Case-Based Reasoning Toward Skillful Practice

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a problem solving approach based on the idea that people draw on previous cases where similar problems and associated solutions were encountered, and that such experiences are captured in the form of stories (Wang et al., 2003).

The readings this week brought together a lot things that are related to my own work and interests. I love the idea of collecting stories from competent practitioners and using that for task analysis and developing mutlimedia content to help novices develop 'expert thinking'. This was the general idea behind the graduate student training module I'd developed last semester. In those interviews I'd asked each of my interviewees very simple, and exactly the same set of questions, to solicit

• information about themselves (name, role at libraries, extent of work experience),
• what customer service meant to them as it related to reference work; how this may differ in providing online reference services vs. in-person
• how they handle in-depth, difficult questions

Since the nature of reference work begins with a challenge or problem such general questions seemed to solicit stories that included strategies and lessons. In comparison to the simple line of questioning I'd used, Jonassen et al.'s recommendations for collecting stories from practitioners is much more problem focused and probing (2002):

• Identify skilled practitioners in the domain.
• Show the practitioners the problem for which you are seeking support.
• Ask the practitioners if they can remember any similar problems that they have solved – then work with the practitioner to
• Identify the problem goals and expectations
• Describe the context in which the problem occurred
• Describe the solution that was chosen
• Was it successful? Was it a failure? Why?
• Identify the points that each story makes
• Decide what the stories teach.

I would love to try some version of this in two subject domains. I'd already been thinking about doing interviews with business librarians in order to tap into their knowledge base, established over several years of practice. In fact one of my early writing submissions was a brief interview with a business librarian who'd recently retired and had been on Jeopardy!. The other domain is in the area of business – I would find it fascinating to interview technology start-up entrepreneurs, small business owners, financial market investors, and academics.

One of the challenges in developing, maintaining and curating a database of such content is keeping it fresh, and relevant. The libraries maintains a complex network of databases that require all sorts of planning, technical development, marketing and training support. Developing a repository of relevant and highly used content is no small project! Learning object repositories like M.E.R.L.O.T and A.N.T.S. come to mind – also proof that you need a pretty vibrant community around any repository for it to stay a live. Or, Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge site perhaps reminds us that prestige, adequate funds and contacts are important to consider when putting something like this together. Also, domains that deal with information technology evolve very quickly; however, I do agree with the adage that 'more things change the more the things stay the same', so I'm sure there are ways to draw lessons from the past about dealing with risk, uncertainty and compromise in new contexts – but it is likely to be tricky to pull off well.

In a previous post I'd mentioned using a Flip camcorder for conducting interviews with my colleagues – mostly in terms of the quality vs. learning curve. What I think is additionally useful to mention here is that the smallness of the camera made it much less obtrusive to film the conversation. I'd used a small tripod to place the camera on the table in between us, but angled it off to the side so that it was barely in their peripheral vision if they were addressing me with their responses to my question.

References

Jonassen, D. H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research & Development, 50(2), 65-77.

Wang, F. K., Moore, J.L., Wedman, J., & Shyu, C. R. (2003). Developing a case-based reasoning knowledge repository to support a learning community: An example from the technology integration community. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52(3), 45-62.