Bringing real children into the online English curriculum: Digital case books in teacher
education
Sue Nichols
Paper for the Australian Computers in Education Conference, Adelaide 2014
Abstract
One of the challenges of teacher education has always been to create authentic connections
with the world of professional practice so that students experience the relevance of their
university learning. This challenge has taken on renewed urgency with the move to
integrating online learning into pre-service teacher education courses. The Authentic
Literacy Data Analysis project (ALDA) was established to develop and trial the use of digital
resources in the form of learner case books. These digital case books contain multiple kinds
of evidence gathered from school classrooms relating to specific children at a range of year
and ability levels. This paper describes the process of implementing ALDA in the
undergraduate English curriculum in a pilot study involving a cohort of 125 third year
students. A case-based approach using multimedia digital resources engages pre-service
educators in active decision making and bridges the gap between theory and practice.
Introduction
In order to equip graduates to practice effectively as educational practitioners, university
teacher education courses need to provide encounters with the world of practice and also
the conceptual tools with which to make sense of this world. A central dimension of
teaching is the interpretation of evidence of student learning; judgements based on such
interpretation should be informing teachers' pedagogical decision making. This paper
reports the development and integration of digital resources aimed at supporting preservice educators' interpretation of evidence.
The recently implemented National Professional Standards for Teachers makes clear that
the use of student data is an integral component of professional practice. The use of student
data is involved in “[d]ifferentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students
across the full range of abilities” (AITSL 2011, p. 9). The Standards outline competencies for
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each career stage; graduate teachers are expected to “demonstrate their capacity to
interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching
practice” (AITSL 2011, p. 5).
Undergraduate teacher education has for some time incorporated the concept of arguing
from evidence into courses. However it has been observed that pre-service teachers
experience difficulty with successfully undertaking analytical tasks, particularly those whose
prior academic record is not strong (Brennan & Zipin, 2006 p. 337 – 8). Bainbridge and Macy
found that pre-service educators viewed assessment as "one of their weakest areas"
(Bainbridge & Macy, 2008 p. 73). Making judgements requires independent critical thinking.
However critical thinking has often been taught in isolation from curriculum courses, which
creates a barrier to students drawing on curriculum-based materials to build their analytic
skills.
The use of digital resources to analyse student data is more prevalent in schools than in
teacher education programs. Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al (2012) surveyed both teachers and
teacher educators regarding their use of electronic resources and found that teacher
training institutions incorporated a very narrow range of uses into their programs. They
found that while 54% of school-based teachers regularly used digital resources to produce
and/or analyse student data, only 25% of teacher educators incorporated this into
programs. This points to another issue in the preparation of teachers that could be
addressed by the incorporation of digital cases using authentic student data.
Connecting with Practice in the Online Learning Environment
Professional practice is carried out in contexts which are social, embodied and situated
(Schatzki, 2001; Macklin, 2009). Most graduates of professional programs in higher
education will work in material settings where they interact with others face to face in real
time. The shift to online delivery in higher education has had many positive consequences
including enabling students in rural and remote locations to acquire a professional
qualification. However, it has also created challenges for curriculum areas in which
professional practice has strong interactive and embodied dimensions. This problem has
generated considerable activity as higher education developers have sought to develop
approaches to representing practice contexts in digital environments. These include virtual
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simulations of professional environments in which students can encounter scenarios and
practice skills (Segrave & Holt, 2003; Saltmarsh & Sutherland-Smith, 2010).
An alternative approach seeks to create rich multimedia documentations of practices
involving real-world participants in authentic contexts (Lieberman & Mace, 2010). Unlike
simulations, real-world documentations provide higher education students with access to
the experiences and perspectives of actual participants in professional practice contexts
such as (in the case of Education) learners and teachers.
Case-based reasoning (CBR) within higher education offers one solution to the problem of
connecting students to the world of professional practice (cf Kim & Hannafin, 2007;
Jonassen, Wang, Strobel & Cenusca, 2003). In this approach, problems or issues of practice
form the basis of curriculum activities which invite students to enter into professional
scenarios and practice their interpretive and decision making skills. Digital technologies are
enabling curriculum designers to create more authentic case presentations. Layering
different sources of evidence enables designers to produce rich resources. Zottman et al
(2012) provided sections of video from an English class in an online learning object that
included ‘‘perspective of the teacher’’ and ‘‘perspective of the learner’’ links to audio of
interviews. Kim and Hannafin (2007) presented cases based on exemplary lessons including
video of classroom practice, teacher reflection, work samples and planning materials.
Many CBR examples focus centrally on teaching rather than making the learner the primary
focus. However there appear to be some challenges associated with this approach including
pre-service educators' resistance to accepting an exemplary teacher's expert judgement
(Kim & Hannafin, 2007). There may be advantages in a case-based approach that focuses on
individual students as the basis of cases. Teacher in practice are required to make
professional judgements about individual students. In this project, the learner has been put
at the centre of the case and the focus is on pre-service educators making use of evidence
of learning to come to educational judgements.
The project
The Authentic Literacy Data Analysis (ALDA) involves the development of digital case books
and their integration into a pre-service teacher education course Studies in English
Teaching. The project, funded by a UniSA Teaching and Learning Development Grant, was
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piloted in 2012 with a cohort of 125 students and is currently being fully implemented with
a cohort of 500 second year students. The core ALDA team comprised two teacher
educators and a research assistant. In the online development phase, we were assisted by
two online education developers whose time was provided by the Technology Education
Learning (TEL) project within the School of Education.
The intended learning outcomes of this project were that:

