CASEwise: A Case-based Online Learning Environment for Teacher Professional Development

1. CASEwise: A Case-based Online Learning Environment for Teacher Professional Development Chrystalla Mouza & Yu-Chun Liu

2. Background • Teacher Professional Development • Need to help teachers become on-going learners • Need to help teachers develop flexible and contextualized knowledge • Technology Professional Development • Increased need for continuous professional development • Need to help teachers situate technology knowledge within content and pedagogical knowledge • Importance of Studying Classroom Practice (Hiebert et al., 2007) • Case methods (Merseth, 1996; L. Shulman, 1986; J. Shulman, 2002): • Case development • Case discussion and analysis

3. Instructional Cases: Definitions, Functions • “Case Knowledge” • knowledge of specific, well documented, and richly described events • Purposes of cases • Cases as exemplars • Cases as opportunities to practice analysis • Cases as stimulants to personal reflection • Theoretical Underpinnings • Cognitive Perspective: Case-based reasoning (Kolodner, 1993).

4. Instructional Cases: Theoretical Underpinnings • Case-based reasoning (Kolodner, 1993) • Human knowledge and experience is stored in memory in the form of cases or stories • Cases record both positive and negative experiences • Principles of CBR (Kolodner, 2006) • Learners can learn from the cases of others as well as from their own • Learners need to interpret and reflect on their experiences to make them into well articulated cases • Experience applying cases from memory allows further learning • Effective case authoring requires reflection on one’s experience to be able to summarize its most salient parts • Sociocultural Theories of Learning • Draw attention to the role that discussion, debate, and negotiation can play in interactions between learners and their peers • Draw attention to the role of more knowledgeable peers

5. Process of Case Development Stages 1 & 2: Identify a pedagogical problem & design a technology-integration plan to address the problem Stage 3: Enact the technology-integration plan in the classroom, assess student learning, and collect relevant artifacts Stage 4: Analyze and reflect on the enactment of the technology-integration plan and develop an educative case Influence own learning & practice in the use of technology Discussion & Analysis of Cases through Formal Professional Development Dissemination, Informal Discussion, Analysis, & Reflection on Cases Influence other teachers’ learning & practice in the use of technology

8. Structure of Case-Development • Case Description • Teaching Context (e.g., where is your case situated) • Problem (e.g., what is the learning problem addressed in your case?) • Content and Learning Goal (e.g., subject matter and learning goals) • Technology Standards (e.g., ISTE technology standards) • Intentions (e.g., intentions, anticipations and expectations) • What happened? (e.g., description of the actual implementation) • Assessment and Evidence of Student Learning (e.g., assessment procedures and evidence of student learning)

10. Structure of Case-Development • Case Analysis and Reflection • Analysis: Why events unfolded as they did? • Positive and negative outcomes, intended and unintended consequences, theory to practice connections • Reflection: What did you learn as a result of implementing this case? • Lessons learned, advice for other teachers

11. Impact of Case Development • In the past, I thought I was really integrating technology when merely allowing my students to word process their writing. Designing, implementing, and then reflecting on my lesson, has helped me strengthen and revisit my beliefs on the importance of technology. Before, I was really using technology in isolation – just as a support function of what I was doing in the classroom, but not as a central component of my teaching. Now I have aggressively moved towards real integration, where I use technology to address crucial pedagogical problems. • Reflecting on my practice made me realize the importance of using technology as a tool to foster student learning – not as something that just added little in our curriculum as an afterthought. In the past, I was focusing on using technology without any concern about the quality of the undertaken activities. Reflecting on my lesson helped me realize that I should try to better integrate technology into our pedagogical curriculum – not just using different tools for the sake of utilizing technology.

12. Reflection as a Source of Learning • The most important aspect of case development was the need to analyze and reflect on my practice. With all of the lessons that I teach, it seems like I always reflect afterwards about how I can make it better for the following year, but I never get a chance to write it down. This case study can be used as a resource for next year when I decide to do this lesson again or even other technology integrated lessons. I will know exactly how the lesson played out, what went wrong, and my suggestions for making it better. When reflecting, I was particularly intrigued by the question that asked us to elaborate on our intentions. This showed me how we often predict things one way and in the end, we realize that things don’t always work out as we had planned.

13. Impact of Case Discussion • Exposed teachers to new types of technologies • I was very excited to learn about the online simulations discussed in the first case. They turned out to be a great resource for me, particularly in a unit on fractions that I teach. • Enabled teachers to become aware and anticipate obstacles associated with technology use • Provided advice to help teachers implement technology in their own classrooms • Reading and discussing other cases made me think about all the small details that a teacher needs to observe when using technology. Small details can cause major problems and as teachers we always need to have back up plans.

14. Lesson & Resource Development • Lesson Plan Development • CASEwise template that scaffolds lesson planning • CASEwise template that enables sharing of web resources

16. Conclusion: Use of Cases • Provide a fruitful context for deepening teacher understanding of technology integration, particularly in relation to content and pedagogy • Refers to teachers’ abilities to identify types and uses of technology within their local context, which can help them effectively teach science, mathematics, social studies, etc. • TK, CK, TCK, PK, PCK, TPK • Emphasize the value of guided reflection • Help teachers see their case as a lesson that can provide valuable information to other colleagues Mishra & Koehler, 2006

17. Conclusion: CASEwise as a Scalable PD Model • Cases disseminated through CASEwise make teaching with technology visible and accessible while providing insights into teacher decision-making processes, thoughts, and reflections. • Teachers can access CASEwise resources to seek ideas on technology-integrated lessons, suggestions, advice, and lessons learned from the experiences of the case-authors. • Teacher can engage in discussions on existing cases and contribute to CASEwise by authoring their own cases. • CASEwise resources can help build a knowledge base for teaching with technology while supporting and scaffolding teacher-directed, on-demand learning.

18. For More Information • Contact: Chrystalla Mouza or Yu-Chun Liu • cmouza@udel.edu • yucliu@UDel.Edu • Visit CASEwise • http://webs.oet.udel.edu/casewise/