COMPETITION MAKES CASE FOR TECHNOLOGY

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 17 -- Prospective teachers from
the United States and Canada will compete electronically over a
global computer network to solve some of the tough discipline
questions facing educators today.
	During the 1995 Virtual Case Competition, sponsored by the
Commonwealth Center for the Education of Teachers, students from six
universities will consider a scenario about childrenÕs behavior and
learning that will be presented with text and images over the World
Wide Web.  The competition begins March 27.
	The center is the first to establish an electronic
competition for future teachers, according to director Robert F.
McNergney.  The idea is a logical extension of the centerÕs earlier
work when, in 1992, it hosted on-site at U.Va. the first national
case competition for prospective teachers.  During the event five
teams from universities across the nation had just seven hours to
analyze and prepare a written and oral defense of a case.
	The electronic competition offers several advantages over an
on-site contest, McNergney noted.  ÒIt saves a tremendous amount of
money while linking students from different kinds of institutions
together.  It can also expose a large number of people to the idea
of cases, a method of study used successfully for years in medical,
law and business schools.Ó For several years the center has been
advocating the use of cases in educating prospective teachers.
	After the student teams submit their case analyses by April
3, they will be asked a series of electronic follow-up questions by
faculty from U.Va. and Drake University.  Teams will submit final
responses by April 10, and the competitionÕs winner will be posted
by April 24.  A panel of nationally recognized educators will choose
a winner based on evaluations of teamsÕ performances.
	Anyone with access to the Web can read the case, review the
teamsÕ responses and submit an analysis by logging onto the
competitionÕs home page at
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/~casecomp.
	ÒAlthough we cannot accommodate additional participants, the
competition is open to observers, who are encouraged to submit their
own analyses,Ó McNergney said.  Analyses from both observers and
participants will be posted after the winner has been announced.
	Teams from U.Va. and the University of Dayton, which tied in
last yearÕs trial-run electronic competition, will battle teams from
the University of Calgary, Slippery Rock State College, Winston
Salem State University and the University of Minnesota at Duluth.
The winner of the competition will receive a plaque and an
opportunity to defend its title in next yearÕs event.
	In addition to exposing students to the use of case
instruction, the competition helps encourage prospective teachers to
use technology in their classes, McNergney said. 
	(Observers can gain an idea of a multi-media teaching case
by accessing ÒProject Cape Town:  Education and Integration in South
AfricaÓ through Netscape, Mosaic or other Web browsers.)
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March 16, 1995
	FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact McNergney at (804) 924-0749 or
via rfm@virginia.edu.