Case Study
Definition
It is now documented that students can learn more effectively when actively involved in the learning process (Bonwell and Eison, 1991; Sivan et al, 2001). The case study approach is one way in which such active learning strategies can be implemented in our institutions. There are a number of definitions for the term case study. For example, Fry et al (1999) describe case studies as complex examples which give an insight into the context of a problem as well as illustrating the main point. We define our case studies as student centred activities based on topics that demonstrate theoretical concepts in an applied setting. This definition of a case study covers the variety of different teaching structures we use, ranging from short individual case studies to longer group-based activities.
(http://www.materials.ac.uk/guides/casestudies.asp )
How do I teach using a Case Study?
Case studies usually generate animated class discussion, especially if students feel that the case will serve as a basis for wide-ranging exploration. A good classroom atmosphere will help generate and sustain students’ participation, and this atmosphere can be quickly created by setting some ground rules for participation.
Instructors can emphasize that the analysis will be a group project, and that no one will be criticized for raising naive questions or uncertainties. The group must recognize the significance of cooperation in working toward the goal of making sense of the problem, and that everyone is required to actively work together on the analysis. Without a clear sense that they are free to experiment with hypotheses, students will tend to remain silent until they feel that the ‘right’ answer has been identified. As preeminent case study teacher C. Roland Christensen points out in his analysis of case discussion, student involvement develops on at least three distinct levels:
“At the first level, students explore a problem by sorting out relevant facts, developing logical conclusions, and presenting them to fellow students and the instructor.The students discuss someone else’s problem; their role is that of the commentator-observer .
On the second level,students can be assigned roles in the case, and take on perspectives that require them to argue for specific actions from a character’s point of view, given their interests and knowledge.
Finally, on the third level, students will take the initiative to become fully involved, so that topics are no longer treated as abstract ideas, but become central tothe student’s sense of self—of what they would choose to do in a specific real world situation.
Given the complexity of many cases, it’s useful to begin class discussion with questions that require students to review and organize information on the first level: what are the relevant facts and how do they translate into major themes or issues. Once students have agreed on the most significant information in the case, you can begin to posemore challenging questions.
(http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf )
Why should I use cases?
Some of the reasons are listed below:
(http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/CaseTeaching/index.html#underlying procedures )
Some final tips
Once you’ve taught a case, it’s helpful to reflect on students’ responses, to see if the case can be developed further, or whether more background information can or should be provided. Sometimes a new case will seem to naturally spring from the first, so that a single complex issue can be developed into several phases that students analyze over the course of a quarter. You can even invite students to participate in the creation of the next installment, and build the case’s story for use in future classes.
Using cases can be an invigorating approach to teaching, and can help your students take much more responsibility for their own learning in your class. But because cases are not necessarily the best way to communicate
large amounts of new information, they should not be seen as replacements for lectures. And in this sense they are
probably not always appropriate for introductory level classes, since students usually need a good deal of background
knowledge to be able to adequately interpret and resolve a case.
What cases can do that lectures can't is test to see whether students are capable of using the information that they've been studying in your discipline. By placing students in real situations, and asking them to make critical decisions, case studies force students to connect their knowledge of facts with the need for evaluative skills. And perhaps this connection is one of the most important we can demonstrate for students, for as Alfred North Whitehead notes, “The details of knowledge which are important will be picked up ad hoc in each avocation in life, but the habit of the active utilisation of well understoodprinciples is the final possession of wisdom.”
(http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf )
It is now documented that students can learn more effectively when actively involved in the learning process (Bonwell and Eison, 1991; Sivan et al, 2001). The case study approach is one way in which such active learning strategies can be implemented in our institutions. There are a number of definitions for the term case study. For example, Fry et al (1999) describe case studies as complex examples which give an insight into the context of a problem as well as illustrating the main point. We define our case studies as student centred activities based on topics that demonstrate theoretical concepts in an applied setting. This definition of a case study covers the variety of different teaching structures we use, ranging from short individual case studies to longer group-based activities.
