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Exploring freshmen preservice teachers' situated knowledge in reective reports during case-based activities Hyeonjin Kim Korea National University of Education, Department of Education, San 7 Darak-ri, Gangnae-myeon, Cheongwon-gun, Chungbuk 363-791, South Korea abstract article info Keywords: Case-based activity Web-based cases Situated knowledge Preservice education Many educators and scholars have emphasized situated learning approaches for teacher education, as teachers have been considered to be the most important factor for effective teaching with technology. While web-based cases are used for situated learning in various ways, their effects on preservice teacher learning from situated perspectives still need to be explored. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to verify the effects of web- enhanced, case-based activities as particular situated approaches by exploring how freshmen preservice teachers developed and used situated knowledge about teaching with technology during the course of a semester. The results indicate that preservice teachers developed and used situated knowledge about teaching with technology in terms of conceptual case knowledge (i.e., understandings of content, instructional strategies, students, lesson planning, and computer literacy) and socially shared identities and beliefs (i.e., computer as positive and helpful for learning) during case-based activity (CBA) projects to some extent. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. For effective technology integration, many educators and scholars have considered preservice teacher education to be as important as professional development (Kim & Hannan, 2009; Lim & Chan, 2007; Russell, Bebell, O'Dwyer, & O'Connor, 2003). However, many beginning teachers are not able to effectively integrate technology into their teaching because they learned about technology itself rather than how to teach with technology during their teacher education programs (see Russell et al., 2003). Learning about technology integration includes learning about the educational potential of computers and the culture of teaching with technology; it is not limited simply to technology skills. That helps to explain the importance of situated learning for preservice teacher education. Generally, situated approaches in education encourage learning from practicing teachers' and preservice teachers' teaching experiences (Putnam & Borko, 2000). There are numerous cases of situated learning approaches being used in technology courses for preservice teachers in various departments in Korean universities. For example, Lim (2006) proposed the situated educational model for teaching preservice teachers about technology integration before, during, and after their practicum. The design principles of this model include use of instructional resources, analysis of teaching cases, use of ICT during the practicum, and web-based support. Some other approaches focus on particular teaching methods with technology, such as teaching with web-based video clips and digital stories created by teachers and students (e.g., Hur, 2009; Kang, 2007). Preservice teachers using this model have opportunities to practice teaching with technology during the production of their video clips and digital stories. Case-based learning approaches have been used for effective situated learning in university classrooms (Putnam & Borko, 2000; Shulman, 1992), as in cases where experienced teachers deliver their knowledge and beliefs about teaching (Kim, Hannan, & Kim, 2005). Some websites have been developed to collect exemplary technology integration cases so that researchers and educators can use them as both knowledge repositories and teaching resources (e.g., KITE: http://kite.missouri.edu; InTime: http://www.intime.uni.edu; and EDUNET: http://www.edunet4u.net). Teacher educators have used web-based cases as teaching resources in various ways, including as case reports, case discussions, and case development. However, how can the educators identify the effects of different ways of using web-based cases as situated learning approaches? The literature also indicates that it is important to explain how preservice teachers develop their situated knowledge during situated approaches in teacher education (Putnam & Borko, 1997). The purpose of this study, therefore, was to verify the effects of web-enhanced, case-based activities (CBA) as particular situated approaches by exploring how freshmen preservice teachers develop and use situated knowledge about teaching with technology during the course of a semester. This was an iterative research study done as a continuation of studies conducted in the United States of 2005 in that teacher educators need to verify the potential of the CBA situated approach in different contexts, teacher education institutes in Asian countries. That is, the previous studies need renements in the design Internet and Higher Education 14 (2011) 1014 Tel.: +82 43 230 3442; fax: +82 43 231 7193. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected]. 1096-7516/$ see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.03.005 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Internet and Higher Education

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Page 1: Exploring freshmen preservice teachers' situated knowledge in reflective reports during case-based activities

Internet and Higher Education 14 (2011) 10–14

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Internet and Higher Education

