Page 777 - The Case Lab Book

Co-ordination

Each stage of the case study demands extensive co-ordination. Data collection with the
target company at first sight looks fairly easy but this can often be deceptive for complexity
builds as case research develops e.g. secondary data generation is inevitably extensive
as this is the basis upon which most case studies are built.

Furthermore, if the lecturer’s objectives are to be achieved then co-ordination between
case development and case analysis must be addressed. Here pedagogy is the lubricant
facilitating integration. It starts with what is the case study about and ends with what has
happened, what is likely to happen, and what recommendations for solution resolution
may be made.

For the student these stages tend to be passive with a reliance on the lecturer to generally
provide the pedagogic base and the case solution.

ACTIVE (Student Driven)

Crisp and Wood (2014) commented in their study that “Five years ago just over half of all
respondents preferred full-time study, today that has fallen to just over 40%. Increasingly
students are choosing a hybrid approach, taking advantage of new technology and
continuing to work while studying, embracing the concept of lifestyle learning.” adding to
the student driven approach.

Through their increasing demands and expectations students are forcing lecturers and
institutions to reassess their teaching provision. To this end the case study needs to be
enhanced and augmented by the augmentation of interactivity, accessibility and ease of
delivery.

Collaboration

Collaboration is multi-faceted. It is easy to see collaboration between the lecturer and the
target company when developing the case study but it is also more subtly, the
collaboration between the delivery platforms, the research basis and environments in
which the case study is grounded. The lecturer and institution developing the interactive
case study must be prepared to expend greater time, effort and resources to its
achievement.

Co-operation

Here, if the case study has been developed as an e-resource then by definition the
student is accepting responsibility for self-directed learning and self-progression. This
may mean that the lecturer has to build in a more open access to his teaching
methodology. Likewise it is inevitable that the target company will be approached for co-
operation in its development. This also impacts on co-operation with in-house specialists