Engineering Case Method Applied in Teaching Modularization Management

Paper in proceeding, 2016

The paper is describing the insights and experiences from developing a case method to teach undergraduate students modularization management. The well-known case method is a teaching approach that uses decision-forcing cases to put students in the role of people who were faced with difficult decisions. In sharp contrast to many other teaching methods, the case method requires that instructors refrain from providing their own opinions about the decisions in question. In this paper the purpose is to develop a variant of the case method that builds on Scandinavian mentality and tradition. The Scandinavian mentality means that the case development is done in close co-operation with the companies, which is made possible since Scandinavian companies in general are very open in sharing experiences with universities and researchers compared to companies in many other countries around the world. The case development is an example of co-creation between different university disciplines and industrial companies. This co-creation approach is seen as a generic process that can be applied in other settings. The paper will document the co-creation development process, present the concept of the teaching case, and analyze the initial experiments with students.