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This article was downloaded by: [The UC Irvine Libraries] On: 26 October 2014, At: 12:13 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Educational Media Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjem19 Using Multimedia Cases to Invigorate School Leaders’ Organizational Learning Joseph Claudet a a Texas Tech University , Lubbock, TX, USA Published online: 07 Jul 2006. To cite this article: Joseph Claudet (2001) Using Multimedia Cases to Invigorate School Leaders’ Organizational Learning, Journal of Educational Media, 26:2, 93-104, DOI: 10.1080/1358165010260202 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1358165010260202 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/ page/terms-and-conditions

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This article was downloaded by: [The UC Irvine Libraries]On: 26 October 2014, At: 12:13Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Educational MediaPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjem19

Using Multimedia Cases to InvigorateSchool Leaders’ OrganizationalLearningJoseph Claudet aa Texas Tech University , Lubbock, TX, USAPublished online: 07 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Joseph Claudet (2001) Using Multimedia Cases to Invigorate SchoolLeaders’ Organizational Learning, Journal of Educational Media, 26:2, 93-104, DOI:10.1080/1358165010260202

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1358165010260202

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoeveras to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Anyopinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of theauthors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracyof the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verifiedwith primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and otherliabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connectionwith, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Journal of Educational Media, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2001

Using Multimedia Cases toInvigorate School Leaders'Organizational LearningJOSEPH CLAUDETTexas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

ABSTRACT Creating meaningful learning opportunities for school leaders (principals,teachers, peer professionals, and community members) is a central goal of educational staffdevelopers. Involving principals and school community leaders in the systematic study oftheir own context-specific leadership challenges using digital multimedia and a perspectivistlearning approach may offer potential as one technology-integrated means for facilitatingpositive school community vision building and decision making. This article describes resultsof one prototype collaborative effort to design and use multimedia cases to invigorate schoolleaders' organizational thinking and learning.

Introduction

Why do box office hits like Stephen Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doomand Raiders of the Lost Ark, Stanley Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and GeorgeLucas's Star Wars Trilogy (to name just a few) so captivate the public imagination?What is the innate appeal of cinema? Why do people of all ages, even in our era ofmedia saturation, still flock to movie theaters to catch the latest blockbuster hits,view these same movies on extended airline flights and on cable, then rent laterpublic-release videocassette and digital videodisc versions to view repeatedly in theprivacy of their own homes? Well, storytelling on celluloid and digital disc is bigbusiness, and many present-day movie makers like Steven Spielberg, Stanley Ku-brik, and George Lucas know the selling power of a 'good tale'. There seems to besomething in all of us that responds intuitively to the fascination of a fanciful storyor a compelling drama.

An evocative image appeared as a brief scene in the third installment of the StarWars Trilogy - Return of the Jedi - in which the protocol droid 'C3PO' (fluent inover six million forms of communication) recounts the exploits of Luke Skywalker,Princess Leia, Han Solo, and the loyal, fighting forces of the rebellion to amesmerized audience of little forest ewoks. The ewoks are captivated by this excitingtale of adventure and daring, and want to identify with the characters and experience

ISSN 1358-1651 (print)/ISSN 1469-9443 (online)/01/020093-12©2001 Taylor & Francis LtdDOI: 10.1080/13581650120101178

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the thrilling action. Shortly thereafter, the whole tribe of ewoks willingly becomeeager collaborators and bravely assist Luke Skywalker and the rebellion starfightersin their quest for freedom from the evil empire. And, like the ewoks, we too arecaptivated by Lucas' cinematic drama and want to participate in the action.

