More Than Data - A Multivocal Inquiry into Video-Based Research on Learning and Teaching

Oct 15, 2026

Purpose—This commentary echoes Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher’s arguments about how videos and video databases support research into learning and teaching. Design/Approach/Methods—A multivocal approach is illustrated using Video Mosaic Collaborative (VMC) materials: three mathematics teachers in Shanghai watch and discuss VMC videos, with recurring themes identified and examined alongside VMC Analytics. Findings—The videos mediate discussion and foster notice and reflection on implicit, everyday culture practices. Originality/Value—The article opens dialogue and proposes future research directions, emphasizing creative exploration, ethical reflection, and cross-cultural collaboration.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Video-Cued Interview with Mathematics Teachers in Shanghai

Video-cued interview as a research method

Using VMC as interview cues

Interview design and participants

Analysis and discussion

Directions for future research

More Than Data: A Multivocal Inquiry into Video-Based Research on Learning and Teaching Sihan Xiao East China Normal University © East China Normal University & East China Normal University Press, Shanghai, China Abstract Purpose—This commentary aims to echo Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher’s (this volume) arguments about the affordances of videosand video databases in studying learning and teaching. Design/Approach/Methods—This article illustrates a multivocal approach to the videos from the Video Mosaic Collaborative (VMC) . In particular, three mathematics teachers in Shanghai were invited to watch and discuss a set of VMC videos. Two recurring themes concerning mathematics learning and teaching were identified in this video-cued interview and discussed in relation to the VMC Analytics. Findings—The VMC videos played a mediating and facilitating role in the interview, helping the teachers notice and reflect on the mundane, implicit culture practices. Based upon this analysis, I argue that to tap into the potential of video in educational research, we need to see videos as more than data and look for more possibilities of using them. Originality/Value—To open and further research dialogues, this article discusses future directions of using videos in educational research and serves as an invitation to creative explorations, indepth conversations, ethical reflections, and cross-cultural collaborations on the use of videos in education. Keywords Multivocality; videocued interview; video research; cross-cultural research Corresponding Author: Sihan Xiao [shxiao@kcx.ecnu.edu.cn](shxiao@kcx.ecnu.edu.cn) 24 Sihan Xiao Our everyday lives are now permeated with videos. Over four decades, videos have become an important source of data in social and educational research (Erickson, 2011) . Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher (this volume) introduce Video Mosaic Collaborative (VMC), an open database that collects over 400 hours (and more forthcoming) of videos capturing mathematical teaching and learning. They also present the VMC Analytics, a collection of video-based narratives from researchers, associated with video clips, analyses, and relevant resources such as transcripts and student work. Drawing on two examples from VMC, Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher’s article shows how this rich, fully accessible database of videos fosters interdisciplinary collaborative research on mathematics learning and language development. This commentary echoes Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher’s arguments about the affordances of videos and video databases such as VMC in studying learning and teaching by analyzing an interview with three educators centered on videos that invited diverse perspectives and voices. In particular, I invited three mathematics teachers in Shanghai to watch a set of videos used as one of the examples in the original article and to make comments, reflections, and conversation in general. I then analyzed the interview transcript in relation to the original article and the VMC Analytics. My goal is not to present a full-scale empirical study, but to illustrate a way of using videos as more than data and to open a research dialogue for readers. I first describe the methodology of videocued interview I used, followed by a two-part analysis of the interview data, and a discussion of how videos facilitate the interview. Finally, I conclude this article by suggesting several directions for future research. Video-Cued Interview with Mathematics Teachers in Shanghai Video-cued interview as a research method was developed primarily by cultural anthropologists who filmed the people and communities they studied and used the videos to assist their ethnographic interviews (e.g., Connor, Asch, & Asch, 1986; Spindler & Spindler, 1987) . In these studies, videos served not as data, but as interviewing cues to provoke informants’ reflections and to facilitate conversations. Tobin and his colleagues, in their classic “Preschools in

FAQs

What is the purpose of the commentary?

It echoes Wilkinson, Bailey, and Maher’s arguments about the affordances of videos and video databases for studying learning and teaching.

How are videos used in the study described here?

VMC videos are used as cues in a video-cued interview, helping participants notice and reflect on mundane, implicit cultural practices.

What method and data sources support the analysis?

A multivocal videocued interview is conducted with three Shanghai mathematics teachers, and the interview transcript is analyzed in relation to the original article and the VMC Analytics.

Oct 15, 2026

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