Facilitating Grounded Online Interactions in Video-Case-Based Teacher Professional Development

The use of interactive video cases for teacher professional development is an emergent medium inspired by case study methods used extensively in law, management, and medicine, and by the advent of multimedia technology available to support online discussions. This paper focuses on Web-based “grounded” discussions—in which the participants base their contributions on specific events portrayed in the case—and the role facilitators play in these online interactions. This paper analyzes the online exchange of messages in one school district that participated in a video-case-based program of teacher professional development and derives principles that will help facilitators lead grounded online interactions.