This scene, appearing in a futuristic fantasy movie, reflects a common humanpredilection for 'storytelling' we all share and, in fact, has been played out countlesstimes from ages past to present. Human societies in every age seem to display anatural bent for storytelling and mythmaking. The tales of masterful storytellersthroughout history - such as Euripides, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the like - stillreverberate in our minds today. Now, as before, stories and mythic tales naturallyappeal to us through stimulating our imaginations with sharply defined characters,adventurous escapades, and the playing out of noble ideals in magical places andsettings. In modern times, cinema adds yet another dimension to theatrical story-telling - conveying a more realistic sense of time, place, characterization, and plotthrough such enhancing effects as creative lighting, manipulation of camera angles,editing, and special effects. It could be that the mesmerizing effect of cinema, in fact,reflects two powerful and universal characteristics of theatre known from the time ofthe Greek playwrights - namely, theatre's ability to evoke in the audience a sense of:(1) vicarious involvement; and (2) suspension of disbelief.

Although schools may not quite have the sharply defined characterizations andplot structures of a George Lucas fantasy film - students don't typically see DarthVader coming down the halls during period changes or witness their classmatesbeing frozen in carbonite for failing to turn in their homework, and PTO meetingsdon't usually resemble star wars between battling forces - nonetheless, schools, ascommunal places of learning for youngsters and adults, can develop some fascinatingstories and myths and be rife with social and organizational drama.

As a staff developer, I have yet to encounter a school improvement team that isnot in the midst of one or more 'thrilling adventures' - whether in the form ofstruggling to learn how to raise student standardized test scores, deal with thenewest, state-mandated teacher assessment program, curb gang-related behavior,improve parental/community involvement, or build student self-esteem. There is anintriguing sense of drama about organizational life in schools, and a subtle theatricalquality to the day-to-day learning situations within which youngsters and adults inschools become immersed. The most dramatic of these, like those mentioned above,can become for the staff developer prime candidates for theatrical storytelling.

Purpose

This article describes an innovative staff development approach designed to invigor-ate the collective organizational learning experiences of educators and communitymembers in one at-risk school setting through applying artistic insights gleaned fromtheatrical cinema. The multimedia case approach developed evolved through exten-sive collaborative inquiry among a team of university-based researchers, multimediaand dramatic arts specialists, and field-based pre-K-12 educators interested in using

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technology to enhance the quality of organizational thinking and learning of schoolleaders.

Multimedia case development activities

The school setting

The multimedia staff development initiative described in this article was imple-mented at Ector Junior High School, a seventh through ninth grade campus situatedin Ector County Independent School District in the Permian Basin region of WestTexas. The campus serves approximately 1100 students, with an annual schoolstudent population averaging approximately 63 percent Hispanic, 35 percent Anglo,and 2 percent African American. In recent years, multi-year school student enroll-ment figures reflect a general trend evident throughout communities in this south-western region of a gradual increase in the percentage of minority (primarilyHispanic) student and parent clientele. The majority of parents living in the schoolattendance area in Odessa, Texas are dependent on the oil industry for theirlivelihood.

Students attending the school tend to be from families that are consideredeconomically disadvantaged. The percentage of students on the free or reduced costmeal program typically ranges from 66.67 percent in the seventh grade to 69.85percent in the ninth grade. A growing trend seen within the school is an increasingnumber of families experiencing economic difficulties and receiving some type offederal assistance. Ector County has a workforce of approximately 60,654 with anunemployment rate of 7.1 percent. A majority of Ector Junior High parents have lessthan a high school diploma themselves. This blue collar community provides amultiethnic setting within which support of school programs, regular student attend-ance, and stress on academic achievement are continuing school/community chal-lenges.

A real-life story and cast of characters

In late spring, 1995,1 was invited by the Ector Junior High School principal to serveas school staff development consultant. The principal already knew of my activeinterest in the professional learning challenges of school communities through myextensive work over a ten-year period in assisting several schools in the West TexasPermian Basin region with their staff development efforts. During our initial conver-sations, the principal confessed to me that he and various school communitymembers had already engaged in several futile attempts to develop any real consen-sus on the proper role of technology in the school's curriculum, and he felt he andhis school stakeholders had reached an impasse. I was intrigued by the story thisprincipal shared with me about his school's challenges, and I agreed to work withhim and his school community as a consultant. My initial consultancy work with thisschool was supported through budgeted consultancy monies included as part of a

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federally funded school improvement grant (for schools serving at-risk learners)which the school received for the 1995-1996 school year.

