The Case Files

Nashville State Community College, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The vision of the Case Files project is to be a catalyst for reform of the learning experience for students in engineering and information technology program throughout the nation. This vision is being realized through the creation of a national community of educators who are skilled and experienced in the delivery of case-based learning. The secondary objective is to develop a systematic process that will capture case "ideas," develop a forum for sharing case concepts with other faculty, and to publish and distribute these materials. "The Case Files" follows up the work currently being concluded by the South East Advanced Technological Education Consortium (SEATEC) that has developed model case studies for technological education and evaluated their effectiveness. SEATEC's work has revealed evidence that using cases improves learning and creates a learning centered environment for students. Interest in using the case method has grown among technological educators in the past 3-5 years. Currently, no resource exists for those educators who wish to use the case study method. Three major goals of the project are: improve knowledge and understanding of case studies among technological educators in Tennessee and across the nation; create an on-line clearinghouse for case "ideas" and cases developed by faculty; and disseminate case "ideas" and fully developed published cases to a national audience. Experienced faculty are mentoring those new to using cases. Partners in the project are Nashville State Technical Institute, the LITEE Center at Auburn University, and the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University.