Exploring freshmen preservice teachers' situated knowledge in reflective reportsduring case-based activities

Hyeonjin Kim ⁎

Korea National University of Education, Department of Education, San 7 Darak-ri, Gangnae-myeon, Cheongwon-gun, Chungbuk 363-791, South Korea

⁎ Tel.: +82 43 230 3442; fax: +82 43 231 7193.E-mail addresses: [email protected], hyeonjin.kim@g

1096-7516/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. Aldoi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.03.005

a b s t r a c t

a r t i c l e i n f o

Keywords:

Case-based activityWeb-based casesSituated knowledgePreservice education

Many educators and scholars have emphasized situated learning approaches for teacher education, as teachershave been considered to be the most important factor for effective teaching with technology. While web-basedcases are used for situated learning in various ways, their effects on preservice teacher learning from situatedperspectives still need to be explored. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to verify the effects of web-enhanced, case-based activities as particular situated approaches by exploring how freshmenpreservice teachersdeveloped and used situated knowledge about teaching with technology during the course of a semester. Theresults indicate that preservice teachers developed and used situated knowledge about teachingwith technologyin terms of conceptual case knowledge (i.e., understandings of content, instructional strategies, students, lessonplanning, and computer literacy) and socially shared identities and beliefs (i.e., computer as positive and helpfulfor learning) during case-based activity (CBA) projects to some extent.

mail.com.

l rights reserved.

© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For effective technology integration, many educators and scholarshave considered preservice teacher education to be as important asprofessional development (Kim & Hannafin, 2009; Lim & Chan, 2007;Russell, Bebell, O'Dwyer, & O'Connor, 2003). However, manybeginning teachers are not able to effectively integrate technologyinto their teaching because they learned about technology itself ratherthan how to teach with technology during their teacher educationprograms (see Russell et al., 2003). Learning about technologyintegration includes learning about the educational potential ofcomputers and the culture of teaching with technology; it is notlimited simply to technology skills. That helps to explain theimportance of situated learning for preservice teacher education.Generally, situated approaches in education encourage learning frompracticing teachers' and preservice teachers' teaching experiences(Putnam & Borko, 2000).

There are numerous cases of situated learning approaches beingused in technology courses for preservice teachers in variousdepartments in Korean universities. For example, Lim (2006)proposed the situated educational model for teaching preserviceteachers about technology integration before, during, and after theirpracticum. The design principles of this model include use ofinstructional resources, analysis of teaching cases, use of ICT duringthe practicum, and web-based support. Some other approaches focuson particular teaching methods with technology, such as teaching

with web-based video clips and digital stories created by teachers andstudents (e.g., Hur, 2009; Kang, 2007). Preservice teachers using thismodel have opportunities to practice teachingwith technology duringthe production of their video clips and digital stories.

Case-based learning approaches have been used for effectivesituated learning in university classrooms (Putnam & Borko, 2000;Shulman, 1992), as in cases where experienced teachers deliver theirknowledge and beliefs about teaching (Kim, Hannafin, & Kim, 2005).Some websites have been developed to collect exemplary technologyintegration cases so that researchers and educators can use them asboth knowledge repositories and teaching resources (e.g., KITE:http://kite.missouri.edu; InTime: http://www.intime.uni.edu; andEDUNET: http://www.edunet4u.net).

Teacher educators have used web-based cases as teachingresources in various ways, including as case reports, case discussions,and case development. However, how can the educators identify theeffects of different ways of using web-based cases as situated learningapproaches? The literature also indicates that it is important toexplain how preservice teachers develop their situated knowledgeduring situated approaches in teacher education (Putnam & Borko,1997). The purpose of this study, therefore, was to verify the effects ofweb-enhanced, case-based activities (CBA) as particular situatedapproaches by exploring how freshmen preservice teachers developand use situated knowledge about teaching with technology duringthe course of a semester. This was an iterative research study done asa continuation of studies conducted in the United States of 2005 inthat teacher educators need to verify the potential of the CBA situatedapproach in different contexts, teacher education institutes in Asiancountries. That is, the previous studies need refinements in the design

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Fig. 1. The structure of a web-enhanced, case-based activity and CBA report.