Prior to the beginning of the 1995-96 school year, I had several opportunities instaff development planning sessions and in-service meetings to get to know schoolfaculty, staff, and parent/community members. As a result of that initial contact, amore complete picture began to gradually emerge regarding the extent of theorganizational learning challenges facing this school community. Upon sharing myobservations with the principal and the school's campus improvement team (aschool-wide group consisting of academic department chairpersons, faculty, parents,and business community representatives), I proposed to the school-wide team thatfor the 1995-96 school year the team consider engaging in a series of 'future searchconferences' (Weisbord, 1992).

Future search conferences, used with some success in business organizations, areopportunities for organizations to bring together "fifty to seventy people, drawnfrom all parts of the organization and from external constituent groups, [to] workintensely together to create shared visions of the organization's past, present, andfuture... the whole system is in the room, generating information, thinking aboutitself and what it wants to be" (Wheatley, 1992, p. 66). I proposed that the campusimprovement team, along with other invited members from throughout the schoolcommunity, use the future search conference format as a means for seriouslyassessing where the school was as an organizational learning community in thepresent, and to then use these community-wide reflections as opportunities tocollaboratively envision the kind of future school community they want to become.

After briefly discussing how these meetings might potentially benefit the school,the challenge was accepted and a series of future search conferences was plannedand held in a community meeting hall adjacent to the school during the 1995-96school year. As school staff development consultant, I served as facilitator for thisyear-long series of expanded school community meetings. As these conferencesdeveloped, I spent much time facilitating discussions among participants as theyshared individual perspectives with each other on their perceptions of the realchallenges facing their at-risk school community (improving student test scores inreading and mathematics, acquiring adequate school health personnel and services,instituting an adult learning program during evenings, etc.). I also spent timelistening intently to their conversations, and was struck by the tenacity with whichindividual participants voiced their perspectives on certain issues, proclaiming theirstrongly held - and, often somewhat separate - visions of 'where we are as a schoolcommunity' and 'where we should be going'. The future search meetings, so bravelyinitiated, were quickly turning into a perspectivist logjam.

In particular, various members of the expanded school improvement team werevery energetic and forceful in articulating their individual beliefs about what theyperceived to be the purposes of technology integration in a federally-funded middleschool targeting the needs of at-risk learners, how technology and technology fundscould be best utilized to enhance the curriculum, and what they envisioned asspecific payoffs of their proposed implementation strategies. I recalled Peter Senge'sobservation that personnel may create shared visions of their organizations as a

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'by-product' of individual visions through networking, though this process is oftendifficult and chaotic (Senge, 1990, p. 212). Consequently, I began to speculate onthe possibility of using available multimedia technology to assist this group of schoolcommunity members in the messy process of sounding out and sharing each others'conflicting perspectives about school change and improvement, and from thiscomplicated mix developing - through collaborative consensus building - a clearvision of their school as an organizational learning community.

With cautious optimism and a sense of adventure, the school's expanded campusimprovement team - after much discussion - agreed to my proposal to embark ona 'case simulation' development project as one alternative means of studying andbetter understanding their own school learning community, and as a way ofhopefully gleaning new creative and reflective insights into their school's collabora-tive leadership challenges.

During the autumn of 1996, preliminary production planning was undertaken inthe form of identifying organizational issues, delineating primary character roles, andstoryboarding scenes. Following completion of this preliminary work, filming of casescenes began in early spring of 1997 and continued through the summer. Rivallingthe energy of a Steven Spielberg film crew, school community members (teachers,parents, community members, and the principal) came together and began tocollaborate in a new way - as a multimedia case development and production team.

