with experienced educators in other locations. Earlier this year, the College of Education began using "Video Traces" to connect its faculty with novice teachers in need of support at local high needs schools as part of the Ackerley Partnership for Teacher Development.

College of Education RA Marissa Bier, who coordinates the "Video Traces" program, says the software helps new teachers bridge the gap between what they learn as students at the UW and what they experience working with students in their own classrooms.

At Newport Heights, student teachers Anne Grant and Amy Jones use "Video Traces" to scan images of their students' work and create an accompanying audio file that discusses specific aspects of the work they found challenging. College faculty and their University supervisor, Toni Francisco, then review the entire file and add an audio commentary of their own to respond to Grant and Jones. Professors Jennifer Stone, Reed Stevens and Elham Kazemi have joined Francisco in using "Video Traces" to advise the student teachers.

Their feedback has been warmly received. Jones enjoys having different voices weigh in on her questions. She finds the different views valuable to her work and feels her interpretations were being validated. Grant values having a format that allows her to be thoughtful about asking questions. She says she's asked questions using "Video Traces" that she would not have asked before.

Bier says increasing the comfort level for students is important:

" 'Video Traces' creates a more personal experience. It sets the stage for a more social learning experience that helps stimulate learning."

Jones and Grant aren't the only people benefiting from their access to "Video Traces". Fourth-grade teacher Susan Ball, who oversees Jones and Grant at Newport Heights, says she believes "Video Traces" has benefited the students in her class as well.

The software emerged from Prof. Stevens' study of how people teach and learn in a variety of settings. He created "Video Traces" to provide educators with a digital tool that could transmit the most common ways people communicate their ideas—through talking, showing and pointing. Now educators in different locations can use "Video Traces" to discuss specific classroom exercises as if they were interacting face-to-face.

K-12 and university educators have long been frustrated by the gap between new research and classroom applications.

Building strong connections between the work done at the UW College of Education and the work done in K-12 classrooms throughout Washington state has been an ongoing concern for the college's Teacher Education Program. Last year, the College established a partnership with the Ginger & Barry Ackerley Foundation to improve connections between its faculty and practicing educators so that new teachers in high needs schools would have stronger networks of support.

A web-based version of Video Traces will be available by the end of the year. Soon other new teachers will realize what Amy Jones and Anne Grant already know: some of the best teachers really can be in more than one place at a time.