Redesigning Staff Development as Organizational Case Learning: Tapping into School Stakeholders’ Collaborative Potential for Critical Reflection and Transformative Leadership Action

Abstract

This article reports on activities associated with one school-university partnership project focused on providing multimedia-integrated organizational learning and development opportunities to stakeholders in K-12 school communities struggling with real-world school change and improvement challenges. A central feature of the project’s organizational case learning design is the use of multimedia case production technology in conjunction with context-specific school situational data to immerse school stakeholders in the theatrical portrayal and analysis of their own school dilemma challenges as a means to jumpstart collaborative teaming and data-driven problem solving. Multimedia case development and analysis efforts involving stakeholders in one middle school community who are confronting a difficult, politically charged set of school improvement challenges are highlighted. Project findings associated with the use of multimedia technology and data-driven organizational case learning as tools to inform an alternative staff development approach for promoting positive school leadership teaming and real-world problem solving among education stakeholders in K-12 school communities are discussed.