Case simulation design

Support during 1996 and 1997 for case simulation research and developmentactivities was provided through major grants (totaling US $400,000) from the SidW. Richardson Foundation (Fort Worth, Texas), the Abell-Hanger Foundation(Midland, Texas), and the Franklin Charitable Trusts (Post, Texas). This externalfunding provided the means for me, as the university-based staff developer, to workon an extended basis with the school site-based production team to explore simu-lation designs and engage in case development. Betacam SP cameras and digitalnonlinear editing system hardware and software were acquired to facilitate fieldproduction work, as well as case design and refinement. As work proceeded, staffdevelopers from regional education service centers having expertise in collaborativeschool leadership joined the production team as consultants and reviewers/evalua-tors of case development efforts.

Prototype Collaborative Leadership case

The prototype Collaborative Leadership case developed by the school productionteam focused on exploring the core challenge facing this school learning community- learning how to carefully listen to and explore commonalities and differences inmultiple stakeholder perspectives. The multimedia case approach was used as areflective means of synthesizing these perspectives into a shared, unified vision oforganizational direction and purpose. Storyboarding, scene scripting, and role

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casting activities were all undertaken with special care to achieve 'real-world'accuracy. These collaborative efforts centered on involving production team mem-bers (faculty, administrators, parents, business community members) on intentlystudying their own and their colleagues' perspectives on the uses and benefits oftechnology in the school and how technology might best be integrated into the totalschool-wide curriculum. Character roles for individual case scenes were acted out byactual members of the school production team. Community members assumedschool community 'cast' roles other than the ones they played in 'real life' as acreative means of studying and understanding each others' role perspectives andhow these various perspectives might generate organizational conflict.

Multimedia authoring software was used to create an interactive, simulatedorganizational learning environment within the prototype CD-ROM case. A user-re-sponsive, simulated school community data interface was developed as a navigatingframe for exploring relevant information and leadership challenges portrayed in thecase. This interactive environment was designed to enable users to easily access avariety of text and graphic information databases relevant to school leadershipdecision making.

Within the simulated environment, a series of interactive communication linksconnected users through electronic on-line telecommunication services to the schoolcommunity's improvement team network and to central office and regional edu-cation service center personnel. School performance data, enrollment statistics, andother text-based information were available in file folders contained in an electronicfiling cabinet. Bound text information such as district policy manuals, administrativecode, and special education resource manuals were accessible from an electronicbookcase. The school improvement standards and proficiencies of the State edu-cation agency were also accessible via navigational icons. Through accessing theseinformation databases, users could make notes about case-relevant information in anelectronic 'notepad' provided in the simulated organizational learning environment.In addition, navigational help features for each electronic database were provided tofacilitate user interactivity and ease-of-use.

A unique feature of the simulated learning environment was the Case VideoScenes Viewing Area. In this area, users could access a number of short digitalscenes portraying multiple case situations and stakeholder perspectives. Videomarkicon and notation capabilities enabled users to 'mark' individual video frames forfurther reflective analysis. Electronic links to organizational environment databasesencouraged users to explore reflective connections among case situations, multipleinformation databases, and users' own interpretive analyses of multiple stakeholderperspectives.

Following exploration of information databases and review of case scenes, theinteractive navigational design directed users to the CD-ROM case ReflectiveDecision-Making Area. Users were challenged here to explore their collaborativeleadership reflective thinking and decision making responses to case challenges viaa series of focused, open-ended question prompts. In this area, users recorded theirreflective case analyses and decision-making strategies, and accessed expert panelvideo sequences providing relevant perspectives on case-specific issues.

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Collectively, the interactive portrayal, multiple database access, and reflectiveanalysis features of the CD-ROM case design provided users with a realistic,simulated organizational learning environment for studying potential collaborativeaction strategies and decision making responses to real school leadership challenges.The overall purpose of the interactive case design was to provide users with amultistakeholder perspectivist approach for examining critical issues and exploringcreative solutions to tough, real-world leadership challenges facing school communi-ties.

