6.4 Student Growth During Design/Case Days

Design or case days provide an intense day long (or more than that) focused learning experience. We cover the design of these days elsewhere. This note is about the student experience itself and the growth that occur during the day.

Possible growth can in many possible areas. It can be growth in their executive functions, how to get their act together to pull off the day. It can be how to work within a group. It can be in the foundational skills associated with the course - how to do things, what to do, when to do it, what factors to consider, what assumptions need to be thought about, etc. It can be about how to learn about something in a compressed period of time (the what). It can be about how to recognize the early signals of good and bad decision making. We have seen these and many other types of lessons learned.



During the day, it is likely that growth will occur in any design or case day. Whether you want it to happen or not. The day is being done for a reason and there should be clear learning and growth outcomes driving the day. Some skills and growth will depend on scaffolding and multiple days to incrementally build up the learning outcomes. Are the growth elements the ones you want, expect? The days are a great expense if you think about it and they should be carefully aligned and designed.

Any growth will be ad hoc and very momentary, will not stick, unless the concept of growth is explicitly designed in and consciously thought about.

Here are some thoughts about the student growth...

• Have the students do a personal, individual reflection on the day; what was learned, how it related to the course, how to use the learning moving forward.
• Any perceived growth might be 'near' transfer unless the activity is designed for 'far' transfer of the cognitive skills.
• Any perceived growth might be transitory and in the moment unless it is reinforced after the day with deliberate practice, reflection, sufficient repetition.
• You should consciously plan for what growth you desire and design for this, track and monitor for it during the day (and after). You need to figure out how you would know if there was growth or not.

• If you are looking for growth, you need a baseline for each student and the class.
• You can consider the various cognitive complexity levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.
• Do not assume that the students will be self-aware. They might not be aware of any growth, their baselines, etc. It is important in the day debrief to explicitly discuss the growth patterns and where they can lead if practiced.
• For many, there might be a mix of awakening and growth. Growth can be the simple realization that a concept exists, that other relevant bits exist. Growth can be a OMG moment, the smacking of the forehead, the constructive failure moment of realization. Growth can be deeper patterns of thinking, changed patterns. Growth will probably be a mixed bag for each student. The growth will be different for each student.
• Do not try for growth in more than 1-2 things in any major area (e.g., something in the executive functions, something in the teamwork, something in the foundational concepts, that kind of thing - one in each area). We keep saying this. When introducing new 'things', keep it to one at a time if you can. Do not try to impress them with all of the glory and color at once, do a slow dance with them if you want any of it to stick. Do less, do it better. It is ok to have a learning moment in different parts of the day, but control how many are being learned at the same time.
• At the start of the case/design day, try to set the baseline for the desired growth target if it has not been done before.
• Try to design in growth for the how and the what. Open up the process so that the students can be more effective and efficient in what they are doing and what they are delivering.

Further reading

• Vesna Damnjanovic, V., Proud, W., and M. Milosavljevic (2020). Mentoring development at student international business case competitions, EuroMed Journal of Business, 16, 2, pp. 154-170.