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Abstract To make sense of this busy, complicated, exhausting, and important period in their burgeoning careers, pre-service educators need venues to reflect, (re)consider, and (re)think the events they may and/or will encounter/experience as novice teachers. Teaching cases, when used appropriately, have established themselves as an important pedagogical tool in meeting this need. Cases offer students the opportunity to (1) construct their own understanding, (2) work at their own level, (3) have choice in the curriculum, and most of all, (4) be active participants in their own learning. Research also suggests that cases can help these pre-service teachers bridge theory and practice, spot issues and frame problems in ambiguous situations, interpret situations from multiple perspectives, identify crucial decision points and possibilities for action, recognize potential risks and benefits inherent in any course of action, and identify and test teaching principles in real classroom situations. In short, cases and case discussions can help teachers develop flexibly powerful pedagogical understanding and judgment. This project will use technology to bring real-world situations into the university classroom by incorporating case-method teaching, in an attempt to involve pre-service teachers in the learning process so that they are prepared to teach thoughtfully in their diverse, inclusive classrooms. This project will explore ways cases (specifically cases involving inclusive education) can be utilized to facilitate student understanding of multiple viewpoints (i.e., the student with the disability, the parents of the student, the special educator, the peers without disabilities, and themselves (the general educator), especially when working within inclusive environments. An attempt will be made to present cases representing multiple school settings (elementary, middle, and high school) and disciplines (e.g., math, English, etc.), as well as topical issues (e.g., behavior management, culture, technology, assessment) that may arise in inclusive classroom with regard to students with disabilities. The professor will need assistance from a technology-savvy KU student in designing the website/technology needed to post the case studies and all other class information. In other words, he/she will be needed to get the site up and running. The KU student will also be helpful in monitoring the site and assisting with troubleshooting. The professor involved in this project will use the technology-facilitated case studies in SPED 707: Exceptional Child and Adolescent in the Regular Classroom, a course designed for fifth-year students who may be getting a minor in Special Education and who are concerned with mastering and applying the instructional and communicative skills necessary to facilitate the appropriate and productive integration of exceptional children and adolescents within the general education classroom and school. Students in 707 will develop a case study based on their experiences during their recent internship in the public schools. Although pre-developed case studies will be used with this project, future case studies used will be those written by the students in the first 707 class. Purpose and Need for the Cohort In 1986, the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession published the report entitled "A nation Prepared: Teachers in the 21st Century," which recommended using case studies as a major focus of teacher instruction. In advocating for case studies, it was felt that they were a good means of connecting theory with practice and of showing that teaching itself was a complex activity that demanded high level decision-making skills. They can be teaching and/or learning tools and the key element is that they are situated in real world contexts. Because case studies bring real world scenarios into the classroom, pre and-in-service teachers can use the problem-centered stories to focus on issues of teaching and learning in classroom situations; policy conflicts within schools; and problems arising from parents, administrators, or colleagues. Cases are descriptive research documents presented in narrative form, and based on real word situations or events. The hope is that they will present a balanced, multidimensional representation of the context, participants, and reality of the situation. They are created for discussion and seek to include sufficient detail and information to elicit active analysis and interpretation by users with differing perspectives. This is important for teacher education because it enables students of teaching to explore, analyze, and examine representations of actual classrooms. We are now seeing collections of cases in teacher education casebooks (e.g., Rand & Shelton-Colangelo, 1999; Danforth & Boyle, 2000). Case discussions play an important role in that it allows the instructor to guide, probe, direct, provide feedback, or simply observe the exchanges among the class members. Case discussion can be used to develop individual skills of observation, analysis, action taking, and assessment. They help students understand that the analyses of most problems in education depend on the particular perspective of the problem solver. Ah ha!!! This semester the case studies will be used to (1) stimulate personal reflection in pre-service teachers and (2) allow pre-service teachers to practice analysis, the assimilation of differing perspectives, and contemplation of action. The cases will also be used to help the students practice decision-making and problem solving. My hope is that the cases will help them "think like a teacher" by presenting situations from which theory emerges. Finally, the cases will be used to stimulate personal reflection. In our efforts to create ‘reflective practitioners,’ cases can emphasize introspection and the development of personal professional knowledge. By having the students create their own cases, these self-reports of personal experiences can be a powerful means to helping them develop habits and techniques of reflection, as well as stimulate analytical thinking. There is probably no one ‘right’ method for teaching a particular course or lesson, but there are some criteria that pertain to each that can help a teacher make the best decision possible. There are advantages and disadvantages to whichever method one chooses. Lecturing