Initial results and expanded activities

The prototype multimedia case developed was used in follow-up small and largegroup organizational analysis sessions as part of subsequent expanded schoolimprovement team meetings to good effect. There was a striking result of theoverall process of case development and use by school improvement teammembers. This was an increase in ownership in decision-making many school com-munity members began to display (both during production work and continuingduring case implementation) regarding their school's collaborative leadershipchallenges, and a greater sense of group commitment and shared purpose inenvisioning their school community's future. This change in school communitymembers' attitudes and behaviors was noted by production team staff and com-munity members alike.

The initial collaborative leadership case developed focused on an organizationallearning adventure of one school-wide learning community. Following initial successwith this case, further case production efforts were conducted during 1997 and 1998both at this school and other schools in the district, resulting ultimately in thedevelopment of a prototype Collaborative Leadership Case Simulation Set. This caseset consisted of five complete case simulations (each on a separate CD-ROM)addressing related curricular and organizational challenges in school communitycollaborative leadership. The Ector Junior High principal and several members ofthe school's expanded learning community participated in project teams to developthese related school leadership cases comprising this prototype case simulation set.The development/production cost of the initial collaborative leadership case (includ-ing prototype multimedia design development and refinement work) was approxi-mately US $35,000. Utilizing and building on the prototype design work completedfor this initial case, the next four multimedia cases (in the Collaborative Leadershipfive-case set) incurred an average production cost per case simulation of approxi-mately US $20,000.

Following are brief descriptions of the five case simulations which evolved fromthe initial collaborative leadership multimedia case effort and which were developedas part of the Collaborative Leadership Case Set:

Collaborative Leadership - This case addresses challenges involved in developinggenuine collaborative leadership in schools and the difficulties school leaders oftenface in attempting to build shared leadership vision among school community

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stakeholders. A junior high school improvement initiative involving the integrationof technology into the curriculum provides the frame for a goal consensus andcollaborative leadership dilemma confronting the school community improvementteam.

Resistance to Change - This case portrays some of the complex challenges oftenencountered by school leaders involving performance assessment and developmentof school personnel. Issues contributing to difficulties in the appraisal process,including conflicting teacher beliefs about effective teaching practices, team collabo-ration, and curriculum planning, are explored.

Equal Access - This case addresses the issue of student equal access rights inschools. Increasingly, student groups are challenging school leaders to provide avariety of co-curricular and social opportunities (student organizations, clubs, etc.)to meet student interests and needs. Important legal and organizational consider-ations involving issues of equal access, student rights, and the responsibilities ofschool leaders for fostering responsive and equitable school learning environmentsfor all students are examined.

Inclusion - This case explores the challenges school leaders face in providinghigh-quality, inclusive learning environments for students. Difficulties school leaderscan encounter in providing adequate classroom learning environments for all stu-dents, meeting individual student needs, ensuring teacher preparedness, and con-fronting parental concerns are important dimensions of inclusion addressed.

Instructional Leadership - Challenges to school leadership related to improvingschool performance and instructional effectiveness are explored in this case. Severalimportant leadership dimensions of the school-wide instructional improvementprocess are highlighted, including needs assessment, collaborative planning forcurriculum integration, and group ownership in the improvement process.

The original efforts of one at-risk school learning community to explore theirown organizational learning and decision making using multimedia continues as theinitial Collaborative Leadership case simulation set provides a useful prototype formultimedia project teams to explore further case simulation development, includingpossible variations in multimedia formats, interactive designs, and case sharing anddissemination. As an integral part of ongoing project activities, the prototypeCollaborative Leadership case simulation set has been reviewed by teams of externalevaluators/researchers in other major universities in the United States, and the set iscurrently in use in several regional Education Service Centers in Texas as technol-ogy-integrated professional development resources for in-service school leaders(principals, assistant principals, and lead teachers). Feedback received from theseexternal evaluators (researchers, field service personnel, and school leaders them-selves) has been generally positive in nature, and recommendations for furtherrefinements have been (and are continuing to be) incorporated into ongoing casesimulation design and development efforts.

