Multimedia Case Methods in University-Based Teacher Education and Learning

The use of cases in teacher education is not a new phenomenon, with early records of case methods dating from the beginning of the last century. However, the rapid expansion of information and computer technologies over the past decade has influenced case construction and use in profound ways. Written cases are now being integrated with video and other textual forms to create sophisticated hypermedia case environments. Hypermedia (more commonly referred to as multimedia) case platforms provide the potential to incorporate various kinds of contextual, theoretical and pedagogical information into a rich and multilayered representation of classroom teaching. In this chapter we explore the implications of these developments for teacher education and teacher learning. Factors that appeared to influence development of this motivation included student-teachers' preinstructional perspectives about science and the personalization and contextualization inherent to the modified multimedia case method.