The case for case studies: Dialogic engagement and case study creation in a higher education classroom

Abstract

As engagement and work with diverse others has grown increasingly important in the world, many educators have committed to enhancing students’ ability to address complex equity-based issues in their profession and everyday lives. Although there is growing literature on the value of using case studies and small group dialog, very little exists on dialogic, cooperative case study creation. Using critical pedagogy and constructivism as the epistemic lenses, this study qualitatively examines how students gauge their learning in a course focusing on knowledge development through dialog and cooperative case study creation. Findings indicate that the experiential and collaborative nature of the course fostered learning that has implications for engagement with diverse others and with dealing with equity-based issues. The study adds to knowledge about the functionality of case studies, particularly student-created case studies.

Do Cases Always Deliver What They Promise? A Quality Analysis of Business Cases in Higher Education

“…Findings from teaching and learning research indicate that a problem-oriented approach forms the basis of the design of complex teaching and learning arrangements [38,41]. The case study as a teaching and learning tool is, therefore, a learning setting that puts learners at the heart of constructivist learning processes by providing them with a problem-based company situation based on the reality that they have to analyse and solve independently or with others [42,43]. The model used here can be linked to the characteristics of constructivist teaching and the principles of complex teaching and learning arrangements [12,43,44] in the same way as the steps of holistic problem-solving methodology and networked thinking [25,45] can be linked to the context of a complex teaching and learning situation (see, for example [7]).…”

“…The case study as a teaching and learning tool is, therefore, a learning setting that puts learners at the heart of constructivist learning processes by providing them with a problem-based company situation based on the reality that they have to analyse and solve independently or with others [42,43]. The model used here can be linked to the characteristics of constructivist teaching and the principles of complex teaching and learning arrangements [12,43,44] in the same way as the steps of holistic problem-solving methodology and networked thinking [25,45] can be linked to the context of a complex teaching and learning situation (see, for example [7]). With reference to the findings on the case study method from the perspective of teaching and learning research and the associated academic discourse, a guiding model from the University of St. Gallen is used as the conceptual basis for creating training units and for deriving and elaborating pedagogic dimensions (see above and [16,17]).…”