A New Online Tool for Teaching
Classroom Management with Case
Studies
Zafer Unal
USF St.Petersburg
United States
zuu2343@gmail.com
Yasar Bodur
Georgia Southern University
United States
yasar@zunal.com
Abstract
This study reports how a face-to-face case based classroom management instruction is transferred to web-based
environment using an online tool and how this tool is used to help prospective teachers (a) vicariously experience
real-life dilemmas that practicing teachers face when managing their classrooms; (b) realize how teaching requires a
thoughtful understanding of contexts; (c) develop the rationale for their decision making by considering multiple
stakeholders and different perspectives; and (d) explore diverse ways of problem solving by actively applying ideas
and theories learned in their teacher education courses to dilemma situations. The ultimate goal of this research
project was to help preservice teachers expand their views of teaching in general and classroom management in
particular via online tool. The presentation will provide information about the study, show a demo of how the
application works, show member posts and share the tool with participants for their use.
Introduction
Research findings continuously have shown that one of the keys to success in teaching is the teacher's ability to
manage the classroom and to organize instruction (Brophy, 1988; Cakmak, 2008; Emmer, Evertson, & Worsham,
2000). A meta-analysis of the past 50 years of classroom research identified classroom management as the most
important factor, even above student aptitude, affecting student learning (Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1994). For
instance, in the US, it continues to be identified by the public as one of the top three problems facing public schools
(Bushaw & Gallup, 2008). In fact, in three of the last six years, it has been ranked second only to funding as the
biggest problem in schools (Bushaw & Gallup, 2008; Rose & Gallup, 2005). It is possibly the most difficult aspect
of teaching for many teachers, and indeed experiencing problems in this area causes many people to leave teaching
altogether (Johns, McNaughton, & Karabinus, 1989). No surprisingly, most teacher educators are well aware that
classroom management is one of the major topics that concern prospective and practicing teachers and school
administrators. Good classroom management is believed to be ‘‘an essential first step toward becoming a good
teacher’’ (Ayers 2001, p. 10).
Some of the classroom situations might be relatively straightforward (i.e., after children finish free play time, they
need to clean up for the next activity). Such situations could be well-defined problems to which clear goals and
general rules can be applied for problem solving. However, many other issues related to managing the classroom
involve uncertainties about problem definitions (i.e., what happened and how did it happen here?), conflicting
perspectives among different stakeholders (i.e., a child says one thing while his or her peer says another thing about
what happened between them), and the need for multiple solutions and multiple criteria for solution evaluation (i.e.,
let’s try this, if this doesn’t work, let’s sit down to think about what is a better way of working together). These are
the general features of ill-structured problems (Shin et al., 2003). In fact, the various dilemmas (e.g., whether a
social promotion should be allowed for a child who has been retained one year and wants to work with his age
peers) teachers face through their work might be the most difficult ill-structured problems (Jonassen, 2000).
Unlike well-structured problems, the way that ill-structured problems are dealt with is greatly influenced by problem
solvers’ personal opinions or beliefs about problem situations (Meacham & Emont, 1989). Although to date not
many empirical studies have been conducted in this area, problem-solving researchers have identified several
essential factors influencing general performance of solving ill-structured problems. Those factors include
epistemological beliefs—respecting multiple perspectives (Harrington et al., 1996), justification/argumentation
skills—reconciling conflicting interpretations and solutions (Shin et al., 2003), metacognition—planning and
monitoring solutions and processes (Shin et al., 2003), and domain-knowledge (Chi et al., 1982).
In recent years, interest in the use of the case method in teacher education in the United States has grown. Case
method is advocated as a way to link theory to practice and to facilitate the development of teachers as decision
makers (Silverman, Welty, & Lyon, 1992). A "case" is identified as a problematic situation facing a teacher which
calls for some decision or action on the teacher's part. The case is intended to draw students into engagement with
situations, problems, and roles representative of those faced in "real life" classrooms. Using cases in teaching
classroom management is commonly seen as a way to introduce preservice teachers to the contextual complexity of
classrooms via ill-structured cases.
Advantages and disadvantages of using case method teaching are summarized from K. K. Merseth (1990, 1991). For
example, cases provide a versatile teaching method, but they are highly dependent on the instructional and
educational characteristics of the instructor. Common practical problems involving case study methods are the class
size, unfamiliarity with the methodology, problems with written expression, time, physical setting for the discussion,
teaching style of the case leader, and case preparation and complexity. Advantages of case study methodology
include greater student and faculty interest and interactivity, vicarious learning, and increased reflection. Issues
specific to undergraduates include the complexity of the case issues, inexperience with case analysis, and difficulties
with writing.
