Developing future talent: Impact of case learning experience on knowledge acquisition

Abstract

Higher education is a crucial platform for development of future talent. Graduates produced by universities must have comprehensive set of skills. The case teaching method has been acknowledged for its role in building participants’ generic skills including knowledge acquisition. However, much of the existing evidence on its effectiveness is limited to the experience of individual instructors, classroom or faculty-based context. Empirical evidence to understand its effectiveness at a wider, institutional context is lacking. Such gap raises question on whether the case method is only suitable as a stand-alone rather than across-the-board initiative. To fill this gap, a research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the case method at one of the prominent public universities in Malaysia. Two objectives were pursued in the research: (1) to determine participants’ perceptions towards their case learning experience, and (2) to investigate the relationship between case learning experience and the knowledge acquisition. Questionnaires, named the ‘Skills and Learning Experience from Case Method Questionnaire (SLECMeQ)’©, were distributed in 2015 to 1,874 undergraduate students in the university. Based on a return rate of 43%, the results support the strengths of the case method. The research also shows a positive relationship between respondents’ case learning experience and their knowledge acquisition. Implications for practice and future research are consequently proposed.