How do you adapt case studies to different levels of learners and learning styles?

1 Assess your learners

Before you design or select a case study, you need to assess your learners' needs, interests, and goals. You can use various methods, such as surveys, interviews, quizzes, or self-assessments, to gather information about their background, experience, expectations, and learning styles. This will help you choose a case study that is relevant, engaging, and challenging for them. It will also help you avoid cases that are too easy, too difficult, or too boring for your learners.

4 Provide scaffolding

Scaffolding is a process of providing support and guidance to learners as they engage with a case study. It can help learners overcome difficulties, build confidence, and achieve deeper learning. Scaffolding can take various forms, such as questions, prompts, hints, feedback, models, or resources. You can provide scaffolding before, during, or after the case study, depending on the needs and level of your learners. For example, you can provide pre-reading questions to activate prior knowledge, during-reading questions to monitor comprehension, or post-reading questions to stimulate reflection.

5 Encourage interaction

Interaction is a key element of case-based learning. It can enhance learners' engagement, motivation, and collaboration. It can also expose learners to different viewpoints, opinions, and experiences. You can encourage interaction among learners, between learners and the instructor, or between learners and the case. You can use various strategies, such as discussions, debates, role-plays, simulations, or peer feedback, to facilitate interaction. You can also use different modes of communication, such as face-to-face, online, synchronous, or asynchronous, depending on the availability and preference of your learners.

6 Evaluate your impact

The final step of adapting case studies to different levels of learners and learning styles is to evaluate your impact. You need to assess whether your case study has achieved the intended learning outcomes and whether your learners have enjoyed and benefited from the case study. You can use various methods, such as tests, assignments, portfolios, or self-evaluations, to measure learners' performance, progress, and satisfaction. You can also use feedback from learners, peers, or experts to improve your case study design and delivery.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?