UK Centre for Materials Education
Working with you to enhance the student experience
Working with you to enhance the student experience
The following is a brief summary of the Teaching Materials Using Case Studies workshop, hosted by the UK Centre for Materials Education at the University of Birmingham on 7 May 2003.
The workshop was organised and facilitated by Dr Claire Davis (Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham), and formed part of the Thematic Groups series of the UK Centre for Materials Education.
The workshop was subdivided into three sessions, each dealing with a separate theme. Each session consisted of short presentations by invited speakers, followed by discussions in small groups and reporting back to the whole group on the issues covered. The three session themes were:
The presentation covered the development of case studies to be used for recruitment purposes, by using undergraduate students to develop the content. Obstacles identified in undergraduate students developing the case studies included the modular structure of programmes, time pressures and insufficient financial incentives. The presentation concluded by stating that a better way forward was to ask colleagues, industrial collaborators, recently graduated students and postgraduate students to develop content rather than undergraduates.
The presentation focused on how to use research as a basis for case studies. A central consideration was ‘giving students something to do’, and making the module interactive for students (e.g. using interactive software, knowledge quizzes, & high speed interactive video). Also, a researcher’s own knowledge and engagement will be evident in teaching practice. Reference was made to the web site http://www.foamstudies.bham.ac.uk where the case studies discussed in this presentation are available.
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(Presentation: "Developing case studies following research interests", Adobe Acrobat format, 286k) |
The presentation followed the development of an interactive self-teaching package for students. The key issue of the package is in improving student engagement by making the content real via the context of a case study. The issue of relevance is a primary consideration. Reference was made to the website http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/Tutorials/FMtut/intro.htm where some of the case studies, including guided student study, are available.
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(Presentation: "Developing case studies using industrial failures", Adobe Acrobat format, 916k) |
Charles Duff of the Royal Academy of Engineering then gave a presentation following the invited speakers, describing case studies in sustainable development where students were asked to play the role of stakeholders in the processes of sustainable development projects.
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(Presentation: "Teaching materials using case studies", Adobe Acrobat format, 63k) |
The presentation examined aspects of student motivation. Key issues covered included: group activities; relevance of content and context; aspects of competition; and multiple components and assessments. Case studies should be relevant to the subject area, the students’ interests and the students’ degree programmes. A variety of test parameters can be used to assess students. Also, examples of case studies relevant to sports materials were discussed.
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(Presentation: "Increasing motivation through showing relevance to studies", Adobe Acrobat format, 329k) |
The presentation described industrially based case studies used by the Materials department at Queen Mary. Case study material was provided by visiting professors working in industry. Case studies took two forms: standard and novel. The case studies involved initial presentations by the industrialist, problem setting, group work (including review meetings and email assistance by industrialist) and presentations. Assessment practices were covered, including peer-marking schemes with benchmarking and weighted marking between lecturer and student assessments being used. The importance of ‘training’ the industrialists in the requirements of the teaching content, style and student background was discussed.
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(Presentation: "Industrial case studies in the final year", Adobe Acrobat format, 1,051k) |
The presentation described case studies used in a BSc Technology course for mixed groups (1st, 2nd and 4th year students of mixed background - engineering, technology, materials science). The importance of developing group-working skills (through formal sessions) and including student led learning (role play, group discussions, presentations) was discussed.
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(Presentation: "Using case studies to teach mixed level and mixed bacground groups", Adobe Acrobat format, 186k) |
The presentation looked at identifying and evaluating key skills developed through the use of case studies. Getting feedback is particularly important and issues of the form, structure and process of obtaining feedback need to be considered from the onset of the programme.
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(Presentation: "Developing key skills in case studies", Adobe Acrobat format, 270k) |
This presentation looked at the use of peer tutors. Issues that arise include: the quality of tutors; meeting the needs of students; evaluating our teaching and the case study module.
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(Presentation: "Peer tutoring in conceptual design problems", Adobe Acrobat format, 243k) |
Curriculum development was an issue in regard to clearly defining the learning outcomes/objectives and the assessment of outcomes for the module. Questions arose about how to position these items to reflect deep and surface learning approaches. It was reported that a pro-active approach at the beginning of a course paid dividends in developing effective teams by the second year.
Regarding evaluation, the idea was noted of using qualitative descriptions through experiential peer feedback from students, (ideally at least three times during the progress of the module).
The issue of feedback was important. Feedback can be obtained from questionnaires benchmarked against other courses; from staff-student committees; and from lecturers and students with prior experience of the module. Another issue was the training of lecturers. It was felt the pre-requisite for lecturing this style of module was: for tutors to attend training sessions; for tutors to be involved from the start in design the module (leading to ownership and engagement from the tutor).
In the implementation of case studies as a learning method/approach there are clear areas for development. The elements for the case study approach in HE fall into two classes for development purposes.
1. Developing the content (subject material; what to learn)
Issues concerning the content include: the focus of the case study and the material to include in the case study; the means of presenting the information (web, industry based, project based); learning outcomes.
2. Developing the context (teaching methods; how and why to learn)
Issues concerning the context include; relevance and engagement to students; developing facilitation skills in tutors; developing interactive feedback frameworks; designing assessment procedures that focus on the intent, purpose and impact of the module.