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Hi students, and welcome to a unit on Case Study Design.
As to be expected,
I am your guide and leader for this session.
This module focuses on the importance of bringing in our prior knowledge
in learning new knowledge
or contributing our prior knowledge to the group space
in order to create new and heightened understandings and awareness.
In bringing in our prior knowledge,
it is important we understand that the role context plays.
In other words,
each of us has developed a unique set of knowledge and competency
from our unique experiences in authentic contexts.
As self-directed learners, we are and are expected to be in this program,
we have a unique set of skills and knowledge
in subject matter that interests us,
or in subject matter we have developed an interest for through our work in it.
In this module, we will explore why we have cases,
and what are the five principles of generic case design.
Each of the five principles will then be explained in greater detail.
This will help you and your group design the case study
and provide you with insight on what your case study write-up should include.
Please pay, pay close attention to this module,
and review the PowerPoint notes
so you understand the various components of the case design.
Remember, the more you put into understanding
the principles and ideas in this program,
the more you will get out of it.
Analysis Questions.
As we begin this module,
I would like you to reflect on the role prior knowledge plays in learning,
and why it is important we design learning spaces
which build on the learner’s prior knowledge base.
Thus, in thinking about this, please reflect aloud
on why prior knowledge is important in effective case design.
What is the role of context in prior learning?
How is self-directed learning and prior knowledge interconnected?
And, how is accessing prior knowledge in self-directed learning
an asset to learning?
[page turning]
How do you think self-directed learning
is different from teacher-centered pedagogy?
And most importantly,
why is learner interest in subject matter so very important?
Why Cases?
According to Schmidt, 1983,
cases are the beginning point for student learning in PBL.
A case is a description of a phenomenon of some kind
which requires an explanation.
Explanations are important
as they allow the learner to reason through the problem,
thereby using the executive functions of the brain.
When a learner explains the phenomenon described,
questions emerge which leads to further and deeper inquiry.
These questions are, quote,
"subsequently defined as learning issues and are the driving force
behind students’ self-inquiry and self-study.” Unquote.
Five Principles of Generic Case Design.
In this module, we will discuss
the five principles of generic case design
according to Dolmans, 1997.
I have extracted five principles from the seven listed,
given their relevance to learning and cognition.
For this slide, I have simply listed the five.
However, in the proceeding slide,
I will go through each of the five principles in depth.
The first principle is that,
quote, "The contents of the case should adapt well
to students’ prior knowledge."
Two.
Quote, "A case should contain several cues
that stimulate students to elaborate."
Three. Quote, "A case in a context should be presented
that is relevant to the future profession."
Four. Quote, "A case should stimulate self-directed learning
by encouraging students to generate learning issues
and conduct literature searches."
And five. "A case should enhance students’ interest in the subject-matter
by sustaining discussion about possible solutions
and facilitating students to explore alternatives."
Now we will explore each one by one,
to understand deeply what each principle means.
Principle one explained.
The contents of the case should adapt well
to students’ prior knowledge.
This focus on prior learning has many advantages.
If we look at the research on prior learning and its value,
the Carnegie Mellor-, Mellon Institute...
[page turning]
argues that accessing prior knowledge of the learner means that,
quote, "Students come to the classroom
with a broad range of pre-existing knowledge,
skills, beliefs and attitudes,
which influence how they attend,
interpret and organize incoming information.
How they process and integrate new information
will, in turn, affect how they remember, think, apply, and create new knowledge.
Since new knowledge and skill
is dependent on pre-existing knowledge and skill,
knowing what students know and can do, when they come into the classroom
or before they begin a new topic of study,
can help us craft instructional activities
that build off of a student's strengths
and acknowledge and ag-, and address their weaknesses." Unquote.
Thus, a case should access and build on a learner’s prior knowledge base,
in order for new information to be useful and meaningful.
Principle two explained.
A case should contain several cues that stimulate students to elaborate.
According to the online dictionary, to elaborate means to, quote,
"to add details or information." Unquote.
And quote, "expand on an idea." Unquote.
Why do you think this is important or not?
Elaboration can be done through several ways.
It can be done through, quote,
"discussion, answering questions,
asking critical questions and giving explanations." Unquote.
Principle three explained.
Preferably, present a case in a context
that is relevant to the future profession.
When learners elaborate,
they are more likely to remember new information
in the context it was presented in –
and, thus, the contextualization of problems
for long-term memory becomes paramount.
In fact, reach-, research has shown that when learners learn new information
that resembles contexts they have worked with in the past,
they are more likely to remember the new information better
because it remembers prior,
resembles prior schemata and mental structures.
This implies that, quote,
"Students should be exposed to some professionally meaningful problems
or situations that have a strong resemblance
to the problems they will be confronted with
in their future profession.” Unquote.
[page turning]
Principle four, explained.
A case should stimulate self-directed learning
by encouraging students to generate learning issues
and conduct literature searches.
According to research, self-directed learning enables students
to select a pathway to information
and knowledge domains which interest them.
This allows them to generate their own learning issues
and conduct their own individualized literature searches
and explore a path to knowledge
that is interesting and meaningful to them.
Thus, a case should be open ended and complex enough
to allow this divergent thinking
so that learners explore- exploring the case
can each explore different avenues and tangents
they feel are important to their own learning.
As well, these various divergent perspective, perspectives
add and build to the overall collective knowledge base.
Principle five, explained.
A case should enhance students' interest in the subject-matter,
by sustaining discussion about possible solutions
and facilitating students to explore alternatives.
A case should enhan- enhance a learner’s intrinsic in- interest.
By this, what do you think I mean?
According to the online dictionary and encyclopedia,
intrinsic interest is defined as, quote,
"If something has intrinsic value or intrinsic interest,
it is valuable or interesting
because of its basic nature or character,
and not because of its connection with other things." Quo-, unquote.
In other words, when something is intrinsically interesting,
it is, by nature, something which naturally appeals to us
which we derive natural satisfactu- satisfaction and natural meaning from.
For example, all of us have a friend or a family member we are close to.
When something good or bad happens to this family member,
we are intrinsically interested in the story,
the narrative, and getting involved to help the situation.
In the same way, during learning,
when aspects of the case are relevant to our own personal lives or interests,
then we become intrinsically motivated to act on our interests,
by doing further research, reading or analysis of the phenomenon
to deepen our understanding.
Synthesis Questions.
Read the following synthesis questions
following your viewing of the video clip.
We have finally reached our synthesis questions.
What I would like you to do is reflect on how this knowledge
and information on intrinsic interest,
prior knowledge, self-directed learning and so on,
will be integrated into your group work.
Specifically, for the first group assignment on designing a case study.
In other words, how do you plan...
how do you plan in your group to design your case
which builds on prior knowledge of the learner?
How do you plan on contextualizing your case and product design?
How will you include principles of self-directed learning
in your product delivery?
How will you ensure sustained interest and engagement
with your learning object?
Answering these questions in your tutorial
will help you to plan out with your group members
a strategy for tackling the case design outline.
Thank you.