11H. Kim / Internet and Higher Education 14 (2011) 10–14

of CBA and research findings based on the conceptual framework ofsituated knowledge. The differences include location (i.e., Republic ofKorea vs. U.S.), participants (i.e., freshmen vs. non-freshmen), andactivity (i.e., printed CBA reports vs. web-based CBA reports). Theresults from the previous studies about the constructive processes ofpreservice teachers' situated knowledge inform this current study.

1. Conceptual framework for situated knowledge

From situated perspectives (e.g., situated cognition, situated learn-ing), knowledge is situated in the culture of a particular community andconsists of socially sharedknowledge, skills, andbeliefs (Brown, Collins, &Duguid, 1989; Lave &Wenger, 1991). Knowledge continuously developsthrough interactions during an activity or experience. From a situatedperspective, teacher knowledge is also constructed through repeatedteaching experiences (Carter, 1990) and consists of knowledge, skills,and beliefs. Accordingly, some researchers have proposed conceptualframeworks of teacher knowledge based on situated perspectives (e.g.,Calderhead, 1988, 1996; Carter, 1990; Kim & Hannafin, 2008; Leinhardt,1988; Putnam & Borko, 2000; Shulman, 1986).

In particular, Kim and Hannafin (2008) have proposed a situatedcase-based knowledge framework for preservice teachers' learning,which is divided into conceptual case knowledge, strategic caseknowledge, and socially shared identities and beliefs. Conceptual caseknowledge is defined as “context-dependent” (Brown et al., 1989,p.32) concepts and facts. From a situated perspective, experts'conceptual case knowledge is often represented in the form of stories,including conceptual situations (Lave & Wenger, 1991), which areindexed and interwoven into various situations. Teachers' conceptualcase knowledge generally includes the conceptual situations ofstudents, curriculum, content, and pedagogy (Leinhardt & Greeno,1986; Shulman, 1986). For teaching with technology, experiencedteachers have conceptual case knowledge of basic technology skills,technology integration within the curriculum, and instructionalstrategies (Fisher, 1997). Socially shared identity and beliefs generallyresult from enculturation in the social practices of a community(Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991). For teaching withtechnology, exemplary teachers often share constructivist-inspired,student-centered pedagogical beliefs and methods for teaching withtechnology and consider the educational roles of computers to beimportant to student learning (Becker, 1994; Becker & Ravitz, 1999;Ertmer, Ross, & Gopalakrishnan, 2000).

Kim and Hannafin's (2008) framework presents a holistic approachto explaining and understanding preservice teachers' learning fromsituated perspectives during teacher education. In this study, twoknowledge categories, conceptual case knowledge and socially sharedidentities and beliefswere adopted; strategic case knowledgewasnot ableto be easily observed through written CBA reports, because it is relatedto tacit knowledge of ‘knowing how’ during performing tasks.

2. Methods

2.1. Research design and participant selection

A multiple case study was adopted for this study, and a case wasdefined as each preservice teacher's understanding of and perspectiveon teaching with technology in a case-based activity (CBA) course,which is a phenomenon in a bounded context (Miles & Huberman,1994). Participants for this study were 20 college students in aparticular class, all of whom were freshmen preservice teachers fromvarious departments, including elementary education, mathematicseducation, and other education fields. Selecting freshmen as partici-pants minimized individual differences (e.g., prior knowledge forteaching and lesson planning) because it was the first semester intheir program. This fact was verified through the initial studentinformation survey, which examined students' prior knowledge and

skills before case-based activities. That is, none of the students hadeither previous method courses or teaching experiences. Also, mostparticipants were not familiar with the software programs introducedin the course (e.g., web editor, Movie Maker).The researcher had therole of instructor for the class and introduced this research studyduring the first class of the semester.

