Dynamic dependencies and interlinked factors
In order to take complexity and plurality into account when developing case studies, you as a teacher should ensure that there are dynamic dependencies and interlinked factors within the case. This will encourage your students to activate multidimensional and networked thinking. Instead of looking at problems in isolation, they will learn to understand them as part of a complex system. In this element of the TeC@ses Tool, you will learn how you can help your students to approach complex problems systematically. Through multidimensional teaching-learning arrangements, they will learn to consider different factors and the interactions between them. This is important because our world (of work) is becoming increasingly complex and many problems can no longer be viewed in isolation. To be successful in a globalised and interconnected world, our students need to learn how to analyse, understand and solve complex problems.
If you click on the podcast, you can explore how to incorporate dynamic interdependencies and interlinked factors into didactic case studies practically.
Personal reflection
Elaborate on how your students will benefit if you consider dynamic dependencies and interlinked factors when designing case studies.
By considering dynamic interdependencies and interlinked factors, your students learn to analyse and solve problems not only in isolation, but in the context of an entire system. They can learn that decisions and actions within a system can have diverse and often unforeseen effects. It can be easier for them to recognise that different factors are constantly interacting. This can lead to a deeper understanding of how systems work and prepares students to navigate complex environments. This fosters their ability to look at complex problems holistically and develop sustainable solutions that take into account different aspects and their interactions.
You can include visual representations such as network diagrams or mind maps in your case to visualise the relationships between the different variables and factors in the case. Identify other forms of visualisation that you could use.
For example, you can incorporate flowcharts to graphically represent processes or procedures. By using them, you help your students to understand the sequence and dependencies of activities and decisions. You can show how a decision at one point in the process influences different following steps. For example, for a case study about a product launch, you could provide a flowchart that visualises the entire process from product development and marketing strategy to market launch and customer feedback.
You could also provide a Gantt chart, meaning a bar chart that visualises project plans and schedules. This form of visualisation could be used, for example, to show the start and end dates of individual tasks or activities in a project and how they overlap or follow on from each other. This enables your learners to recognise dependencies and interlinked factors within a process more easily.