Page 773 - The Case Lab Book

Interactive, multimedia case studies are still in their infancy. Construction and usage
parameters have not yet been set and mistakes are still being made at fundamental
levels. However, interaction has been highlighted as one of the keys to the success of
Internet-based distance education (Picciano, 2002). Nevertheless, this e-resource has
attempted to provide a richer and more enjoyable experience for the user by extending
their horizons and for those developing interactive case studies aid them through
recording the processes associated with the production of these business cases and their
associated online interactive applications.

Developing interactive, multimedia business case studies does not happen in isolation.
The lecturer who builds case studies can no longer simply
record a good story. He or she is driven by a market whose customers now demand more
in terms of information, analysis, and integration of pedagogic linkages, timeliness of
communication, ease of access and increased efficiency and effectiveness.

In seeking to achieve this electronic delivery the lecturer must produce not only the most
effective and rewarding learning experience possible but also the most efficient. However,
as Zawacki-Richter (2005), point out “A frequently encountered reason for the reserved
attitude to media-based teaching is the high workload associated with it. Academic
reputations on the road to a professorship are acquired more by publishing research
results and attracting external funds than by good teaching. In contrast, 60% to 70% of
the working hours of a member of the academic staff are taken up with teaching, without
this being adequately appreciated in proportion. The motivation to invest even more work
in teaching is at times correspondingly slight.”

This view is supported by Jenkins and Healey 2005, when they observed that

“Internationally there is a range of studies that show staff experience of institutions that
give limited recognition to quality teaching in promotion decisions (e.g. Ramsden et al.,
1995) and mainly emphasise research. There have been very few studies that have
looked at whether institutions provide rewards not only for better teaching or for better
research but for demonstrations of the integration between teaching and research” (Hattie
and Marsh, 1996, p.529).

Lecturers may not have the motivation to devote the effort and time to climb the learning
curves of the software packages and systems requirements to produce online, interactive
deliverables if they are not perceived as route to academic advancement. This perception
is dependent to a great extent upon the actions of the institution and its administrative
systems.