2.2. Research setting: A case-based activity

The course in this studywas an introductory course in teachingwithtechnology called Developing Instructional Materials Using Technologythatwas offered to preservice teachers at a Korean university during thespring of 2008. The coursewas designedwith CBAs as part of its situatedapproach during 10 weeks of the 15-week course. In the CBA portion ofthe class, preservice teachers started by viewing cases of expertteachers' stories and ended with writing their own cases in the formof stories based on their experiences. The CBA units focused onpreservice teachers' development of lesson plans and instructionalmaterials for teaching with technology as authentic tasks. Preserviceteachers developed lesson materials focusing on their subject matter.Three tasks were provided throughout the course as part of the case-based activities, such as creating a PowerPoint game, digital image andmovie materials, and Web-based project instruction materials (i.e.,WebQuests). The last project, WebQuest (Dodge, 1995) is a kind ofinquiry learning model and consists of five steps such as Introduction,Tasks, Process, Resource, and Conclusion. It allows students to researchwithweb resources so that they can learnwith computers inmeaningfulways. Each task lasted three to four weeks.

Fig. 1 illustrates the complete CBA process. This cycle includedintroducing the new case as a task scenario (scenario work); accessinganalogous, web-based cases of teachers (case analysis); planningtasks by analyzing new cases and proposing preliminary solutions(planning); adapting and applying the solutions (doing); andreflecting on the new case knowledge by writing their own storiesand writing to Mr. Park, a virtual beginning teacher who wroterelevant inquiries to the preservice teachers (reflecting). Also, theinstructor's ongoing coaching, peers' feedback, and web resourceswere provided throughout the CBA process.

During the CBA process, the reflection activity was used to facilitatepreservice teachers' reflection-in-action (Schön, 1983). Teachers wereasked towrite CBA reports from a template that posed several questionsduring each phase of the authentic projects. Table 1 presents the detailsof the CBA report. These reports were also the major resource forunderstanding how freshmen preservice teachers learned and devel-oped their situated knowledge during each project.

2.3. Data sources and collection

The major data sources in this study included 20 freshmenpreservice teachers' CBA reports, which were completed in eachtask phase in the format of templates. Their assignment artifacts, such

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Table 1Reflective questions in CBA report.

1. What's the story (case analysis)1.1 Story summary (teacher, grade, subject matter, time and place, strategy,and media)1.2 Why did the teacher use technology (instructional media and materials)and how?1.3 What are educational values and characteristics of technology (instructionalmedia and materials)?1.4 Free critique (weak and strong points, implications for my project, etc.)

2. Planning my project2.1 Why did I select the lesson scenario for my project?2.2 What do you apply or adjust from the teacher's case for my project?2.3 Why do you use technology (instructional media and materials) formy project? What obstacles would happen during implementation?

3. Doing3.1 What do you modify (i.e., add, delete, or change) during your projectand why?3.2 Share whatever you want during your project

4. Telling your story4.1 Briefly describe your production process4.2 What difficulties did you encounter? If you have the same project later, whatwill you make better?4.3 Write to Mr. Park, a beginning teacher, who is willing to use this programfor his lesson but does not have any idea. The instructor will give you hisletter in class.

Table 2Development progress of conceptual case knowledge during CBA projects.

Knowledge Time

Before CBA During CBA:PPT game

During CBA:image and movie

During CBA:WebQuest

(Computerliteracy)

Initialconcepts

Initialconcepts

Initial concepts Initial concepts

Subject mattercontents

Initialconcepts

1st variedconcepts

Initial concepts

Instructionalstrategies

Initialconcepts

1st variedconcepts

2nd variedconcepts

3rd variedconcepts

Students Initialconcepts

Initialconcepts

1st variedconcepts

2nd variedconcepts

Planning-development

Initialconcepts

1st variedconcepts

1st variedconcepts

12 H. Kim / Internet and Higher Education 14 (2011) 10–14

as lesson plans, instructional materials, and field notes from classobservations, were also collected for triangulation purposes. To betterunderstand their initial perceptions and general information beforethe CBAs, students were asked to write an essay at the beginning ofthe course about why they wanted to become a teacher, who theirbest teacher was, and what their K-12 experiences were like. Studentswere also asked to fill out a student information survey.

