Page 132 - Articles Written by JGJ EF DPS

CONCLUSIONS

The environment in which case studies and by extension the case

method is used is under attack. Time constraints on both student and
educationalists is forcing a reassessment of the use of standard or

traditional case studies. The short case study is an emerging force in the
case method arsenal, one that is offering the potential to effectively

mesh with these developing strictures and ameliorate the impact.

How short case studies add value is predicated on the experience of
developing short cases in the form of personal experience, formulated

around the need to deliver more focussed cases for use in
predominantly tutorial situations. The short case study embodies the

terms vignette, caselette and short case study loosely differentiated by
word count.

Short case study development might well encourage lecturers to attempt

developing their own case studies. But this is not a simple process or
activity. Long or short the fundamentals of case development and the

case method still have to be met. The difference between the two may
simply distil down to content focus where the short case study has a

much narrower field of view.

Case studies are complex unstructured bodies of material from which
sense has to be extracted whether long or short Socratic questioning still

forms a fundamental route to learning. Online, interactive, multimedia
applications support a more flexible and engaging learning process. One

moreover that more efficiently and effectively address the case

components of Diagram 6. Especially when chunking is applied to short
case study development.