4.4 Case studies: developing decision making skills in diverse  (Page 2/5)

Whether or not university-based school-leadership programs choose to clean their own houses, change will occur. The simple fact is that those programs are being replaced. Yet my hope is that universities and their educational-administration programs will embrace change rather than watch the states and the marketplace take away their franchise. (p. 20)

Levine is correct that universities must embrace change rather than to curse the proverbial darkness or to justify outdated methods. The ETIPS project is an effort to embrace that change, to invigorate the educational-leadership preparation process, and to provide a meaningful tool to transition from university classrooms to field experiences. Although primarily intended for and presently being tested in university settings, ETIPS was designed to perform just as effectively in non-university preparation programs.

The framework for these online cases answers Levine’s concerns by being grounded in research related to complexity, contextualized knowledge, and self-regulated learning. Unlike linear print cases, which have become standard in both business and school administration university programs (Zuelke&Willerman, 1995), the virtual yet realistically complex school settings provided in ETIPS simulates the multifaceted schools in which principals serve (Putnam&Borko, 2000). The structure of the case studies requires candidates to rely on all forms of knowledge: experiential, declarative, procedural, and contextual (Waters, Marzano,&McNulty, 2003). Additionally, the problem-solving processes employed within the cases advance self-regulated learning (Pintrich, 2000).

Although traditional text-based cases can certainly provide meaningful decision-making simulations, they are inherently bound by a number of limitations. A most obvious limitation is that of a linear presentation restricted by chronological, lock-step progress through the scenario with the problem posed and the data under consideration being prescribed by the text. The type of thinking required of such traditional cases is retrospective in nature, reacting and contemplating only past events and circumstances. The problem is situated in a single school context with limited data about that particular school. The procedural scaffolding is modeled, managed, and coached by the professor.

In contrast, the ETIPS model transcends traditional text-based cases. The online case studies afford a decision-making experience that includes a non-linear presentation, prospective thinking, multiple contexts, numerous data, and scaffolding driven by the environment. While the case focus is established by the professor, it is an ill-structured situation that intentionally does not identify what the specific problem is. The initial step in preparing the case for the students is for the professor to select a topic and subtopic; there are ten potential subtopics from which to choose: