Case Studies | How to keep your students engaged
4 tips for getting through the midterm slump
In 2000, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy published a guide for professors looking to bring the case study method to their classroom, called “The ABCs of Case Teaching.” Prepared by Vicki L. Golich, Mark Boyer, Patrice Franko, and Steve Lamy — all pioneers in the case study field — the guide presented a comprehensive assessment of how professors can systematically deploy the case study method in their classroom.
At the mid-point of this fall semester, we revisited the guide to draw on its many sage pieces of wisdom, and to update some of its recommendations for this decade.
As the fall semester reaches its halfway point, instructors must turn their attention to preventing the dreaded mid-semester slump. August’s glow has long faded, Winter Break is two months away, and mid-terms and assignments are piling up. The combination can leave students tired, unmotivated, and at risk of disengagement. This year is sure to offer additional challenges as students contend with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case study method of instruction offers an alternative to the lecture or seminar format and is the perfect antidote to the mid-semester slump. By their very nature, case studies require maximal student engagement and offer students the opportunity to take charge through experiential learning. Whether or not you decide to usea case study this semester, there are many pedagogical lessons to draw from the case study method itself, as described in The ABCs of Case Teaching.
[Explore ISD’s full case study library with over 250 cases]
- Set clear expectations for engagement
First, maximizing student engagement requires you to clearly define your expectations for student participation. The ABCs of Case Teaching highlights that participation has at least three components: preparation, speaking, and listening. Make clear what your expectations are for students across all three components.
Preparation: Establish how much time you expect your students to spend preparing for class each week. Provide study and reflection questions that direct them in how to approach the materials and what level of analysis you are expecting.
Speaking: State your goals for student involvement in oral discussions. These might include offering insights or analysis, answering questions from you or from their fellow students, responding to each other’s comments, and asking questions themselves.
Listening: Encourage active listening and clarify your expectations for respectful engagement between students and between students and the instructor.
2. Provide clear incentives
First, explain why participation and active engagement matter. Make the case to your students for the impact of good preparation and participation on both their individual learning outcomes and the overall learning of the class as a whole. Adult learners require internal motivation: they need to believe in the importance of a task in order to commit to it. Simply requiring engagement is not enough; your students need to understand why engagement is important.
Second, make participation part of the evaluation process. Consider requiring short reaction papers or reading reflections to ensure students are engaging with the course materials, regardless of their level of participation in classroom discussion. To be most effective, these assignments should be frequent and you should provide timely feedback for subsequent assignments. Alternatively, set up online discussion boards, where students can engage with each other and with the course content outside of class. This is particularly useful in a virtual or hybrid class, but can also be of use in a conventional classroom.
3. Let students know you know what they’re up against
Immersive case teaching engages students in material at an emotive as well as at a cognitive level. Learning is not simply a process of acquiring information but of processing that information through a set of personal beliefs and opinions. Experiential learning through case discussion can prove highly subjective, and sometimes requires vulnerability and courage from students.
Add to that the social, emotional, and health burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact that these are not evenly distributed across all students in your classroom, and the need for empathy and sensitivity becomes even stronger. Don’t expect student engagement without first understanding the costs of engagement for your students, and making adjustments as needed to meet your students where they are. Give students the opportunity to provide feedback anonymously on both the course content so far and on your teaching methods. Open a dialogue with your students around difficult, thorny topics by being vulnerable yourself.
4. Get creative
If none of the above seems to be working, try something new! The Berkeley Center for Learning and Teaching suggests playing music at the start of class to bring energy into the classroom, set the tone for the day’s class, and break up the monotony that sets in around this time in the semester. Invite a guest speaker to teach on an upcoming topic so students can hear from a new voice. Consider replacing a lecture with a relevant movie screening or another activity not previously on the syllabus. And if you haven’t already, try the case study method in lieu of a more traditional lecture or seminar.
The mid-semester slump can be a low point for both instructors and students — but instructors have the ability to mitigate its effects by being flexible, creative, and open to student feedback. The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s case studies library offers a wealth of teaching resources to help instructors through this difficult part of the semester and keep students engaged.
ISD has a library of over 250 cases covering an exceptionally broad range of topics from U.S. diplomatic history. Written by senior practitioners directly involved in the events or academics well-versed in them, these case studies tell compelling stories. But they also represent a rigorous effort to bring the dynamics and nuance of diplomacy in action–its successes and its failures–into the classroom. They are suitable for students from high school through graduate school.
For more on the case study teaching method see:
