online case study generator

online case study generator

The Impact of Online Case Study Generators on Education

1. Introduction to Online Case Study Generators

Since their advent, the role of online case study generators has been a subject of much contention within academia. It is without doubt that these resources have become almost entirely pervasive throughout the academic landscape. Originally, online case study generators were developed to deliver tangible resources that could be used in integration with their parent companies’ services. By reducing the administrative cost associated with generating new content, as well as renting or running physical locations, case study generators have been able to provide updated, progressive studies at an unparalleled speed. This speed and efficiency are of great utility in the areas involved with business studies, including management and marketing.

However, rapidly transitioning from a service provider into a bona fide navigational assistant, the online case study generator is now an integral part of the learning process for many. Unbound by subject, style, age, or attitude, access-study generators have found their way into most every educational institution on earth. Once the old adage within academic culture, “to provide the finest quality of original workmanship,” has now been replaced by “to provide assignments of the finest quality in congruity with your professor’s submission stipulations.” With humble beginnings and grand intentions, case study generators such as Microsoft, Times 100, and Rochester have themselves developed into businesses that inauspiciously claim the role of educator by gracing the shelves of lecturers and instructors the world over. So, the decision of educators to trust in the implicit quality of case studies from online generators has managed to maintain their validity as a pedagogical model.

2. Benefits of Using Online Case Study Generators in Education

There are several potential benefits to employing online case study generators in an educational context. In general, these tools can be used to enrich the learning experience in various disciplines by offering students the opportunity to critically examine ‘real-life’ cases in a format that is engaging, relatable, and conducive to encouraging students who make use of them to actively construct understanding of salient issues. This is believed to aid both student performances, as well as increasing the chances that they will retain the knowledge generated for longer.

In addition, the ability to select and manipulate the key variables of a case can facilitate formative and summative assessments of student outcomes/outputs, through the assessment of a wide range of cognitive levels such as knowledge, application, analysis, judgment, and originality, rather than just memory recall.

On a cognitive level, the act of critically evaluating, discussing, and justifying a range of possible solutions to the issues or dilemmas presented within the cases can also be expected to improve the students’ ability to apply theoretical constructs in practice. This is an increasingly important objective as textbooks are being supplemented/in some cases, replaced by online materials and recorded lectures, meaning that more and more units or courses are taught from a predominantly or partially theoretical perspective. Since ‘doing’ or ‘acting’ is an increasingly important learning outcome our graduates are expected to achieve, the value of tools which enable active application of theory in practice is likely to increase.

Given the fact that common suggestions from previous students who have used case studies as part of their units have mentioned enjoying the practical application in class and learning from each other, online case study generators have the potential to join in with, or contribute to, the pedagogical goals of programmes.

3. Challenges and Limitations of Online Case Study Generators

There are, however, challenges and limitations to online case study generators. For instance, rather than having files of cases, instructors prefer using a search function that allows them to pull cases at will rather than having them generated afresh. Furthermore, in that previous study, there were concerns about limitations on the range of information reported, indications of commercial influence, and the extent to which generated case studies are proposals for organizations as a whole rather than manuals. This lack of specification may limit the relevance of the generated material for students who may be taking a course on a particular sector.

A variety of limitations can be summarised under the three headings noted by the Open University comments on its generator: mission and vision, shocking and emotive, the quality and integrity of sources, and hinders on privacy. The potential for abuse, such as the generation of sick humor, the development of high-quality creative writing may have some educational value. Many, if not most, of the generated cases reflect negatively on the generator. The comments from user studies would provide starting points from two important perspectives: what do users think of the generators? More importantly, what will enhance their effectiveness and aid in their acceptance and use? Community expectations are not always easy to anticipate. If the expectations of the user community are not addressed, the usefulness of the generators will be limited, losing the potential for exciting and innovative developments and creating a gulf between developers and users.

4. Best Practices for Creating Effective Case Studies with Generators

To do so, we recommend a number of best practices to achieve such alignment, ensure that case studies contain authentic learning activities with clear learning objectives, and that case studies reflect ethical and fair assessment practices. To ensure case study quality, all case study generators have the ability to use analytics to rigorously construct new cases or update pre-existing cases. Instructors can use sample cases provided by these case generators to determine whether the case perfectly aligns with the course learning objectives.

What are the best practices for designing case studies using online generators? The first practice is to have case studies that closely align with learning objectives of the specific course. The second one is to ensure that the case can be completed authentically to the type of work that took place in practice. Teaching cases or modern cases should be employed to ensure a single learning objective is listed. As learning objectives in topical courses may vary widely, it is also possible to match the case to the chapter in a business textbook. Third, practitioners should employ ethics when creating these case studies. There are case generators that start with the original case and modify it. Educators can require that students find the original case in order to avoid being unethical. Additionally, the instructor can require that the generator replace enough print to make the case different or require that students update all financials from the original case. Finally, it is considered good practice to use current data in all cases.

5. Future Trends and Innovations in Online Case Study Generators

Ultimately, the oldest form of distance learning, correspondence courses, were replaced by modern college programs. Educational institutions commonly deploy case-based learning in these courses, as well as in adult-learning executive education. Online case study generators are solutions in computer technology aiding case-based learning through automatic creation of case and solution pairs. The approach that is implemented in the online, AICC, SCORM and IMS-compatible application, “ExpertStory” for generation of case studies is used as a background for this section.

Future trends and innovations linking back to adaptive educational technologies could also be utilized by online case study generators. Moving away from repetitive and “mechanical” generation of pharmaceutical case studies, new methodologies such as the intersection of multiple domains (e.g. business economy, pharmaceutical marketing sales, pharmaceutical design and production, quality management, and biotechnology) could be used for the generation of case studies without strict “A implies B” monotony. The case study generator could thus mimic the complex qualities of a real-life simulation of companies involved in the ideal case study scenario.

The case study generator could be further developed to include a feature that would allow the incorporation of technological updates in the related field to the generated case. A database of advancements in the area could be placed into the generator to work jointly with the properties key concepts to generate a case study that is always evolving. As education moves into the ever-growing advances of e-learning and educational technology, science education will need to have its own supplements. Analysis will then have to be performed on the implications this would have on issues such as assessment, comparisons of passive and active learning environments, learning retention, perceptions, and the generation of educational materials. The influence of online case study generators has yet to be revealed.