Video Observation for Education Research
Video observation, analysis, and collaboration tools for teacher professional development and education researchers.
Trusted by Leading Institutions
For two decades, IRIS Connect has been the go-to choice for research organizations, universities, and the U.S. Department of Education. We’ve facilitated the recording, storage, and analysis of thousands of hours of observation videos, proving our reliability and commitment to excellence.
High-Fidelity Audio and Video
Our field-tested camera kits deliver detailed video and crystal-clear audio, essential for accurate analysis in complex classroom environments. Deployed in thousands of classrooms across 50+ countries, our technology ensures you won’t miss a thing. We have video capture solutions for every budget. Empirical data shows that 97% of videos recorded with our technology meet the quality standards required for scoring with the CLASS observation rubric. This ensures that you’ll receive reliable, high-quality footage suitable for accurate analysis.
Customized Collaborative Services
We don’t just provide technology—we partner with you to tailor our services to your project’s unique needs. From co-designing observation protocols and integrating advanced video analysis tools to creating data collection processes aligned with your research methodology, we’re with you every step of the way. Our experienced team includes PhDs in research methodology, experts in education and professional development, training and support specialists, and project managers.
Web Platform Features
- Comprehensive, world-class data security
- Multiple video sources
- Use your own devices with our app
- Use our camera kits (up to 2 cameras, 2 mics)
- Upload existing videos
- Screen capture
- Automatic video uploading
- Video analysis
- Time-stamped annotations
- Create custom rubrics
- Video editing
- Video organization
- Anonymization of people in videos
- Tagging, grouping, searching
- Collaboration
- Video sharing with colleagues, individually or in groups
- Video and data exportation
- Integration with other platforms (SSO, API embedding)
- Built-in secure video conferencing
- Recorded session imported to video library
Safeguarding & Security
We take safeguarding and security seriously. All classroom videos are encrypted and automatically uploaded to the teacher’s private and secure account in our fully GDPR compliant platform, ready to reflect on or share at a later date.
By default, only the teacher who uploaded a recording has access to it unless they decide to share a video at their own discretion. Ensuring full control and privacy for every user.
Flexible Recording Solutions for Every Budget
Use Your Own Devices
Leverage our app with the equipment you already have.
Affordable Audio Kits
Enhance your recordings with our cost-effective audio solutions.
Customizable Record Kits
Opt for advanced setups with up to 2 cameras and 6 microphones.
Previous Research Projects
Mathmatica Policy Research
Over the past decade, IRIS Connect has provided our solutions for several Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) studies. In the two examples below, MPR utilized nearly 100 of our Discovery Kit camera systems and our customized app to capture hundreds of hours of classroom instruction. Our web platform and services enabled researchers, teachers, and coaches to access the recorded videos with ease.
“Impact Study of Feedback for Teachers Based on Classroom Videos.” Funded by the US Department of Education’s Institute for Education Research ($18.4 million), the study’s aim was to provide compelling evidence regarding the efficacy of teacher feedback and coaching based on IRIS Connect video recordings of classroom instruction. This randomized control trial ran from 2016-2022 and involved 500 teachers from 10 school districts across the US.
“Impact Evaluation of Departmentalized Instruction in Elementary Schools”. Funded by the US Department of Education’s Institute for Education Research ($8.8 million), this study investigated the effect of departmentalizing instruction for fourth and fifth-grade teachers in a considerable number of low-performing elementary schools across the US. This primarily descriptive study involved a total of 90 elementary schools in 12 districts across the country.. The research was conducted from 2017-2021.
Best Foot Forward (Harvard Center for Education Policy & Research)
IRIS Connect provided the video infrastructure for one of the largest randomized control trials in the field of video professional learning. Conducted by the Harvard Center for Education Policy & Research, the study involved 347 teachers and 108 administrators in Delaware, Georgia, Colorado and Los Angeles.
Teachers were given our video equipment , invited to collect multiple lessons, and could then choose a subset of their lesson videos to submit for classroom observations. Our secure software platform allowed administrators as well as external observers (selected for their expertise in a teacher’s discipline) to watch the videos and provide time-stamped comments aligned to specific moments in the videos. In addition to giving teachers a reason and an opportunity to watch multiple instances of their own teaching, the videos served as the basis for one-on-one discussions between teachers and administrators and between teachers and the external content experts.
“I can be in multiple rooms at the same time without actually being there."
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