(http://www.materials.ac.uk/guides/casestudies.asp )
How do I teach using a Case Study?
Case studies usually generate animated class discussion, especially if students feel that the case will serve as a basis for wide-ranging exploration. A good classroom atmosphere will help generate and sustain students’ participation, and this atmosphere can be quickly created by setting some ground rules for participation.
Instructors can emphasize that the analysis will be a group project, and that no one will be criticized for raising naive questions or uncertainties. The group must recognize the significance of cooperation in working toward the goal of making sense of the problem, and that everyone is required to actively work together on the analysis. Without a clear sense that they are free to experiment with hypotheses, students will tend to remain silent until they feel that the ‘right’ answer has been identified. As preeminent case study teacher C. Roland Christensen points out in his analysis of case discussion, student involvement develops on at least three distinct levels:
“At the first level, students explore a problem by sorting out relevant facts, developing logical conclusions, and presenting them to fellow students and the instructor.The students discuss someone else’s problem; their role is that of the commentator-observer .
On the second level,students can be assigned roles in the case, and take on perspectives that require them to argue for specific actions from a character’s point of view, given their interests and knowledge.
Finally, on the third level, students will take the initiative to become fully involved, so that topics are no longer treated as abstract ideas, but become central tothe student’s sense of self—of what they would choose to do in a specific real world situation.
Given the complexity of many cases, it’s useful to begin class discussion with questions that require students to review and organize information on the first level: what are the relevant facts and how do they translate into major themes or issues. Once students have agreed on the most significant information in the case, you can begin to posemore challenging questions.
(http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf )
Why should I use cases?
Some of the reasons are listed below:
- Create the need to know.
- Provide a space to think about practice.
- Raise the level of critical thinking skills (application/synthesis/evaluation, not recall.
- Enhance the listening/cooperative learning skills.
- Prompt deeper diagnosis and meaning making.
- Develop problem solving skills.
- Help learners connect theory and practice.
- Facilitate the social learning process of learning judgment.
- Are "inefficient transmitters of facts."
- Provide a vehicle for examining multiple points of view/hearing various voices.
- Build partnership/collegiality among learners and teacher.
- Encourage attention to and self-consciousness about assumptions and conceptions.
- Help students learn to monitor their own thinking.
- Help students see connection to their own goals.
- Help teachers become aware of their own tensions and ironies.
- Teach students not to take things literally.
- Teach students that there may not be one "right" answer, after all.
- Illustrate interaction among variables (especially human ones).
- Teach that it is easy to overlook important details.
- Get you thinking and brainstorming.
- Simulate passage of time, so you can integrate real life consequences and developments.
- Get students to be active, not passive.
(http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/CaseTeaching/index.html#underlying procedures )
Some final tips
Once you’ve taught a case, it’s helpful to reflect on students’ responses, to see if the case can be developed further, or whether more background information can or should be provided. Sometimes a new case will seem to naturally spring from the first, so that a single complex issue can be developed into several phases that students analyze over the course of a quarter. You can even invite students to participate in the creation of the next installment, and build the case’s story for use in future classes.
Using cases can be an invigorating approach to teaching, and can help your students take much more responsibility for their own learning in your class. But because cases are not necessarily the best way to communicate
large amounts of new information, they should not be seen as replacements for lectures. And in this sense they are
probably not always appropriate for introductory level classes, since students usually need a good deal of background
knowledge to be able to adequately interpret and resolve a case.
What cases can do that lectures can't is test to see whether students are capable of using the information that they've been studying in your discipline. By placing students in real situations, and asking them to make critical decisions, case studies force students to connect their knowledge of facts with the need for evaluative skills. And perhaps this connection is one of the most important we can demonstrate for students, for as Alfred North Whitehead notes, “The details of knowledge which are important will be picked up ad hoc in each avocation in life, but the habit of the active utilisation of well understoodprinciples is the final possession of wisdom.”
(http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf )