Assessment of case study courses
| Published date | 01 March 2001 |
| Date | 01 March 2001 |
| Pages | 46-53 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880110694754 |
| Author | Polly A. Peterson,Vernon A. Quarstein |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Assessment of case
study courses
Polly A. Peterson and
Vernon A. Quarstein
A study of assessment techniques for group
learning in case study courses was undertaken
after it was discovered that there is a dearth of
models that are adaptable to this task. The
evaluation of traditional lecture and
discussion courses can be done by collecting
data on facts and on concepts learned and
retained during and at the end of courses.
Such an assessment can be done through use
of the standard examination formats such as
multiple choice, true-false, essay, or problem
solving. Whether students learn through
innovative and thorough instruction or
through their own study habits cannot be
determined in most instances using the results
of tests or exercises.
For non-tradition courses involving group
learning and case studies the problem of
assessment is more complex and thus poses a
more difficult problem to educators. Case
study courses involve interaction and are
oriented towards a situation or a pattern of
action experienced by individuals in their
groups. When cases are analyzed by groups
the level of interaction within groups rises and
this added dimension adds another level of
complexity in terms of assessment. Still more
complexity in assessment arises when
between-group interactions are added to
within-group interaction. As the learning
potential increases the assessment problem
similarly increases because group learning
encompasses a greater variety of experiences
and learning situations with each added level
of interaction. In these situations, facts and
concepts become interrelated and patterns
emerge that are often difficult to identify so
assessment suffers.
Responses to end-of-class assessment
instruments are the usual method employed
to judge the success of a course, but in either
the traditional or non-traditional approach to
learning, an instructor usually attributes lack
of learning to either lack of student ability or
student dedication, seldom ever to self. The
fundamental assessment issue in business
administration and many other disciplines is
to determine how well students can analyze
situations, identify problems or issues, devise
alternate solutions, and from this convey the
information in both writing and orally to
others. Thus, the assessment problem
becomes a research problem for which
characteristics of the learning situation are
identified, hypotheses are advanced, and
results of trials are compared with
The authors
Polly A. Peterson and Vernon A. Quarstein are both
based at Saint Leo University, Virginia, USA.
Keywords
Assessment, Curriculum development, Case studies,
Learning styles
Abstract
Objective assessment of educational and training courses
has proven to be difficult in the past, and methods
employed seldom provide the type of information needed
by instructors to make meaningful changes to their
teaching methods. This problem has proven particularly
difficult for non-traditional case study courses in which
group learning is an important and integral part. The most
commonly used approach is to obtain students opinions
on how the course was presented and structured. This
student based approach is neither objective nor
meaningful because it is biased by grades, personalities,
and by rigorousness. This research was an attempt to find
or develop an assessment model that reduces these
biases and provides instructors with meaningful feedback.
The research shows that the model is more objective than
student based assessments, and provides descriptive
input and process information, and output information on
individual and group performance and development.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
46
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 9 .Number 1 .2001 .pp. 46±53
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0968-4883
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