In this article, we report a study investigating how a face-to-face case based classroom management instruction is
converted to web-based with an online tool and how this tool is used to help prospective teachers (a) vicariously
experience real-life dilemmas that practicing teachers face when managing their classrooms; (b) realize how
teaching requires a thoughtful understanding of contexts; (c) develop the rationale for their decision making by
considering multiple stakeholders and different perspectives; and (d) explore diverse ways of problem solving by
actively applying ideas and theories learned in their teacher education courses to dilemma situations. The ultimate
goal of this research project was to help preservice teachers expand their views of teaching in general and classroom
management in particular via online tool.
Methodology
About the course
EDG4444- Instructional Design and Classroom Management is one of the required courses for students majoring in
education at USF St. Petersburg, College of Education. The course explores the current knowledge of best practices
of a variety of teaching and management strategies and methods deemed appropriate for diverse elementary school
settings. The course is offered face-to-face with multiple sections every semester.
About the “case study” activity:
One of the major class activities integrated in this course is the classroom management cases where instructor
provides ten different cases to students to work as a group to discuss the cases, provide solutions so that each group
can present their solutions to a class discussion. This activity is assessed through peer review and instructor
evaluation process via a standard rubric. Even though the activity is well-received by the course participants
semesterly, the time limitation had been a factor for the integration of limited number of cases for discussion (only
ten cases in three-weeks).
Example Case: Boy, don’t you ever shower?
It is obvious from the first day of class that one of the students has bad body odor. By the end of the third week, you
start to realize that the student as Steve. The other students in the class are going to greater and greater lengths to
avoid sitting next to him. They mime choking when he sits in the seat in front of them. Any reference to odor or
smell in the classroom is met with snickering. Finally, one day after Steve comes in late and sits next to a student in
the front row, he turns to Steve and says, “Boy, don’t you ever shower?” The class breaks up in hysterics. When
should I have intervened? How? What should I say to student? What should I say to others? Should I confront the
class with Steve present?
Due to limited in class discussion time, the class was limited to 5-6 specific cases during one-class-time even though
a teacher can face hundreds of different possible cases during teaching. This was a problem.
About the Project:
A web-based online tool for classroom management case study activity was created and implemented during fall
2012 in one of the sections offered by the university. The purpose of the tool was to help preservice teachers to work
in collaboration and/or individually on real-world classroom management problems (cases) and provide an
environment where they can also submit/view classroom management related posts including articles and tips
(Figure 1).
www.teacherserver.com
Classroom
Management Cases
Classroom
Management Articles
Classroom
Management Tips
Figure 1. Structure of the Application
The project also helped overcoming the time limitation since the integration of the tool provided an environment for
course participants to further their discussions through this online tool in which they were offered hundreds of cases
to respond to (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Screenshot of teacherserver.com
Specific attentions is paid in order to avoid making this activity used as just another online discussion board (forum)
where students basically respond to each case and get done with it. The tool created and used for this activity was
made more engaging by adding a point system with a rating/voting availability. For instance, students are provided a
hundred classroom management cases, they respond to these cases by providing possible solutions. They receive
points for posting valid solutions and they also receive points if other participants mark their solutions as “positive”.
This way, not only they are to provide valid solutions, their solutions are validated by other students’ votes.
Therefore, students post solutions, and also read other solutions posted by their peers and confirm validity of other
solutions. Finally, instructor reviews each case/solution and provide feedback.
The activity is published and made available at www.teacherserver.com and examples of the interface of this online
learning environment are provided in Figs. 2 and 3.
Figure 2. Screenshot of a case
1 . Subject and content of the case
2. A link to submit a possible solution
3. A sample solution posted by a member
4. A rating for the posted solution
5. Current votes submitted for the solution
6. A link to save the case as favorite for easy access.
About Participants:
The Fall 2012 class was compromised 25 undergraduate students (20 females & 5 males) in their early 20s. The
students were teacher candidates working on their Bachelor of Science in Education program with a teaching
certificate in Elementary and ESE.
Project Implementation:
The researchers designed the online case-based learning environment (teacherserver.com) to help preservice
teachers expand their views of teaching in general and classroom management in particular. The design of the
project (website coding & interface design) took two weeks and another week is spent for testing of the application.
After the website design completion, the researchers worked on providing the initial content. The project had three
sections classroom management (1) articles, (2) cases and (3) tips. In the articles section, the instructor of the course
wrote eight articles complied from course content in order to provide firsthand information for site members. These
articles are posted to help students understand the subject of classroom management in-depth and use them for
references when working on classroom management cases. In the classroom management cases section, the
researchers started with the cases that are used during face-to-face discussion. However, assuming that the more is
better, researchers investigated and collected more cases from other sources (books, articles and websites). Once the
collection was made, researchers ended up with 97 cases. However, after the filtering process for unrelated, easy to
respond to cases, fifty unique real-world related classroom management cases were posted on the project website for
students to work with. The third section, classroom management tips, was created with the purpose of providing a
section for students to submit tips for teachers that they learned/observed from others or applied and worked in real
classrooms, or read somewhere that was realistic, unique, and interesting. The idea was that each tip should offer
some helpful information for teachers that candidates have discovered somewhere rather than posting most-teachersalready-know tips. For example: How to Prepare for a Substitute, How to save time when taking attendance etc.
