Improving Case Based Learning in Higher Education ─ Utilizing Semantic Web Technologies

Learning with cases lets students engage with authentic and complex problems and gain experience with diverse and unpredictable outcomes. Emerging technologies can support and enhance case-based learning, letting teachers and students develop learning environments as never before – but this will require responsive and participatory approaches to research, design, and development.

The authors demonstrate how participatory approaches can help make educational technologies transformative, and interdisciplinary case studies show how new methods can inform:

• curriculum development and course redesign
• the introduction of case-based teaching and learning, student research projects, and technology-enhanced learning environments across disciplines
• the development of interactive learning resources for lectures, seminars, online environments, and independent learning

While exploring the interplay of technology and pedagogy, Improving Case Based Learning in Higher Education addresses the importance of participatory approaches, how to deal with complexity and change, and the nature of diverse learning environments.

Patrick Carmichael, PhD, is Professor of Educational Research at Liverpool John Moores University. He was formerly Head of the Research and Evaluation Group at the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies at Cambridge University.

Katy Jordan is a research associate at the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies at Cambridge University.

Frances Tracy, BSc, MSc, PhD, MEd, is a research associate at Liverpool John Moores University and a research associate on the ESRC and EPSRC TEL programme funded ENSEMBLE project (Semantic Technologies for the Enhancement of Case Based Learning).

Michael Tscholl, PhD, Cognitive Science, is a research associate at the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies at Cambridge University.