Implementing Case-Based Instruction in Higher Education Through Technology: What Works Best?

Source: Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. 17 (1), pp. 31-63. (2009).

The article reports findings from a two-year multi-site, multi-method naturalistic research project. The research examined the use of multimedia case instruction to prepare teachers for teaching students with emotional/behavioral disorders. Participants were 251 teacher education students across five universities. Independent variables included testing condition (pre versus post), course type, course content, prior teaching experience, type of instructional implementation used in case delivery, type of case discussions, and time working within the cases. Dependent variables included quality of content entered into concept maps, and the breadth of concept (nodes) and interconnectedness of concept (links) on concept maps. There were significant main effects of pre to post conceptual change for all dependent measures. Qualitative data provide a rich understanding of the study findings.