After the sections were created, articles, cases and some example tips were posted on the website. In order to help
candidates to better understand how the website works, a couple of cases were responded with fake accounts. This
way, candidates were able to not only see the cases and responses for some. Additional tests were made for website
functionality and usability.
Activity Implementation:
The online case activity was mentioned briefly during the first class but the activity actually started on the fifth week
of the class after the initial classroom management theories and content were provided. For the activity, students
were asked to bring their laptops or ipads in classroom. Project was introduced by the course instructor at the
beginning of class after the technology preparation was made (setting up and plugging in student computers). The
instructor first introduces the concept of “case” and using “cases” for classroom management instruction. Then
instructor showed two example cases on projector, asked for short responses for each case and finally showed
responses posted by students during previous semester. This helped students understand how the case activity
worked and differences between well-structured problems (general straightforward cases) and ill-structured
problems (unique and accepts multiple views).
After the introduction of the concept “classroom management cases” and reviewing the practice cases, students were
introduced the new web-based case study tool. A two-page handout detailing how the project works was provided to
each student. The instructor then showed the website tool and reviewed each section (articles, cases, and tips) and
explained how each section worked. Extra time was spent on showing the classroom management cases section on
how to view cases, how to submit responses and how the voting system works. Once the introduction was over, the
instructor asked for student questions to ensure that they are ready to start on this new activity.
Once the activity started, students first created their accounts using the registration form. Once the account was
created, they first started working as a group on cases they selected from the list. The talked about their cases and
discussed with the group members and posted their responses. Specifically, each group discussed what they thought
was the problem (or problems) in that dilemma situation and, if they were the teacher, how they would solve the
problem(s). Once agreed, they posted their solution under each case. Even though they worked as a group, each case
was posted under one account so that the points were earned by their possible solutions individually.
The task of earning points:
In order to encourage active and equal student participation, students were asked to earn minimum 100 points for
posting their solutions, for votes received for their solutions and other website activities (daily login etc.). For
example: When students post a possible solution for a case with an original and helpful respond (each time), they
earn five points. In addition, when their responses receive 5 "This Solution Is Useful" votes (one time), they earn
another five points. Therefore, not only the respond itself is important for helpfulness and originality but also its’
quality for the selection of “best solution”. This function, although it seems complicated and confusing, was found
the one of the best parts of the project and students found this function fun and motivational.
During the class, students worked as a group on their first cases. Before the class was over, on average, each student
responded 5-6 cases. Students then were given two weeks to earn their minimum points by responding the cases,
submitting tips, voting rating etc. During the two weeks, the instructor monitored each case and responded –only
when necessary- for confusions, case misunderstandings and misleading responses. The instructor did not submit
any responses during these two weeks.
After the two weeks was over, the instructor and students spend around two hours reviewing each case with student
responses and discussed the quality of responses in terms of being the best solution. Students were then asked to
vote for responses so that each vote helps determining the quality of posted solutions.
Data collection and Instrument:
After the activity is completed, a short survey was given to students to understand their opinions about the online
case-study activity. The survey had 10 likert-scale and two-open-ended questions. Students were informed that the
study would not affect their course grades or participation, however, reminded that their experiences and reports will
help course instructor, researchers and future participants of the course. The survey was conducted paper-based in
class before recess.
Results
All of enrolled students in the course agreed to participate in the study by completing the survey. The table 1 below
shows the data from the results of the survey (n=25).
Table 1. Survey Results
# Statement
SA
01 Case activity helped me develop a deeper understanding of
88%
classroom management concepts
02 Case activity helped me have a better grasp of the practical
92%
application of core course concepts
03 Case activity helped me take a more active part in my learning
80%
process
04 Case activity helped me develop positive peer-to-peer relationships
84%
05 Case activity helped me to be more engaged (motivated)
92%
06 Website used for this activity looks clean and functions well
96%
07 Prompts, guides and examples integrated in the website was useful
96%
08 The reward system (earning points) integrated in the website was
100%
engaging
09 Features such as voting, commenting, favoriting member posts
88%
integrated in the website was engaging
10 I recommend the use of website and case studies for the future
96%
students of this course
Scale: SA (Strongly), A (Agree), N (Neutral), D (Disagree), SD (Strongly Disagree).