is beneficial when presenting factual material in a direct, logical manner and is useful for large groups (like a university classroom). But, case studies can help students develop analytic and problem-solving skills, allows for exploration of solutions for complex issues, and allows students to apply new knowledge and skills. There are other methods of instruction that one can use (e.g., role playing, guest speakers, combinations of methods, panels, etc.), but many times one method will flow into another within the same lesson. Experienced teachers have the skills to make the process seamless. No matter which method a teacher uses, it is best to find the method that best suits your teaching style and the lesson-situation. This can be difficult but it is also a reason why it is imperative that teachers are equipped with many teaching methods. This way they have many methods to draw from. Each could, in some way, enhance the teacher’s teaching, fit with a particular student’s learning style, or facilitate the acquisition of difficult concepts for many students. Members Members include: Monica R. Brown, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Special Education One or two technology assistants provided by the LearnGen Project Scope of Work The KU technology assistants and Dr. Brown will meet as soon as the project has been accepted. In the initial meeting, Dr. Brown will provide the assistants with a brief overview of the project and what the intended outcome is. Together, the assistants and Dr. Brown will lay out how the technology will be used in Dr. Brown’s 707 course. Dr. Brown will come to this first meeting with (1) a package of 5 already developed case studies of real world situations from inclusive classrooms, (2) directions and instructions for students to complete the case studies on line, (3) a rubric that will be used to grade students’ reactions to the case studies, (4) an idea of how Dr. Brown wants the online discussion group to be developed (I think this would be asynchronous), and (5) a 5-question evaluation form that follows each case. These students will have just spent six weeks in the schools doing internships. They will be asked to reflect on that experience in the inclusive classroom and write their own case study. These will need to be posted so that the entire class can read and respond to them. Questions will be provided to guide the students in writing their personal case studies. Towards the end of the semester, Dr. Brown will provide the technology assistants with an evaluation form to be placed online so that students can evaluate the effectiveness of using case studies versus traditional methods in the course. Prior to the case studies going online, they will be given to faculty who are considered experts in the topic discussed in the case study (e.g., a case study dealing with an assessment issue might go to Dr. Steve Colson or a case study dealing with the issue of collaboration might go to Dr. Suzanne Robinson). They will be asked to complete the case study. From their responses, there may be an ‘Ask the Experts’ section on the online site. This section would only be available to students after they have completed the case study themselves. Dr. Brown and the technology assistants will have to work out the particulars of making sure which sections are open to all students (i.e., the discussion board) and which are only for the instructor’s eyes (i.e., the students’ completed case studies and evaluations). For future classes [i.e., spring 2003 with SPED 879 (Conferencing Parents)], Dr. Brown and the technology assistant(s) will come up with ideas on how this experience can be more interactive for the students. Is there a way to add video and audio? Can we scan in pictures from real classrooms and add voiceover to certain key statements within the case study? Dr. Brown will identify an exemplary inclusive classroom during this fall and obtain the necessary release forms from KU (Human Subjects), the teachers, and their students before entering those classrooms/meetings. Information from this project will be disseminated in several ways.
September
Resources needed for this project include (1) a digital camera, (2) access to a scanner and a CD burner, materials needed to create paper monographs (e.g., plastic binders, access to copier/copying), and, if allowed to record in inclusive classrooms/parent meetings, a voice recorder. I am sure there are other ways to use technology to enhance the delivery of these cases, but the first few semesters will be trial and error. Feedback from students and colleagues will help us determine what additional things can be done. Dr. Brown, the technology assistants, and the LearnGen PIs will brainstorm throughout the year and decide what’s doable in a project like this. The possibilities might be endless : ) Institutionalization/Extension Dr. Brown will continue to use technology-facilitated case studies in her courses, both pre-service and in-service once the LearnGen Project has expired. An effort will be made to extend this type of teaching to all courses taught by Dr. Brown until all courses taught by her utilize cases. I hope that pre-and-in-service teachers who have taken Dr. Brown’s courses will experiment with technology and cases in their own K-12 classrooms. Other Special Education and SOE faculty will have access to this project (through the monographs or online) and Dr. Brown will make herself available to those wishing to know more about the project and how they can use this method in their courses. Evaluation All students in SPED 707 and 879 will complete evaluations of the web based cases and their usefulness in the courses. For example, students will be asked how the cases might be improved upon, what they did and did not like about the cases being online, as well as other questions. Following conference presentations, if accepted for presentation, attendees will be asked to complete an evaluation of the project as presented. Articles submitted to peer reviewed journals return to the author with feedback. That feedback will be used to inform how future web-based cases are used in the courses. Students also evaluate their courses at the end of each semester. This will be a good indicator of how effective this method is for preparing pre-service teachers. |
 Learning Generation, University of Kansas, 2005. |
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