2.4. Data analysis

Data were primarily analyzed based on the conceptual frameworkof the current study, situated case-based knowledge in combinationwith the constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).Although the current study followed the procedure of analysis,including open coding, constantly comparing emerging themes, andrefining categories, the master list of codes from the previous studiesmainly guided data coding. For conceptual case knowledge ofpreservice teachers, the codes include teachers' roles (facilitator,lesson planner, and computer user), students' characteristics (abilityto use computers, ability to do activities, and motivation), pedagogy(group work, research, and lecture), content, curriculum standards,and access and technical problems. The codes for shared identities andbeliefs of preservice teachers include educational roles of technology,such as importance of computer use (extra and helpful) and purposeof computer use (productivity, paying attention, learning content, andlearning thinking skills).

For promoting validity and reliability (Merriam, 2002), severalstrategies were adopted, such as triangulation through various datasources (e.g., student CBA reports, assignments, observation, andclassroom talks), a thick description of the context of the study, and adetailed account of the process of data collection and analysis.

3. Findings

3.1. Conceptual case knowledge

Table 2 summarizes the development progress of preserviceteachers' conceptual knowledge during CBA projects. To some extent,preservice teachers presented understandings of critical concepts ofteaching with technology, such as content, instructional strategies,

students, lesson planning and development, and computer literacy,which were comparable to those of exemplary teachers. Particularly,they used and developed the concepts of instructional strategies andstudents in various ways. They, however, started to use and developthe concepts of content and lesson planning in limited ways duringCBAs.

At the beginning of the course, participants typically addressedone or two initial concepts, such as computer literacy, students, orinstructional strategies, when they were asked about the mostimportant factors of teaching with technology: “I think teachers'abilities of using computers and motivating students are bothimportant” (Freshman 8's information sheet). Only two freshmenaddressed the importance of design and development, noting theneed for “attention-getting content” and “clear and sophisticatedcontent.” None of the freshmen addressed the importance ofcurriculum standards.

During CBAs, participants' situated knowledge was observedduring their decision making, such as scenario selection and overallplanning. Also, ‘Telling your story’ indicated their situated knowledgefor their knowledge transfer, particularly during theWrite toMr. Park'activity.

During the first CBA project, the PowerPoint game, preserviceteachers developed and used the varied concepts of pedagogy (i.e.,instructional strategies) the most. Preservice teachers addressed avariety of game-based instructional strategies, such as team-basedgaming, scoring system, and use of audio materials. They also focusedon student understanding and engagement based on the levels oftheir skills. Particularly, 10 freshmen planned their lessons based onstudents' abilities, such as in this example:

I developed my PPT game material based not on my eye level, butmy students' ones, their level of knowledge. This led the teacherand students to build rapport with each other in class. (Freshman1's PowerPoint game CBA report)

On the other hand, 6 freshmen, including Freshmen 19, focusedmore on subject matter than on students. Among them, freshmen 1, 5,and 12 planned lessons based on both students' attention and subjectmatter:

I was wondering what unit was most suitable to the PowerPointgame and found the topic about learning by analogy in the 5thgrade book. (Freshmen 19's PowerPoint game CBA report)

In addition, 10 freshmen developed and used conceptual caseknowledge about design and development. This knowledge wasprimarily observed during the last activity, ‘Telling your story’, whichallowed them to reflect on their project experiences. Preserviceteachers considered teachers to be instructional designers andemphasized thoughtful planning before actual development. They

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also addressed difficulties in using the computer programs, such asmaking hyperlinks and animation:

Sir, I understand how hard it was to develop the PowerPointgame. You should do planning first. Decide how many questionsyou will develop, how many slides you will make, and how manygame components you will include! Without making thesedecisions first, you will never end the game development, evenworking all night long. I have to say again—planning is important!(Freshmen 11's PowerPoint game CBA report for ‘Write to Mr.Park’)

During the second CBA project, development of digital images andmovie materials, preservice teachers indicated use and development ofsituated knowledge similar to theirs in the first CBA project. However,preservice teacherswere likely to use conceptual case knowledge aboutcontent in subject matter more than other concepts because thecharacteristics of digital images and movie materials could be easilyused for visualization of particular concepts. To develop conceptual caseknowledgemore about their students participants developed onemoreconcept, students' interests and expectations for learning in addition tothe concept of paying the students' attention through technologyintegration during the first CBA project,.

