Information on Authoring Cases

Melissa Dark & Peg Ertmer

What is Case-Based Instruction?

There are probably as many definitions of case-based instruction (also referred to as case method teaching, case discussion method, case study method, etc.) as there are ways of implementing it. The literature (Hudspeth & Knirk, 1991; Graf, 1991) describes the use of a variety of formats (text-based; computer, video, or web-mediated), genres (appraisal, dilemma, decision-making), and presentation styles (Socratic questioning, discussion teaching, group debate), all under the umbrella term of "case studies." Shulman (1992) stated that "the character of cases and case methods varies widely from field to field and even at times within a single field" (p. 2).

Although specific definitions of a "case" and "case teaching" have risen from each discipline's unique needs and uses, some general characteristics are still very much evident. For the purposes of this text, case studies are defined as narrative descriptions of realistic problems or situations, typical of the CS profession. The cases we are authoring for use and eventual publication should be designed to be dilemma-oriented; that is, each case should end before the solution is clear. Students are expected to analyze the situation, to indicate additional information that is needed, and then to speculate on possible solutions and the subsequent consequences. According to McDade (1995), "the purpose of a teaching case study is to create in the classroom realistic laboratories for applying research techniques, decision-making skills, and critical-thinking analysis" (p. 9).

Effective case studies should promote the acquisition of understanding in learners. In order to design a case study that promotes understanding, it is necessary to contemplate what 'understanding' is. Various descriptions on the nature of understanding follow. As you are preparing to write your case study(ies), identify what type of understanding you are trying to promote.

• Understanding as Explanation - provision and justified accounts of events, actions, and ideas. Explanation is the knowledge of facts, as well as knowledge of why and how. Explanation questions include: Why is this so? To what is this connected? How does this work? What does this imply? What are the connections, inferences, and associations? What does this suggest about the theory behind this? Explanation understanding goes beyond true or borrowed right answers to where the learner has warranted opinions. Warranted opinions are often made manifest by asking the learner to predict, explain, justify, verify, prove, etc. Learning explanations requires that students get ample opportunity to build and test theory. A simple strategy is to focus on the 5 "W" questions.

• Understanding as Interpretation - understanding what something means, why it matters, what it illustrates or illuminates about the human experience. Interpretations are bound by personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts in which they arise. In that way, interpretation is intransigently multiple. Explanation and interpretation are related, but distinct. Explanation seeks objective and general knowledge, while interpretation seeks answers to why knowledge is important. In this way, there can be a limited amount of knowledge that is right, and an infinite number of ways that it is important. Interpretation cannot be taught using didactic approaches. Learning interpretation requires that learners build stories and interpretations, to see how knowledge is built from the inside. For example, have student interpret a time in history out of a series of disparate interviews.

• Understanding as Application - refers to the ability to use knowledge effectively in new situations and diverse contexts. To understand is to be able to use knowledge in real world contexts. Application knowledge is complex and requires using knowledge, adapting it for use, assessing the situation, and customizing what knowledge is needed for the situation. Application of knowledge is a context dependent skill. A learner can show proficiency in on situation and lack of proficiency in another. Instruction for this type of knowledge should be performance based and focus on authentic tasks.

• Understanding as Perspective - understanding as perspective is important because it requires that the learner go beyond understanding their point of view to recognize that almost all answers involve a point of view. The learner who has understanding of perspective understands what is being taken for granted, overlooked, glossed over, in the inquiry or theory. Perspective requires asking "How does it look from a different point of view" regularly. Perspective is one of the main goals of the liberal arts curriculum because it engages students on multiple viewpoints and intellectual criteria that focus on justification as opposed to mere correctness. Instruction should include explicit opportunities for learners to confront alternative theories and diverse points of view about big ideas.

• Understanding as Empathy - Empathy is the deliberate act of finding what is plausible, sensible, or meaningful in the ideas and actions of other persons. Instruction for empathic understanding aims to help learners escape their ethnocentric and present-centered views. Instruction needs to be geared toward confronting the effects - and affect - of decisions, ideas, theories, and problems.

• Understanding as Self-knowledge - requires that we self-consciously question our understanding to advance them. Self-knowledge seeks out our own blind spots and oversights and promotes uncovering and examining them. Self-knowledge goes beyond meta-cognition to engage learners in self-examination and reflection of what is known and how it is known, and what is not known.

Case Components

Effective case studies allow uncoverage of important ideas and their relationships/connections to otherwise disparate ideas and facts. Uncovering content is purposefully used as a juxtaposition to what happens in many instructional situations, which is the coverage of content. To uncover content requires inquiring into content, around content, and underneath content as opposed of simply covering content. Uncovering content means that learners need direct experiences, inquiry, argument, application, and various points of view if they are to understand and experience uncoverage. The authoring challenge is to bring abstract ideas and far-away facts to lifeso that students uncover the issue(s), points of view, decisions, implications, etc. The learner must see the knowledge and skill as helpful and revealing building blocks for larger inquiries and important performances. Case studies are an effective strategy to promote understanding at several levels and to bring abstract ideas and far-away facts to life.

Effective case studies are inquiry-based. This means several things. First, effective case studies are derived from questions. Second, they are guided and facilitated through the use of questions, and third, they give rise to learners' questions during use.

Effective case studies are stories. Worth mentioning are several attributes that make stories effective as case studies for learning. They are below.

