A case is a packaged collection of material, background information, noise, and key facts wrapped up in a story line. It can be based on a real situation, or it can fictitious.

Rarely will a case be really, really life-like. Someone in the context will have more information and a fuller understanding of the constraints and situation. If you are writing a case, you need to be aware of the compromises and what this actually means for learning and assessing. If the case is about something common to a student (e.g., moving to campus, to another location for a job between terms), it is possible to get something close to realistic because the students can easily fill in the missing pieces with reasonable assumptions.

The case assessments should be reasonable for an average student to do. They should not be based on tricks known by a few. It should be clear if the case is to be assessed on its own merits, or if the students are expected to augment the case with their own research.

Suggestions…

• Determine the learning outcomes; one major and perhaps one to two complementary outcomes.
• Identify a common base or topic that the majority of students will understand and find interesting.

• Identify a motivation or problem associated with the topic that the majority of students will understand.
• Use a learning style that provides the necessary level of imagery and interest. Provide characters if appropriate, have a story line. Perhaps enlist some helpers who can role-play as part of the case. During the case and during the final submissions, presentations.
• Design into the case or problem complementary constructs. For example:
• If one of the learning outcomes is understanding and analysis, add suitable noise to the problem in various ways so that the students are not spoon fed.
• If one of the learning outcomes is risk management and planning, add suitable uncertainty and game changing moments during the activity.
• Do a dry-run of the case/problem to identify any problems with the description or mechanics.
• If the learning outcomes relate to teamwork or the problem-solving and creative process, plan for multiple activities with time for each and suitable time allocated for discussion and debriefing.
• If the learning outcomes relate to demonstrating mastery and the ability to use the concepts or methods in novel situations, use a fictional baseline that the majority of students can relate to (if possible).

• In the case, problem description allow enough options for the students to demonstrate their own thinking and not the instructors; that is, do not spell everything out and definitely allow the students room to demonstrate reasonable judgement.
• Assign appropriate marks to the activity.

Co-dependencies & The Necessary and Hopefully Sufficient

• The case or problem needs to be designed for the level of the students. Junior students will not be able to do what intermediate or senior students can handle.
• The activity must be carefully designed by the instructor to match the outcomes. We cannot overstate this. For example,
• If the learning outcome is supposed to be about scoping and planning, the students should make some of their own decisions about the deliverable and if they make a mistake in scoping, they might not be able to finish, and that is ok.
• If the outcome is about teamwork, coordination, and the process, the deliverables focus on these aspects and the actual activity and end deliverable is secondary and it should be possible for almost all of the students to finish a satisfactory deliverable.
• There should be a clear learning outcome or theme that is not too broad or general. For example, an outcome like ‘learning design’ is too ambitious for a single case or problem-solving / design activity.
• Have ONE major learning outcome that will be focused on and perhaps 1-2 minor ones which are complementary and which do not require a whole new area to learn, understand, or attempt to master.
• Multiple case or problem activities might be possible or required in a course, with the students working repeatedly with each other (i.e., same teams). They will need practice and the opportunity to improve their skills. A single design problem or case problem will not develop or improve their cognitive problem-solving, analytical, or design skills. A single event will not improve their teamwork.
• The activities need to start off simple and get more complex with the opportunity to use lessons learned from the earlier activities and new challenges to push their comfort zones in a controlled way.
• It all depends on what you want the students to learn, to demonstrate.

Further reading

• Raju, P.K., and C.S. Sankar (1999). Teaching Real-World Issues through Case Studies, Journal of engineering education, 88, 4, pp. 501-508.
• Popil, I. (2011). Promotion of critical thinking by using case studies as teaching method, Nurse Education Today, 31, pp. 204-207.