Participating pre-service teachers will gain skills in the analysis of authentic student
data for the purpose of instructional decision making;

Project team members will gain skills in the development of digital resources.

The course teaching team will gain experience in the integration of authentic student
data, in digital form, into undergraduate curriculum in English.

Provide a model and pedagogical support for the development of online data packs
and resources for other curriculum areas.
The project design combines CBR’s focus on learner-centred case-based reasoning with
data-based critical analysis. The use of authentic data is central to this endeavour. The
digital case books comprised evidence from actual case study children, representing a range
of year levels and ability profiles.
Recruitment
Two primary schools accepted our invitation to collaborate in the project and a third
declined. Consent was obtained from teachers and the parents of case study children to
conduct interviews and collect literacy materials. Four year levels from each school provided
classes: Reception and Years 2, 4 and 6.
Teachers were asked to select three children representing a high, middle and low achieving
student similar to the selection method used in the Case Technologies Enhancing Literacy
Learning project (Shrader et al, 2003). Additionally, teachers were asked to ensure that both
males and females were represented and, if possible the ethnic diversity of the school was
represented.
Collecting authentic materials
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Following an initial orientation visit to each participating teacher, teams of 2-3 researchers
visited the teacher's class to collect data. Generally at least two visits and, in some cases,
three were needed. A companion paper (Neill 2014) explains this process in depth including
challenges with recording and the use of multiple hardware and software platforms.
Because the cases were based on individual students, the selection of data was student
focused. Each child was videoed reading aloud to the teacher except in year 6 classes where
this was no longer routine practice. During these read aloud sessions, teachers took a
running record, which is a form that records and analyses a child's 'miscues'. For instance, if
a child reads a different word from the one in the text this is noted.
Each child was asked to select a piece of their own writing to talk about with a researcher.
During these conversations, researchers also asked more general questions about the child's
orientation to literacy. Several examples of the child's text production were scanned or
photographed on the spot.
Each teacher was recorded speaking about the focus child. Before the recording, teachers
were reminded about the audience (pre-service educators) and asked to be explicit in
specifying the child's strengths and learning difficulties in the area of literacy. They were
invited to mention any information they considered relevant including insights into the
child's family background and parental involvement. Teachers also provided additional
materials which they felt comfortable in releasing including literacy resources and deidentified class assessment records.
Integration of digital case books
From the eight classes involved, the cases from three were selected for piloting, nine cases
in total.. At this point, various options for the integration of cases in the online learning
environment were considered. Zottman and colleagues (2012) recommend "non-linear,
multi-dimensional presentation of contents" in designing a case-based learning
environment. The digital case book format was selected for flexibility, enabling multiple
entry points and as well its compatibility with the existing course site organisation.
Each case book includes the following elements:
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
Video of student reading aloud to teacher

Scanned copy of the read aloud book

Scanned copy of the reading record form completed by the teacher

Three to five work samples representing a range of tasks

Audio interview with teacher

Audio interview with child
Depending on the teacher's consent and practice, additional class level information was
provided for some classes. This included grade records and teaching resources.
For the pilot, the digital case books were published to the course site but were not explicitly
linked to other course elements such as readings. They simply replaced non-authentic
materials previously used in the case study assignment. This approach is recognised as the
most basic level of integration (Masdri, el Basri, Norton & Newsum, 2012).
The second phase currently in progress involves their integration into the course through
associated learning tasks and supporting materials.
Collecting evidence of outcomes
The second assignment for English 2, a third year course, involved students in analysing case
study material developed in the ALDA project. Students were informed of the ALDA project
and invited to make their assignments available for analysis. Analysis was conducted by a
researcher who was not on the English 2 teaching team and it was made clear to students
that the research analysis would be completely separate from their course assessment.
From a total of 125 students, 19 volunteered their assignments. This is a small percentage
therefore caution is necessary when interpreting results. Initial analysis addressed the
following questions:

Which cases did the students choose to analyse?

Which sources of evidence did students use?

How did students engage with the evidence?
Interviews were also undertaken with three teacher educators and written comments were
received from a fourth. Interview questions focused on the teacher educator's own
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response to the digital case books, the responses of their students and their view of learning
outcomes based on student assignments. Interview data was analysed thematically.
Findings: Teacher Educator Interviews
Teacher educators were very positive about the resource and in particular praised its
authenticity. The terms 'real' and 'authentic' were not used in interview questions; however
they were used by the educators to describe what they saw as a key strength of the
resource. In developing this theme, they drew comparisons between the digital case book
materials and the text book examples that are more commonly available to students.
Moira, an experienced school teacher and casual tutor, referred to a common assessment
practice, the taking of a 'running record'. This involves the teacher completing an
assessment form while a child reads aloud. In their course, students are shown exemplary
running records and demonstrations conducted in ideal circumstances. However the digital
case books showed video of teachers taking running records in the context of busy, crowded
noisy classrooms.
That’s what I think is good for our students, to see that [example of classroom
practice]. To not see the video of the perfect running record. I mean I can do that
with them. I can give them that model of how it’s meant to be but then they see
what really goes on, what will happen for them as well. Why should our students be
trying to prepare for a perfect world?
Teacher educators reported that students wanted more evidence and examples for each
child. This is despite the digital case books representing a considerable increase in the range
and quantity of evidence that had been made available for this assignment in previous
courses. In addressing this concern, teacher educators again made reference to the 'real
world' of professional practice. Margie, a senior teacher educator, reported:
[S]ome of the students would say "Well I wish I had more writing" or "I wish I had
…"; one of my responses was "This is the real world, this is what this teacher collects
and this is what we have and we analyse what we have here."
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The selection of cases was also commented on in relation to the course's scope, covering
early years to middle years of schooling. The cases covered Reception (school entry) to Year
6, however some students in the course were training to teach in pre-schools and child care
centres. Prue, an early childhood teacher educator asked:
How do the early childhood students contextualize the content in the English courses
for preschool and childcare? We need to have a set of case study materials made for
preschool age children: one child three and a half and another five years old.
Integration of the digital case books with other course resources was identified as requiring
further development. In this pilot stage, nothing changed in the course except for the
substitution of digital case books for the previous contrived materials. According to Margie,
who was teaching this course for the first time, the set texts did not provide sufficient
support for students in interpreting the child cases:
