About this Project

Over the course of winter term 2008 and fall term 2009, we filmed at least two different meetings of the same class with two stationary cameras, one aimed on the front of the classroom and the other on the back. We were trying to avoid the disruption that a pair of live camera operators would bring to a classroom, but this also meant that we often lost some action in the resulting dead spots. Despite that, we feel as though the classroom footage gives viewers a taste of what the in-class experience is like. The interviews were conducted by John Ramsay, Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies at Carleton College. The final version of the videos were put together by Chico Zimmerman and Lew Weinberg in Carleton's PEPS office.

Acknowledgments

First of all, we need to thank the Mellon Foundation for the grant support needed to carry out the project and the creation of the web pages. We'd also like to thank the folks at SERC for working with us to make these videos available to a wider audience.

It takes great courage to open up your classroom to the outside world, and to reflect publicly on what you are trying to accomplish in your teaching. We are extremely grateful to Stephen, Clara, Arjendu, Deanna, Bill, Parna, Greg, Carol, Matt, and Christine for being such wonderful and thoughtful colleagues, who have been willing to share their experiences with others.

Finally, I wish to offer special thanks to John, for his patience, good humor, and excellent questions, and Lew for his technical expertise and many, many hours of editing. I feel fortunate to have had such intelligent and committed partners in this project.

Chico Zimmerman, on behalf of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching


This project is funded by the Mellon Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mellon Foundation.