Case Based

This week’s Jonassen article supported the use of case based learning. The authors stressed that there were many reasons that instructional designers should chose case-based reasoning. The Jarz and Wang articles were more about the delivery of case based learning. They both argued that multimedia/ hyperlink was a good delivery method.

Dr. Oliver’s lecture brought up a point that I didn’t see stressed in any of these articles. He mentioned that the instructor should de-brief students about case. I think that this is an important component and should not be overlooked. I remember in an undergraduate business class that I took we did some case based learning. There were several assumptions and questions that students had regarding the cases that weren’t cleared up in the information that was provided.

I agreed with the Wang article that indexing is important in case based learning. If students find it frustrating to access related information they may give up. The Wang article also reminded me of an experience I had working in IT support. I was a member of an extensive help desk team. Finally, someone came up with the idea to have a common problems database. It was easily searchable and cut response times. The better part was that it lowered stress and anxiety for the help desk team.

I definitely agree with the authors that case based or story telling is how humans interact. I think that this may be one of the reasons I found math and science so frustrating in school. We were asked to memorize facts without any context. I hope this is a model that will be used more not just in schools, but in the workplace. Plus, how many articles do you get to read where the authors looked at how photocopying technicians communicate!!!