Twelve freshmen developedmaster plans of their lessons for usingdigital images and movie materials based mostly on students'attention and level of knowledge. Ten freshmen's lessons werebased mostly on content. In addition, 11 freshmen emphasized howto use digital images and movie materials for teaching and did notlimit their concern to students' attention. They addressed teachers'roles for teaching with and using digital materials:

I think the quality of digital movie materials is critical, but how touse the materials is also very crucial. Questioning after watchingthe movie is a good idea. If students know that activity [iscoming], they would more carefully watch the movie and engagein class a lot. (Freshman 5's digital images and movie project CBAreport for ‘Write to Mr. Park’)

During the final CBA project, the development of a WebQuest site,preservice teachers indicated similar knowledge categories, butdifferent new details. During the web-based case analysis, 7 freshmenemphasized the students' attention and levels of knowledge. Inaddition, they developed and used new concepts about students, suchas students' confusion during student-centered projects like theWebQuest and students' low involvement in team projects. Regardingconceptual case knowledge about instructional strategies, preserviceteachers addressed a variety of concepts related to WebQuests, suchas the clear and fair assessment criteria for project-based learning,inquiry-based pedagogy, and allocation of members' roles:

A positive side is that a teacher can decide the assessment criteriaflexibly suitable to class projects, but a negative one is that itpossibly causes problems due to teacher's subjective decisions.Therefore, I think teachers should develop clear and fairassessment criteria. (Freshmen 17's WebQuest CBA report)

3.2. Shared identities and beliefs

In this study, beliefs about the educational role of computers wereused as a theoretical framework to explain whether or notparticipants socially shared the identities and beliefs of practicingteachers. Over the semester, freshmen preservice teachers developedshared identities and beliefs in some limited way.

At the beginning of the semester, participants considered computersto be supplementary to lecture and largely unrelated to student learning—mostly, tomotivate students to pay attention: “I think of the computer

as a tool to get students to pay attention when class is getting boring”(Freshmen 4's information sheet).

Overall, freshmen preservice teachers tended to consider the roleof computers to be positive in that multimedia presentations canprovide interesting visuals. However, 4 freshmen said that computerscan facilitate understanding, but that they can also be a distraction:“[Computers can be] helpful for better learning, but [also a] possibledistraction without teacher's control” (Freshmen 10's informationsheet).

During all CBA projects, preservice teachers' shared identities andbeliefs were observed, particularly during ‘What's the story’ (caseanalysis) and ‘Planning my project,’ because their decisions in thoseactivities were made based on what they believed about the purposeand value of teaching with technology. In the first CBA project, thePowerPoint game, preservice teachers considered computers to besupplementary tools for getting students' attention and helping themto understanding topics. They noted that the most important purposeof the PowerPoint game was to practice repeatedly what students hadalready learned:

After teaching all the concepts, the PowerPoint game can be usedfor a fun wrap-up activity. During the game, students should begiven appropriate prizes according to game scores becausestudent engagement is important. (Freshmen 19's PowerPointgame CBA report)

All preservice teachers except Freshmen 1 considered computersto be supplementary to lecture, describing computers with thephrases “a supplementary tool,” “to learn easily,” and “to grabstudents' attention before teaching.” Freshman 1 described computersas having “important roles in teaching,” and she used the PowerPointgame in the middle of her lesson rather than in the wrap-up stage,noting that “instructional media is ‘restorative’ in my lesson plan.” Shewrote that the purpose of the PowerPoint game is to teach and learnEnglish expressions and that her students would learn “a sense ofcollaboration, mutual understanding, and fairness” as the secondlearning objectives through the PowerPoint Game.

