The Case for Using Live Cases: Shifting the Paradigm in Marketing Education

Abstract

The rapidly changing nature of the workplace and the composition of the current generation of students call for new paradigms for delivering business education. Teaching, once largely a teacher-centered, product-based activity, is becoming increasingly student centered and process based. However, this approach raises significant problems for students, faculty members, clients, and institutions. The authors use an example of an interdisciplinary exercise in which students from both marketing and entrepreneurship courses were paired to develop marketing plans for small-business owners. Students derived significant benefits from this process-focused experience, such as development of skills in creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and so on. The authors highlight issues that must be addressed and a range of solutions in order to facilitate this paradigm shift in ways that benefit all of those involved.

Moving Beyond Consultation And Into Action With A Client Project

“…ELT emphasizes the central role that experience plays in the learning process (Kolb, 2005). While many experiential learning strategies exist (as noted above), live-case studies and client projects have been noted as significant learning strategies in terms of positive student perception and benefits to students (Barnett, et al, 2007;Karns, 2005;Kennedy, et al, 2001;Lopez, 2005).…”

“…The benefits of such projects are clear. Students develop critical thinking and interpersonal skills, apply theory to practice, develop a deeper understanding of concepts and become invested in the learning (Lopez, 2005;Kennedy et al, 2001). Smith and Van Dorn (2004) argue that one of the defining factors of reality-based learning is the development of widely applicable, transferable skills.…”

Uso De Casos Para Ensino Em Turismo: Estratégia De Ensino-Aprendizagem Para a Formação Superior No Brasil

“…Autores como Goetz (1960), Kingsley (1982), Nuñez (2003), Lundberg et al (2001), Kennedy et al (2001), Naumes e Naumes (1999), Nelson (1996) e Harling e Akridge (1998) apontam que a tipologia de casos é bastante extensa, e, segundo Roesch, Fischer e Melo (2004), não há sequer uma definição consensual. Há vários tipos de casos que estão sendo adotados com diversos propósitos: casos-pesquisa e casos de ensino; casos práticos e casos teóricos; casos únicos e casos múltiplos.…”

Developing and Assessing University Entrepreneurial Programs: The Case of a New Program in Atlantic Canada

“…While having students work on client projects or live cases is a pedagogy used by many universities (Kennedy, Lawton and Walker, 2001), the program is unique in that the case is carried through four different three-credit-hour courses. This allows for providing much more value to the client than is possible with a single course, and hence is of much higher interest to funders of the program and potential investors in the ventures.…”