Summary

In the course degree Executive Master of Business Marketing the students work on case studies in between the face-to-face sessions. During the face-to-face seminars the solutions presented are discussed within the group. The aim is to support the transfer between theory and practice and to facilitate an in-depth analysis of the topics based on lecture texts, exercises and online tasks. Working on the online tasks shows a real usage for practical work as the contents of the lecture show that there is a real benefit for practical work, especially when it comes to a problem that arises from one's own everyday practical work.

Course

Course title	"Strategic planning"
Degree program	Executive Master of Business Marketing
Lecturer	Prof. Dr. Michael Kleinaltenkamp

Tools

Blackboard tests
Adobe Connect

Realization

During the one-year study time within the degree course Executive Master of Business Marketing four face-to-face sessions and three online phases take their turns. For these the content dissemination and the supervision mainly takes place within the realm of the LMS Blackboard.
With the aid of Blackboard tests the case studies are prepared for the students. These are made up of a case description (as a task text) as well as different types of questions such as multiple choice questions with an automatic answer as well as open text questions.
In the course section grade center the lecturers have an insight into the solutions and the current work status of the students. The students are not able to access the answers of their peers.
The lecturers use the announcements with an e-mail forwarding in order to make the students aware of new tasks or corrections that are available.
The communication between the lecturers and the students takes place via forums, e-mail or in the virtual office hours (web meetings with Adobe Connect).
Exchanging thoughts between the students on solutions to the case study examples as well as working on further cases in groups takes place in the face-to-face sessions (block seminars).

Beispiel einer Case-Studie-Aufgabe aus dem Modul 2 (Kosten- und Erlösrechnung)

Illustration 1: Example of a case study task from module 2 "Costs and revenue calculation"

Experiences made by the lecturer

If you would like your students to work on case studies with the aid of Blackboard tests then please consider if in your scenario it makes sense to publish the individual tasks step-by-step (and not all at once).
For an online consultation regarding the case studies for groups it makes sense to implement the group function in Blackboard or the FU wiki in combination with an online meeting tool (Adobe Connect) in which the groups can meet up for a mutual exchange and editing.

Further information

Case examples for law: net-jura (Freie Universität Berlin) is a case study, interactive dissemination of legal knowledge with a special focus on the practical relevance of the contents imparted as a supplement to university teaching. Net-jura uses the available traditional materials and, in addition to face-to-face teaching, provides lecture-specific material (e.g. tasks, scripts, case study solutions and jurisprudence notes).
: Here every user can, based on photos/images and texts, create cases; every case is accompanied by questions; depending on how the question is answered, the case takes a different turn.
with a description of implementation scenarios, the usage of pods and didactic notes
for setting up the audio assistant in Adobe Connect

Support offered by CeDiS

Consulting services for the implementation of digital solutions in teaching: The Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) has extensive experience of many years when it comes to the implementation of digital media and systems within the fields of teaching, learning and research. We offer a wide variety of consulting services on the implementation of these tools and systems within the entire academic scope and especially at Freie Universität Berlin.
Training courses and workshops: For lecturers at Freie Universität Berlin (professors, employees, tutors) as well as lecturers of other universities CeDiS offers training courses and workshops on the topic of teaching and learning with digital media. These course enable participants to implement online elements within their own sphere of teaching.
The Executive Board of the Freie Universität supports e-learning initiatives: With the e-learning funding program financial resources are provided to lecturers that enrich and improve their courses quality-wise by implementing technological and media-related support. All of the academic staff teaching, the lecturers or even the institutions of the Freie Universität - without the Charité-Universitätsmedizin - can be supported within this program.

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