During the second CBA project, most participants maintained thesame perceptions of the educational role of computers as they hadduring the first CBA project. They noticed that in several cases,practicing teachers used digital image materials to get students'attention. Participants also emphasized the same roles of computersas they did for their course project. However, 10 freshmen started tomention new views of computers, such as “helpful for understandingconcepts unlike the existing traditional approach—learning by rote,”“vicarious experience,” and “applying what students learned fromtextbooks.”

Digital image and movie materials help students to understandwhat they cannot experience in reality. Teaching in class is likelyto focus only on delivery of theories, but use of images and moviescan provide richer information, confirm what students learned,and allow [them] to apply their learning. (Freshman 7's digitalimage and movie project CBA report)

During the final CBA project, the WebQuest, freshmen expandedtheir perceptions of the value of technology, identifying multipleeffective roles of computers for student learning. That is, the use ofcomputers can facilitate students' “autonomy,” “information gather-ing,” “voluntary and practical inquiry-oriented” learning, and “self-directed learning and engagement through instructional media.”However, 5 participants indicated nearly identical perceptions ofeducational roles of computers as their initial perceptions:

The important thing teachers should remember during Web-Quests is to provide students empowerment in solving problems.When they discuss and solve problems, they can gain priceless

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14 H. Kim / Internet and Higher Education 14 (2011) 10–14

knowledge and confidence in achievement, which they never feelthrough direct education (Freshman 7's digital image and movieproject CBA report)

4. Conclusion

This study explored how preservice teachers develop and usesituated knowledge, focusing on conceptual case knowledge and sharedidentities andbeliefs throughCBAprojects over the course of a semester.The results indicate that they developed and used conceptual caseknowledge (i.e., understandings of content, instructional strategies,students, lesson planning and computer literacy) and socially sharedidentities and beliefs (i.e., computer as positive and helpful for learning)during case-based activity (CBA) projects to some extent.

For conceptual case knowledge, preservice teachers developedmostly understandings of instructional strategies and students duringCBA projects in various ways. Knowledge of lesson planning anddevelopment emerged and developed during CBA projects. However,conceptual case knowledge of the curriculum was neither developednor used. Most concepts, except curriculum, were used during CBAbecause this course focused more on educational methods. In addition,some participants used the same content for different projects so thatthey would not have to consider curriculum integration repeatedly.Preservice teachers indicated conceptual case knowledge like that ofpracticing teachers to some extent, but they made decisions based onlyon one or two concepts, unlike practicing teachers' use of multipleconcepts at the same time (see Fisher, 1997).

Regarding socially shared identities and beliefs, 15 freshmendeveloped them about teaching with technology, such as the criticalrole of computers for meaningful learning (e.g., Ertmer et al., 2000;Windschitl & Sahl, 2002). However, over the semester, 5 participantskept their same perceptions of computers as providing a supplemen-tary role for learning. One possible reason for this stability ofperception is that a semester was not a long enough period to causebeliefs to change. Also, this may also be partially attributed to thepreservice teachers focusing more on subject matter and represen-tation of content, rather than these things combinedwith pedagogicalmethods. However, the evidence is not conclusive based on thecurrent study, and further study is suggested to examine more fullythe factors that cause preservice teachers to differ in their develop-ment of situated knowledge during teacher education programs. Forexample, some factors include learning styles (e.g., between Koreanstudents and American students), preservice teachers' levels of initialconceptual understandings, and beliefs about students and learning.

CBA projects have the potential to support preservice teachers'situated learning in university classrooms. Particularly, writing CBAreports allows preservice teachers to participate in a reflective activity,which is critical to learning from experiences from situated perspec-tives. While CBA enables the development of preservice teachers'situated knowledge, it requires more time and effort than lecturingmethods. Further research and development are needed to refine theunderstanding of CBA's potential and pitfalls.

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