A
12%
N
D
8%
12%
8%
8%
8%
4%
4%
4%
8%
4%
4%
4%
SD
What are the main things you liked about the case study activity you completed via online website tool?





The case activity was a great example of the application of core course concepts into practice (n=21)
The case study activity helped me understand that in a classroom management situation; there is no cookiecutter solution that applies to all students at all time. Each case can be unique with multiple possible
solutions (n=20)
The case study activity helped me understand that in a classroom management situation, it is not always
student and teacher. Most of the times, multiple stakeholders (student, classmates, parents, administrators,
colleagues) might be involved and I as the teacher might need to involve them to understand the problem
better (n=18).
The case study activity helped me understand that in a classroom management situation, I should always
began actively thinking about the resources available both inside and outside of the school (n=11)
I liked the project website: www.teacherserver.com (n=10) and earning points (n=5)
What are the main things you disliked about the case study activity you completed via online website tool?



The case study activity should be enhanced by adding more cases and more time to explore and discuss
(n=12). In fact, half of the course time should be content oriented and the other half only focusing on case
studies (n=7).
Some of the cases provided on the website were not detailed enough for decision making (n=5)
Recommendation: the case study activity should be integrated in other program courses (n=5)
Discussions and Implications
This study investigated how a face-to-face case based classroom management instruction is enhanced with a webbased tool and how the new tool is used to help preservice teachers work collaboratively for decision making in
different classroom management dilemmas. The results of the study were positive.
Case study activity was successful. The participants indicated that use of the tool helped them develop a deeper
understanding of classroom management concepts, have a better grasp of the practical application of core course
concepts, take a more active part in their learning process, develop positive peer-to-peer relationships, to become
more engaged (motivated). In conclusion, the activity was certainly a positive experience.
Participants found the tool useful and they were satisfied with the functionality. The results also indicated that the
website used for this activity looks clean and functions well, prompts, guides and examples integrated in the website
was useful, the reward system (earning points) integrated in the website was engaging, features such as voting,
commenting, favoriting member posts integrated in the website was engaging and they recommended the use of
website and case studies for the future students of this course.
In this article, we presented a research project on developing and implementing web-based case instruction designed
to help prospective early childhood teachers expand their views of teaching in general and classroom management in
particular. Today’s advanced technology allows us to present real-life dilemmas faced by practicing teachers
through a variety of media in an innovative way. If we apply Vygotsky’s (1978) ideas, this technology and
innovation as a cultural tool has great potential for enriching both contents provided and methods used in teacher
education that might eventually help broaden teacher education students’ thinking.
As described previously, the results of our pilot study are encouraging. The participant students of this study
expressed how the case-based instruction helped them to be aware of multiple perspectives and change their
epistemological beliefs about knowledge (i.e., there might be multiple truths in the world, and those truths are
constructed among people involved). Therefore, the use of this activity (or similar) in teacher education programs
helps preservice teachers unlearn the tendency of always looking for the right answer, instead looking at the
problems from multiple perspectives with the use of multiple solutions (critical thinking).
The data of this study indicate that the case-based instruction helps teacher education students appreciate and
actively utilize educational theories and literature as resources for their decision making. It is particularly
encouraging to find that this instructional method has a great potential to help prospective teachers move beyond
seeing classroom management as a set of techniques.
One of the most practical implications of this study is that it provides a publicly available free tool to all educators to
practice case studies online and also find different perspectives and solutions posted by others. The researchers will
keep the tool available for all educators and improve as the future users offer suggestions for improvements.
References
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Appendix 1. Earning Reward Points
Reward points are earned when you contribute positively to the community, in particular by responding to questions
with helpful answers. Conversely, you may lose points (or lose your account) if you post a question or answer that is
abusive or inappropriate
General
+1 point
-5 points
When you login each day (each time)
When a question or response posted by you is marked as abuse/spam with minimum 3 votes (one
time)
Articles
+25 points
+1 point
+1 point
+5 points
When you post an article that is approved and published (each time)
When your article favorited by another member (each time)
When you add 5 articles in your favorites (one time)
When your article receives 5 "This Article Is Useful" votes (one time)
Questions
+1 point
+5 points
+1 point
+1 point
+ 5 points
When you post a realistic question/case/problem with specific descriptions (each time)
When you respond to a question with original and helpful answer (each time)
When your response favorited by another member (each time)
When you add 5 questions/responses in your favorites (one time)
When your response receives 5 "This Solution Is Useful" votes (one time)
Tips
+3 point
+1 point
+1 point
+5 points
When you post a useful tip with specific description (each time)
When your response favorited by another member (each time)
When you add 5 tips/responses in your favorites (one time)
When your tip receives 5 "This Tip Is Useful" votes (one time)