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School improvement benefits

Case simulations developed by collaborative teams were found to have a number ofintriguing present and potential benefits. Multimedia production efforts were trans-lated into some immediate gains to school community members as cases were usedin subsequent expanded school improvement team meetings as a means of probingand clarifying multiple perspectives and issues more effectively, and facilitatingcollaborative group reflection, vision sharing, and decision making. As alreadymentioned, one striking observable benefit of applying the multimedia case ap-proach seems to be a perceptible increase in school community participants' com-mitment to collaborative consensus building and decision making as a result of theiractive involvement in case production and implementation efforts. As school com-munity members continue to engage in and learn from these case simulationactivities, it seems reasonable to expect that the initial positive improvements incollaborative sharing and decision making observed among school communityparticipants during project activities may reap some long-term, potential benefits interms of enhanced classroom and school-wide learning environments and learninggains for students.

Importantly, through writing and producing cases about their own context-specific collaborative leadership challenges, school production teams were essentiallyadopting a 'collegial case approach' (Shulman, 1989, pp. 183-184) to their ownprofessional and organizational learning. Like the 'teacher cases' originally proposedby Shulman as a means for teachers to document their professional teachingexperiences and to compare and share individual teaching techniques and classroomhistories with colleagues, the multimedia cases developed in this project could beused by school community members to assist in framing and reframing possibleleadership action strategies, and to eventually become part of a rich, evolving digitalcase history of school organizational leading and learning challenges. These organi-zational cases (and sets of leadership action strategies they help school leadersformulate) could also become innovative resources and models for other schoollearning communities interested in studying their own collaborative leadershipchallenges using the multimedia case approach.

In fact, as a natural extension of this 'resource sharing' concept, an entire libraryof multimedia school leadership cases might be potentially developed for Internetdissemination using video streaming techniques. This internet case bank could bereadily accessible as a unique form of staff development and organizational learningresource that school leaders could download, customize, and apply to their ownleadership contexts and situations. In addition, as the case production process itselfwas found to be an especially rich and rewarding learning experience for participat-ing team members, other school communities might decide to embark on developingtheir own cases from scratch — exploring their collaborative thinking and learningin-depth through creating their own multimedia school leadership cases.

Further, the multimedia case approach offers multiple opportunities to pre-K-12school communities and school districts for building exciting technology and staffdevelopment partnerships with regional universities and education service centers.

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Through nurturing rich communication and sharing networks with a variety ofindividuals (multimedia technologists, staff developers, etc.), school leaders develop-ing multimedia cases might realize both immediate- and long-term payoffs in theform of new organizational insights into tough school leadership challenges.

Collectively, initial findings from prototype efforts completed thus far in thisWest Texas school/university partnership initiative suggest that the multimedia caseapproach - emphasizing the two complementary themes of multistakeholder collabora-tion and creative use of technology - holds promise for enhancing the organizationalleading and learning of pre-K-12 school communities and assisting school leaders inengaging together in meaningful reflective practice (Schon, 1983).

School leadership as organizational theatre

Sustained efforts of collaborative teams initiated in one at-risk school learningcommunity resulted in a new set of case development resources to guide and deepencommunity members' insights into their own school leadership challenges andinform their reflective thinking and decision making. The multimedia case conceptevolved from initial prototype efforts in this school learning community into a seriesof cases that can be shared and used by multiple school communities seeking toexplore and refine their own organizational learning and decision making. Themultimedia project itself emerged as a convergence of three related areas of creativeactivity: (1) theatrical storytelling; (2) cinematography; and (3) interactive computersimulations. In retrospect, merging and synthesizing these three field areas todevelop multimedia cases about school collaborative leadership seemed both anatural and fascinating thing to do.

