Background information on case-based teaching in an ODL environment

3.8 CASE-BASED TEACHING IN AN ODL ENVIRONMENT

3.8.1 Background information on case-based teaching in an ODL environment

ODL education was elaborated on in chapter 2, section 2.9. As mentioned earlier, students are distant in time and space from educators and tutors in a distance learning environment (Kamanja 2007:721). Nowadays, distance education is essential for many institutions and it will continue to be the case because of increased internet accessibility (Shanker & Hu 2008:102). During 2012, the following

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profound statement was made by the President of EdX (a joint effort by MIT and Harvard): “We really haven’t applied technology - computing technology, Internet technology - to education … With online learning we can truly reinvent education” (Hardesty 2012:1). The popularity of case-based learning is increasing in professional training courses, especially in distance learning environments (Reinmann & Mandl 2006). For institutions that make use of case-based teaching, this eruption of online teaching has vital implications (Marcus et al 2004:577).

Web-based learning has become significant in tertiary education and is powerful in both the traditional teaching environment and the online environment (Fan 2011:5). By nature, web-based technology is often used for teaching in ODL environments. ODL institutions mainly cater for mature working students who are not able to attend campus-based, full-time contact institutions (Letseka & Pitsoe 2013:197). Case studies are a useful teaching method in the ODL environment (Wessels & Binza 2012:488). However, in the literature there is a paucity of studies on how case studies develop pervasive skills in the field of accounting in an ODL environment. Apostolou, Hassell, Rebele and Watson (2010:183-187) conducted a literature review of accounting education literature published from 2006 to 2009, and although they found 89 instructional accounting cases, these were not presented in a distance education environment. Five of the studies listed in their literature review were categorised under distance education, but none of them considered case studies.

3.8.2 Factors to consider when using case studies in an ODL environment It is becoming more important for various business faculties to learn how to teach successfully using case studies in an online environment (Rollag 2010:502). Various factors have to be considered when teaching by means of case studies in an ODL environment. As mentioned in section 3.2, in a traditional teaching environment, the type of case study used should fit the needs of specific groups, the learning context and levels of students. This is also true of the ODL environment. Experience has taught Brooke (2006:142,144) that “beginner” online students and experienced online students should be treated differently when teaching by means of case studies. Therefore in an online environment educators should provide more instructions and direction to novice students. Brooke (2006:142) uses the case

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method to teach online psychology classes. She explains that new students still have to become accustomed to the online environment and learn the course content (Brooke 2006:144). These students also need guidance with the tone they use in an online setting because the tone can be set through word choice in a “virtual classroom” and body language cannot be read over a distance. She found in her study that there is usually positive group interaction and a sense of cohesion, but facilitators should address any destructive conflict that may arise. According to Brooke (2006:145), experienced students can be expected to apply course material to more complex cases.

It is vital that there is a “teaching presence” (combination of instructional design and directed facilitation) when cases are presented online as this leads to students reporting a sense of connectedness and elevated levels of learning in a social context (Shea, Swan, Li & Pickett 2005:71). Their study was conducted among 2 036 participants at 32 State University of New York colleges and 581 courses were represented in their sample (Shea et al 2005:62).

Significant learning occurs through the use of case studies in online learning environments as long as they are well designed with proper instructions (Fitzgerald, Hollingsead, Miller, Koury, Mitchem & Tsai 2007:12). The considerations and recommendations presented by Rollag (2010:506) in his study in the field of management education for effective online case teaching could also be applied in the field of accounting. His suggestions for designing online case discussions effectively include that this meets the learning objectives; creates an active case discussion; limits the number of postings to avoid wearying students and educators; permits access flexibility without reducing the quality; and ensures that time requirements for the preparation, facilitation and assessment of online case studies are not significantly more than needed in contact-based classes. In the traditional contact-based learning environment, case discussions usually comprise 60 to 90 minutes of face-to-face conversations. However, in recent years, there has been a shift towards asynchronous electronic discussion boards as a teaching tool in online environments (Rollag 2010:500).

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In a study conducted among 252 undergraduate teacher education students, Lin and Overbaugh (2007:404, 410) found that the performance of students in final examinations was similar, whether cases were presented online or in face-to-face facilitated classrooms. The pros and cons of online teaching versus face-to-face teaching are part of an ongoing debate (Montiel 2013:267), particularly for teaching by means of case studies. A blend of classroom and online technologies is often suggested by researchers for teaching by means of case studies (Webb, Gill & Poe 2005:223). Pitsoe and Baloyi (2015:96) contend that students should be self- directed, be able to identify with groups and be in posession of skills that facilitate team goals in order to be successful in an ODL environment. The next two subsections explore the benefits and challenges of case study-based teaching in a distance learning environment.