I didn’t like the [course text book] because there weren't examples and if [students]
don't see children's writing examples, they don't know what they're supposed to
look like. So that was one area where if I were to do this again, I would make sure
that the models that they have to draw on have concrete examples.
In order to use the case books effectively in class, teacher educators needed to familiarise
themselves with the various forms of evidence. This meant they had to engage in the same
kinds of interpretive thinking that their students were required to demonstrate. Moira
described how she worked across multiple sources in coming to her own understanding of
each case:
I wasn’t quite sure in the beginning. So I spent some time looking at all of them.
Listening to the teacher speak was very enlightening. It was good to have that. And
hearing the child speak about what they were doing was really helpful as well. And I
needed to look really closely at them before I expected the students to have an
understanding.
This is consistent with the finding from a similar study that using digital case-based materials
for the first time necessitated significant time for professors to "completely explore all
elements of a case" (Schrader et al 2003, p. 333).
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Findings: Student Assignments
Cases chosen
Students were required to present two case studies and could choose from three sets (Year
2, Year4, Year 6). The most popular child cases were Imogen and James in the Year 2 set.
This can be understood in relation to the program cohort which is constituted of three
specialisation groups: Early Childhood, Junior Primary/Primary and Primary Middle. The
Early Childhood group is training to work with children no older than Year 2.
Most students chose one girl and one boy for their two cases. In selecting Imogen and
James, students were also choosing more highly contrastive cases, with the third child
(Tabitha) having been identified by the teacher (in discussion with the researchers) as in the
middle rank of achievement.
Sources of evidence
Nearly all students referred to at least three different sources of evidence in coming to
judgements about students’ strengths and needs. Only one student used fewer than three
sources while five students used more than four sources.
Table 1: Examples of students' use of evidence from the digital case books
Form of
evidence
References Example
(total = 19)
Child's writing
sample
17
“Imogen’s writing is situated in the Early Writing phase of
the First Steps (2013b) continuum. This is highlighted
when she uses sound-letter knowledge to spell irregular
words- “Madurgasgu”, “biskuerts”, “sosigerill” … "
(Student 2)
Running record
form.
15
"Imogen decodes unknown words through the use of
phonemes and syllables, which is evident in her running
record, e.g. cor-ru-gated." (Student 6)
Teacher
interview about
the child (audio)
15
"For homework each night they are required to do LSCWC
for all of their spelling words for the week. On Friday the
teacher looks through their homework book, James
homework is not always completed." (Student 3)
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Interview with
child (audio)
13
"James likes to draw monsters on his iPod at home.
Expressing his ideas using technology in class in
particularly for English may help him engage more and
enjoy writing and reading process." (Student 13)
Child reading
aloud (video).
10
"When reading Tabitha lacks fluency, this maybe one of
the reasons why she isn’t gaining inferential meaning
from the text." (Student 14)
The student work samples were the most commonly referred to sources (17 students) while
the reading records and teacher interviews were also referred to by 15 students. This may
reflect the strong emphasis on teachers conducting running records which is currently the
case in the education system, and has been observed by students when on their
professional placement.
Engagement with the evidence
More detailed analysis is needed to get a clear picture of patterns in students’ approaches
to using the evidence. However, some points can be made at this stage. First, it appeared
that the multimedia presentation of evidence provided students with important clues as to
the case study child's orientation to literacy. There was evidence that students were
attending to visual and auditory information when interpreting children’s skills and
attitudes:
When asked about these interests James’ voice seemed to spark and get louder,
showing some excitement. (Student 6)
[I]t was noticed in the video of Child Two reading that she is still utilising finger
pointing to assist with her reading which may be holding back her development in
other areas.(Student 15)
Secondly, students drew on conceptual resources from their course in order to make sense
of the cases. For instance, they looked for evidence that would justify assigning children to
developmental categories based frameworks encountered in their course:
The first steps developmental continuum (2013) states that transitional writers
