April 6, 2005. This spring, an expanded Educational Multimedia Case Constructor (EMCC) has been deployed in Professor Angela Calabrese Barton's course in Urban Science Education at Teachers College. First launched in fall 2004 as a multimedia library, EMCC enables students to analyze case studies that frame some of the unique challenges of teaching science in urban, high-poverty classrooms.

EMCC provides education students with opportunities to observe authentic classroom interactions and interviews with children and to review supporting documentation and researcher commentaries. These materials are indexed in a multimedia library that contains images, audio, video, and text files. Students can attach notes to these materials and write extended essays responding to the various issues raised by the case studies.

By fall 2005, EMCC will also include a Case Builder that will enable advanced students to create new cases and upload new materials for analysis by other students.