The multimedia case approach represents an attempt to think about and engagein school leadership as organizational theatre. In this approach, school as theatre isthe metaphor, technology-integrated case design is the method, and digital reality isthe medium. Propelling this approach is a desire to use digital pixels and multimediasoftware as new kinds of socio-psychological paint and paintbrushes to portray thecomplex, interactive dynamics of multistakeholder reflective thinking and decisionmaking in school organizations.

After all, applying technology - like applying any inventive tool for thinking -may essentially be about learning how to think about and use tools in new ways asgenerative metaphors for creative action (Schon, 1988). In developing multimediacases as new kinds of tools for reflective thinking and decision making, schoolleaders involved in this project gained valuable knowledge in how to apply and usetechnology to energize their own organizational thinking and learning. One thing weall (case designers and school leaders) learned and experienced together in thisproject was a realization of the extent of commonalities already existing among manyseemingly contradictory school leader perspectives, and that through consciouslyand intently listening to, examining, and refining these various perspectives usingorganizational case analysis, a coherent tapestry - a shared school community vision- could be insightfully discerned.

In summary, thinking about and engaging in school leadership as organizational

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theatre enabled project participants to discover new connections among themselvesas relational learning communities, and to use this new knowledge to advantage incollaboratively envisioning worthwhile organizational goals to guide their schoolcommunity forward.

Conclusion

George Lucas used the cinematic wizardry of digital multimedia, animation, light-ing, and special effects magic to create theatrical realism - to suspend our disbeliefand excite our imaginations and emotions into becoming vicariously involved indramatic action. Just as C3PO's campfire imagery enthralled the ewoks, Lucasentices his larger cinematic audience through the power of his storytelling to becomeempathic role-takers in a vivid, imaginative reality.

Perhaps, as educators, we can likewise employ the power of storytelling - andencourage principals and school community leaders to identify their own context-specific organizational challenges and explore creative decision making responses tothese challenges - using a multimedia case learning approach. Collective experiencesof development teams involved in the case project just described suggest that thepossibilities for invigorating school leaders' organizational thinking and learningthrough using multimedia are real - and may only be limited by our creativeimaginations as educators to collaboratively fashion and learn from our own schoolleadership stories.

Invitation to readers

Administrator Case Simulation (ACS) Project Lab staff would like to share ACSProject ongoing research and development efforts with other educators who areinterested in using multimedia cases to enhance the professional leading andlearning of principals and school community leaders. Please contact the author foradditional information regarding ACS Project activities.

Note on contributor

JOSEPH CLAUDET is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Leader-ship, Co-ordinator of the Principal Preparation Program, and Director of theAdministrator Case Simulation CD-ROM Library Project in the College of Edu-cation at Texas Tech University. His areas of interest include: school organizationallearning and development, technology-integrated case design, and perspectivistthinking in school leadership. Dr. Claudet has worked extensively as a staff develop-ment consultant with pre-K-12 schools and school districts in the southern andsouth-western United States in the area of technology-integrated professional learn-ing and development.

Correspondence: Joseph Claudet, Administrator Case Simulation Project MultimediaLab, Box 41071, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

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REFERENCES

SCHÖN, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action (New York, BasicBooks).

SCHÖN, D.A. (1988) Generative metaphor: a perspective on problem-setting in social policy, in:A. ORTONY (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (pp. 255-283) (Cambridge, Cambridge UniversityPress).

SENGE, P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation (New York,Doubleday).

SHULMAN, L.S. (1989) Teaching alone, learning together: needed agendas for the new reforms,in: T.J. SERGIOVANNI & J.H. MOORE (Eds.), Schooling for tomorrow: directing reforms to issues thatcount (pp. 166-187) (Boston, MA, Allyn & Bacon).

WEISBORD, M. (1992) Discovering common ground: how future search conferences bring people togetherto achieve breakthrough innovation, empowerment, shared vision, and collaborative action (SanFrancisco, CA, Berrett-Koehler Publishers).

WHEATLEY, M.J. (1992) Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderlyuniverse (San Francisco, CA, Berrett-Koehler Publishers).

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