Learning Technologies in the Classroom: Case Studies

These case studies were commissioned by the Virginia Department of Education during the development of the State Master Plan for Technology. The case studies complement an exhaustive review of the literature also conducted during the development of the Master Plan for Technology. The information found in these case studies makes it possible to approach technology decisions at the school level with a healthy blend of informed instinct and analytical deliberation. The case studies collected information under three broad categories; an organizational profile, technology profile, and resource profile. Each of these areas were further broken down into sub areas to organize the collection and recording of data. For example, the organizational profile focuses on beliefs and visions; planning; and implementation. The technology profile focuses on technology applications; instructional implications; and instructional practice. The resource profile focuses on training; administrative support; software; facilities; and teachers\u27 administrative uses. This study was conducted in order to gain a richer understanding of the impact of technology in schools. The team selected schools to survey most basically on the extent of their use of technology. In order to be selected for this study, a school must have had a technology-rich environment for at least two years. A second criterion was the availability of backbone networks at the school. Urban, suburban, and rural schools were all equally considered. The use of technology to support higher-order thinking skills as part of the curriculum was another criterion for selection. Four sites which met these criteria were decided upon and were visited by four member teams. Case One is a rural high school, Case Two is a suburban middle school, Case Three an urban elementary school, and Case Four is an urban high school. Three members of each team were drawn from the Virginia Department of Education\u27s technology planning team. The fourth member was a faculty member from either Virginia Commonwealth University or George Mason University. A case study protocol (attached) was used by the site teams to guide their observations

A case for case studies; The effective use of case studies in the college classroom

Instructors often use case studies to bridge the gap between theory and practice while also bringing research into the learning environment. Case studies allow students to participate actively in the learning process by helping them learn how to think, plan and reason by studying the actions, thoughts and decision-making processes of real people and companies. Educators also often choose case studies in their learning environment because they can accommodate different learning styles, including inductive learners, who learn from examples as opposed to logical development (linear learning). Case studies from this journal are well suited for use in the college classroom because they are generally written by practitioners for practitioners. This paper includes a list of practical insights when teaching students about digital and social media using case studies from this journal or others like it

A case study of case studies: producing real world learning within the business classroom

Teaching and learning about business organisations and the environment in which they operate is contained within a curriculum but context and events in which they operate is constantly changing. In responding to this context one solution is to construct and use case-studies, but these are (a) time-consuming and expensive to produce (b) need constant up-dating (c) may be unsuited for classrooms. This paper shows how these problems have been overcome by using a innovative methodology based in a continuing public-private partnership (1994-present) between H.E., schools and business organisations. The organisations pay to contribute - and distribute - the case-studies which must conform to requirements which ensure classroom materials are relevant, rigorous, up-to-date, and unbiased: cross-referenced to the curriculum; both practical and theoretical; designed to enrich classroom experiences; ethically-based, taking into account the advice of teachers. The paper argues for a way of producing curriculum materials which itself constitutes a methodological contribution to the uses of case-study in research-based learning

Learning Science In A Secondary School In Papua New Guinea

This study investigated teaching and learning, and the classroom learning environment in which the electricity topic was taught by the regular class teacher within the prescribed Grade 9 syllabus in a Secondary School in Papua New Guinea. The study was motivated by the perceived problems students had with understanding science concepts and the lack of classroom-based studies that provide a better understanding of teaching and learning science and the influence of the classroom learning environment on students' learning. An interpretive with embedded case study was conducted in a Grade 9 class over a period of 12 weeks in which data was gathered using mixed and multiple methods. Findings of the study revealed the presence and influence of aspects of the indigenous traditional teaching and learning approach impacting on the formal modern Western oriented teaching and learning approach in this particular classroom. The study recommended that in order to maximise students' learning and understanding of science concepts in the classroom observed, cultural sensitivity should be incorporated in the pedagogy

Nature of scientific inquiry in Year 11 science

The article presents two classroom-based case studies in 2005 that examined the experience of students in school science in New Zealand. It states that students in both classrooms were introduced to the requirements of Science Achievement Standard (SAS) 1.1. in the preparatory phase. Meanwhile, students participated in a mock assessment known as the formative assessment in the second phase

Implementation of case studies in undergraduate didactic nursing courses: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The implementation of unfolding scenario-based case studies in the didactic classroom is associated with learner-centered education. The utilization of learner-centered pedagogies, such as case studies, removes the focus from the instructor and instead places it on the student. Learner-centered pedagogies are believed to improve students’ levels of cognition. The purpose of this study was to examine how nurse educators are implementing the pedagogies of case studies in their undergraduate didactic courses. The goal was to examine, document, report, and, ultimately, implement the strategies. METHODS: Purposeful sampling was utilized in this qualitative, multisite-designed study. For each of the four participants, three separate site visits were completed. Observations and post-observational interviews took place at each site visit. Transcribed data from interviews, observations, and course documents were imported into the computer program Nvivo8. Repetitive comparative analysis was utilized to complete the data coding process. RESULTS: The guiding research question of this study sought to investigate the implementation strategies of case studies in didactic nursing courses. The implementation of case studies by the participants reflected two primary patterns: Formal Implementation (FI) and Informal Implementation (II) of case studies. The FI of case studies was further divided into two subcategories: Formal Implementation of case studies used Inside the Classroom setting (FIIC) and Formal Implementation of cases studies used Outside of the Classroom (FIOC). CONCLUSION: Results of this investigation have led to an increased understanding of implementation strategies of unfolding scenario-based case studies in undergraduate nursing didactic courses. Data collected were rich in the description of specific methodologies for utilization of case studies and may serve as a resource for faculty in development of creative strategies to enhance the didactic classroom experience