• Stories rarely lay out all facts and ideas in a step-by-step fashion.
• A story is constructed using the logic of drama, suspenseful build-ups, surprising twists, and multi-perspective accounts.
• Stories are idiosyncratic, not generic.
• In stories, truth is implicit, not explicit.
• When stories are used in instruction, they are often crafted so that the reader/learner is thrust into the middle of the story or a problem, from which they must learn their way out. With problem-based learning, students meet an ill-structured problem before they meet any instruction.
• When problems are used as instructional stories, the logic of learning is focused on a specific goal, and the end shapes how the content is introduced and unfolds.
• The requirements of the task supply the logic of the case design.
• Coaching, trial and error, adjustment, etc., centered around a sequence of evolving performance goals are used to increase learner abilities. In this sense, the curriculum is iterative in increasingly sophisticated ways. Important teaching often occurs during and after, not before, students attempt to perform.
• Effective stories include the presence of mystery or dilemma. Instead of a straightforward sequence of events, the story teller deliberately raises questions and delays answering them while still teaching us about people, situations, and ideas along the way.
• Stories should offer the potential for more engagement, more deliberate rethinking, and deeper thinking.
• Stories also need to be user friendly if they are to work for the audience. There needs to be coherent flow, the logic of which is derived from the recipient's need to be engaged. Build the logic of the story on the logic of questions asked, not the logic of answers given.
• A good story (fictional or actual) involves an agent who acts to achieve a goal in a recognizable setting by the use of certain means.
• What drives the story (what makes it worth telling) is trouble. Trouble is some misfit between agents, acts, goals, settings, and means. (Bruner, 1996). To understand, we have to want to understand and good stories makes us want to understand.
• Good stories allow students to become part of the story.
• Stories raise questions and delay answers.
• Good stories create tension. The tension between opposing forces, good and evil, young and old, etc., can be effective.
• Good stories center the big idea. A good story focuses on what is essential and makes that idea concrete and virtually real.
• A good story attends to the human need to become emotionally involved. Identify what is important about the topic, why it should matter to the learner, and what is emotionally engaging about it. Then brainstorm and identify powerful binary opposites that will allow you to depict the importance of the topic. Then organize the content into story form. Be sure to use content that most dramatically embodies the binary opposites. Finally, conclude the story with a resolution and mediation.

Although some situations may involve well-structured and clearly defined problems that require no more than the application of a set of technical and rational procedures in order to solve them (e.g., performing task analyses, writing performance objectives), many more situations are ill-structured and poorly defined, requiring high level thinking skills such as experimentation, creativity, discussion, collaboration, and the examination of topics from multiple perspectives.

Solving complex design problems, such as those presented in the case studies in this text, requires students to complete a number of tasks, many of which support the development and advancement of critical thinking skills. According to Rowland, Parra, and Basnet (1994), "this type of approach (the case method) has potential to lead students more effectively from the everyday problem-solving abilities of 'just plain folks' (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989) to domain specific skills of expert ID practitioners" (p. 10).

The following components of complex problem solving, as outlined by Pellegrino (1995), are inherent to the case method of learning:

• representing the problem and its larger context
• formulating possible subproblems needed to solve the overall problem
• formulating a plan or organization of the subproblems (in some cases, formulating several alternative plans)
• testing the feasibility of alternative plans
• distinguishing information that is relevant from information that is not
• coordinating relevant information and data with appropriate subgoals
• using algorithmic procedures, when appropriate, to solve subproblems
• presenting, explaining, and justifying the reasoning behind one's solution and conclusions

Authoring Guidelines

You are to write the case study materials that students will use as well as instructor's notes. The case study materials for students should include a case narrative and accompanying questions. The case narrative should present a complex problem situated in a realistic situation (i.e., problems must be authentic, plausible, and technically valid). The case should be written so that some kind of decision is necessary--yet competing, often equally valid solutions are possible. By using dilemma-based cases, students are expected to evaluate the available evidence to judge alternative interpretations and actions and will experience (and hopefully learn to cope with) the uncertainty that often accompanies ethical and social decisions. For more ideas and information on writing narratives, see the document "Additional Information on Cases".

The narrative that you write should include the following types of relevant information (although not necessarily labeled as such):

• Case Background-relevant background information including the problem context, key players, available resources, existing constraints, and time elements
• Relevant Data-the facts, events, circumstances directly related to the case problem. When possible, data will be presented in a variety of forms and formats (e.g., budget information, written communications, charts, graphs)
• Focusing Questions-questions at the end of the case provide focus for students' analysis process. These may ask students to identify and discuss issues, consider the issues from multiple perspectives, develop a plan of action to resolve problems, and/or specify possible consequences resulting from their recommended plan. Some cases require students to create a product (recommendation, code of conduct, a policy, etc.) in order to demonstrate their understanding of the issues and their competence to address them. In some case books, there are two sets of questions included in the text. One set, titled Preliminary Analysis Questions, questions readers on problems and issues directly related to the case. A second set of questions, titled Implications for Practice, focuses on how issues that arose in the case relate to the practice of ethics in computing in general.

In addition, you need to provide instructor's notes. The instructor's notes will include:

• Case Overview-a brief description of the case, including the "big idea" students should glean from the case. The goal here is that during the selection process, instructors can quickly read a number of case overviews to make a decision about the appropriateness of specific cases for meeting specific needs.
• Case Objectives-the specific focus of the case (the supporting concepts/principles learners should use in analyzing the case issues); the knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes students should gain from their case analyses and discussions. Objectives might be helpful to students as a guide to their analysis efforts, providing some initial focus and direction, particularly for students in an introductory course.
• Case Analysis Guidelines-specific steps the learners might take to analyze each case
• Debriefing Guidelines-suggestions from the case authors regarding how to think about the case. Typically, these suggestions are based on real experiences of the designer(s) in the case. The format for the debriefing guidelines is one or two introductory paragraphs, followed by guidelines for each of the objectives specified earlier.
• Relevant References-a list of 5-10 references (books, articles, web sites) that instructors and/or students can use to extend their learning about specific issues presented in the case.