‘consider audience and purpose when selecting ideas and information to be included
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in texts’. Tabitha structures her recount by using words such as first, next, then, after
and finally […] (Student 5)
Jack is in the ‘developing’ phase of the English as an EALD scale, according to his
score of 6 in the student data (DECD, 2012, p.13). This level is demonstrated in Jack
constructing some written texts with confidence, such as his Aldinga Coastlines
Information Report. (Student 17)
This is consistent with Zottman et al's (2012) finding that students using digital case-based
resources demonstrated significantly greater application of concepts that a control group.
Third, being provided with multiple different sources of evidence on a child seemed to
prompt some students to exercise critical and independent thinking. Different lenses on the
child opened up different possibilities for interpretation; thus the case books did not
offering a transparent window on the child. This created the possibility of students noticing
the interpretive nature of teachers' judgements rather than treating them as authoritative.
Several questioned or even disputed the case study children's teachers based on their own
dissenting analysis of some of the data:
According to the recording the teacher states that James’ comprehension is quite
good, but looking at the running record it looks as if his comprehension is actually
quite poor. It would also seem that the teacher may have made some mistakes when
marking the running record [ … ] (Student 4)
The teacher has inferred that James will be like his brother and not be the best
student when it comes to literature. This shows me that she needs to learn turnaround pedagogies techniques and not to label him and put him in a box. (Student
18)
This finding differs from that of Kim and Hannafin (2007) who also implemented digital case
based resources into a teacher education course. They found that pre-service teachers
"engaged in detailed case analysis reluctantly" and "did not apply expert knowledge" (Kim
and Hannafin 2007 p. 167). This difference may be related to contextual factors, particularly
the overall goal with which students were presented. In the case of Kim and Hannafin's
project, the case-based materials were used in relation to a programming assignment in
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which students were required to develop their teaching plans. In the ALDA project, the
summative assignment was a case study report in which the analysis of evidence was
central.
Conclusion
In the past, curriculum courses have been viewed as theoretical while the practicum was
seen as the ‘real’ learning arena for practice. This separation created obstacles to applying
curriculum knowledge to practice. The pilot stage of the ALDA project involved the
development of digital case books and their implementation in an undergraduate teacher
education course in English teaching. Through accessing authentic multimedia
documentation of teachers and students performing and discussion literacy learning, our
pre-service educators were better able to see the relevance of content knowledge.
Evidence of student learning outcomes in this project was limited to the analysis of
assignments volunteered by a small group of students and to tutors' perceptions. However,
the digital casebooks appear to be a powerful way to integrate professional practice
scenarios into a curriculum course in teacher education. These connections were evident in
students’ use of case materials in their assignments. It was noted that students drew on
concepts encountered in the course when interpreting this data. Students used at least
three different kinds of data from the case books in coming to conclusions about the
learning strengths and needs of the focus children.
Teacher educators were pleased with students’ assignments and strongly endorsed the
authenticity of the resource which they saw as a useful complement to the contrived
exemplary materials available in textbooks. At the same time, they experienced the
necessity of spending time with the materials, considering the possibilities of interpretation.
This sensitised them to the challenges for students of working with the materials.
There are various ways of integrating authentic materials into courses. Strengths of this
approach included the focus on individual students as the basis of the case, the integration
of the cases with a summative assignment which made use of the case materials essential,
the provision of multiple forms of evidence and the use of the case book format for
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presenting case materials. Taken together, these elements encouraged a consistent focus
on the child as the subject of educators’ interpretive practices.
The next iteration of the project will incorporate a pre- and post- survey focused on
students' knowledge and confidence related to the use of learner evidence to make
instructional decisions.
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