Improving Undergraduate Teacher Education with Technology and Case-Based Instruction

Purpose

The courses that future teachers take in college do not always prepare them for the realities of the classroom. Faculty at Vanderbilt's Peabody College noticed that students left reading courses with information about the factors affecting reading and knowing how to evaluate different instructional models, yet they seemed inflexible in their thinking about the problems encountered in teaching. They also appeared limited in their application of intervention techniques to new contexts. Their repertoire of alternative techniques to use when instruction did not go as expected appeared small.

Teaching is a complex cognitive skill. Because it occurs in ill-defined environments, it requires not only knowledge about what to do but the ability to determine when and how to do it. Methods courses often fail to help prospective teachers because they teach procedures and neglect problem-solving skills. Lecture methodologies and written or videotaped case studies that oversimplify complex problems are especially ineffective.

Lectures do not work because they do not teach students to analyze the effects of situational and classroom contexts on a teacher's choice and application of method, since it is impossible to describe all the nuances and dynamics of classroom interactions. Because of the linear nature of lectures, examples used to explain concepts can seem unrelated to each other and students have to struggle to make sense of disparate experiences.

Nor is all case-based instruction successful. In written case studies, often problems are too narrowly described to show how multiple factors interact to create problems. Videotaped cases are of necessity fragmented and do not allow for comparisons across cases. Because videotape only allows the instructor to run through an entire segment once rather than reviewing specific scenes as often as needed, videotaped cases do not provide opportunities for exploration and problem identification at the level required by case-based pedagogy. For a number of reasons outlined below, project faculty concluded that a videodisc-based problem solving approach would help students to develop flexible thinking about problems and the spontaneous use of strategies to solve them.

Innovative Features

During the course of the project, faculty developed, tested and disseminated 16 videodisc-based cases enhanced by Hypercard and microcomputer technology, to be used in developmental and reading methods courses. They adapted the case-based procedures used in medicine, law and business, which have found case-based instruction useful in problem-solving and preparing students to know and act simultaneously. The resulting discs portray several units of instruction and present teacher and student interviews, numerous classroom scenes, procedural activities, and learning among various groups.

Faculty chose reading education courses for videodisc enhancement because they are vital to the national interest. They believed that reading education courses, which all undergraduate teacher education students are required to take, are especially suited to problem-centered instruction developed around case studies. To counteract fragmented learning they developed cases to teach across both developmental and remedial reading.

They chose videodiscs because these discs allow rapid random access and frame-accurate searches and freeze-frame and menu-driven control for cross-referencing of information across cases. In addition, it is possible through computer links to incorporate additional perspectives using text, sound and graphics. Videodiscs provide such information as teachers' nonverbal cues and simultaneously-occurring classroom events, which students can reexamine and cross-examine from multiple perspectives. Being able to see the events that lead to teachers' decisions allows the transfer of knowledge to real-world situations. In short, videodiscs, especially when linked to computers, encompass all the possibilities of print and videotape while avoiding their shortcomings. To complement the videodiscs, project faculty created supporting Hypercard technology, lesson plans, and other materials. Hypercard technology enhances the effectiveness of instruction by providing students access to multiple sources of information about each case.

Evaluation and Project Impact

In the course of the project, faculty used pretest and posttest control groups to evaluate students' perception of changes in knowledge and the usefulness of various methods of instruction. They evaluated two sections of developmental and remedial reading methods courses, one taught with videodisc, case-based instruction and one with traditional instruction, including lectures with readings, written cases, and demonstration videotapes. They also compiled case studies of students who were taught with the videodisc methodology. The evaluations comprised many measures, from paper and pencil tasks to structured interviews.

Faculty measured the effects of the videodisc methodology on students' participation in case analyses in the college classroom, their knowledge of factors contributing to literacy development, their knowledge and application of instructional procedures in the school classroom, and their use of decision-making strategies when confronted with problems during teaching. Preliminary data indicate that student knowledge increased during the course and that students changed their perception of the value of certain teaching methods, i.e., more felt that class discussions and field experiences were valuable ways of learning and that problem-solving abilities were enhanced by the use of video.

In the classes that used videodiscs there was abundant discussion, with students showing more factual knowledge and ability to analyze problems from multiple perspectives and to use information to solve new problems. These students asked more questions and made more comments, and their questions showed their ability to evaluate and synthesize the material. They showed an increased ability to consider alternative solutions to problems, to adjust appropriately instructional routines and procedures, and to justify decisions.

Faculty observed that students entered the course with a limited understanding of the complexities of reading instruction, focusing on narrow aspects of reading development to guide their analysis of the initial video case. Eventually, they improved in their ability to adopt additional perspectives for thinking about classroom situations, something which, according to researchers, does not normally happen until after students begin teaching.

To compensate for the small size of the original evaluation sample, the effectiveness of the videodiscs was tested at other institutions, where data were gathered with surveys and structured interviews. These follow-up tests revealed similar results: students participated more in class discussions; students adopted new perspectives to analyze teaching dilemmas; and students increased their abilities to identify problems and offer solutions.

Project Continuation

At Vanderbilt, the cases are used every semester in several sections of developmental and remedial classes. They are also used on a continuous basis in at least six other sites.

Dissemination and Recognition

The project was the subject of eight articles (one of which received the Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award from the Association of Teacher Educators), eight technical reports, and 25 presentations. It was visited by faculty from the United States and abroad. The videodisc material has been converted to CD-ROM and published as Risko, V. J., & Kinzer, C. K., Multimedia Cases in Reading Education (McGraw-Hill, 1999).

Available Information

Further information may be obtained from:

Victoria J. Risko
Charles K. Kinzer
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203
Telephone: 615-322-4596
Telephone: 615-322-8101

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