Scaled Case Grading Forms: A Method to Improve the Assessment of Student Case Performance

How to Improve Written Case Analysis and Reduce Grading Time: The One-Page, Two-Case Method

“…Frey and Keyes (1985) found students appreciated clearly defined goals and performance standards when preparing otherwise ambiguous case assignments. Abernethy and Butler (1993) drew on this to create scaled case grading forms that could be used to provide clear feedback on each component of the case analysis process. They concluded that the clear feedback on which parts of the case were strong and which parts needed improvement "sharply improved (student) performance on case studies as the class progressed" (p. 45).…”

“…Even proponents of the method concede that the case method requires active and collective participation in the discussion (Christensen & Hansen, 1987). This leads some to suggest that written cases analyses should accompany the discussion process to ensure that all students have actively analyzed the problem and have prepared a solution (Abernethy & Butler, 1993).…”

An Approach for Enhancing the Efficiency and Consistency of Qualitative Case Analysis Evaluations

“…To evaluate performance and provide developmental feedback, instructors frequently require students to document their qualitative case analytic work in written reports (Alexander, O'Neil, Snyder, & Townsend, 1986). While the use of such case reports is commonplace, their assessment can be problematic because of (1) the time required to complete detailed reviews and (2) the potential for inconsistencies in evaluations (Abernethy & Butler, 1993; Gopinath, 2004). In terms of time, while developmental feedback on case reports is critical to the students' learning, providing such feedback can be taxing due to its detailed, non‐quantitative nature; in my experience, it takes about 20 minutes to carefully review a relatively short case report (by offering brief comments throughout the report, as well as a holistic assessment of it at the end).…”

“…In terms of time, while developmental feedback on case reports is critical to the students' learning, providing such feedback can be taxing due to its detailed, non‐quantitative nature; in my experience, it takes about 20 minutes to carefully review a relatively short case report (by offering brief comments throughout the report, as well as a holistic assessment of it at the end). In terms of reliability, due to the subjective nature of qualitative evaluations, making comments and assigning grades in a consistent manner can be challenging (Abernethy & Butler, 1993). Although consistency across assessments of multiple reports on the same case in a given course can be achievable, I suspect that evaluations across assessments of different cases and courses tend to be less reliable (Gopinath, 2004).…”

Moving Forward With Research on Case-Based Learning: A Commentary on “How to Improve Written Case Analysis and Reduce Grading Time: The One-Page, Two-Case Method”

“…Research that uses measures of actual learning are quite rare. I know of only a few published articles in marketing or management education journals that use direct measures of learning in assessing alternative approaches to case teaching (Abernethy & Butler, 1993;Desiraju & Gopinath, 2001;Loewenstein, Thompson, & Gentner, 2003;Riddle, Smith, & Frankforter, 2016). This shortcoming substantially limits progress in this area.…”