Harper Adams University: Fresh approaches and diverse perspectives – lecturer secures Case Centre Teaching Scholarship
Fresh approaches to thinking about diverse perspectives and backgrounds are set to be brought into Harper Adams teaching spaces by a lecturer who has secured a Case Centre Teaching Scholarship.
Claire Toogood, who is part of the University’s Food, Land and Agribusiness Management Department, was named as one of the Case Centre’s 2022 Scholars this month.
The centre works with the case method of teaching. Built on ancient dialogue, argument and counter-argument methods, case teaching allows class participants to ‘step into the shoes’ of protagonist in a real-life business situation, examining possible solutions to their problem and evaluating the pros and cons of approaches.
Claire has already used the case approach in some of her work – and now hopes to use the Scholarship to develop her teaching.
She said: “I cover people and leadership development, which are people-focussed topics.
“It is an area that is sometimes easier to teach with examples – so case studies can be really useful tools in that work.
“When I noticed that there was a Case Teaching Scholarship, I thought the scholarship was something that would give an extra dimension to my teaching. It was very much designed to bring more people into case teaching and to allow you to make cases relatable to your students.
“The use of cases supports critical thinking and challenge. They can help students to consider how people with diverse experiences and backgrounds might interact with workplace situations.
“Using cases can allow me, as a lecturer, to challenge expectations and perspectives, and to introduce greater variety and diversity within the classroom.
“Sometimes, it opens up discussions in ways that you would not get with a guest speaker, or by only focusing on the students’ own experiences.”
Case Scholarships are available for University faculty or PhD students with teaching responsibilities, who have either only just begun teaching with cases or who plan to start using them in the coming year.
You can see Claire talking more in depth about her Scholarship, and her plans, in this video from the Case Centre:
Having secured her Scholarship, Claire will be working both with an expert case teacher on her own teaching in the early part of 2023, and taking part in workshops alongside other 2022 Case Scholars.
She added: “I am looking forward to the work itself, with events coming up early next year – and for me, the network which comes out of that work is exciting, too.
“I was really pleased to hear I’d secured the Case Scholarship, as it is a great development opportunity – not only for me, but also to share with our students here.
“It will also combine well with other projects which I have ongoing – I’m already looking at ways where I can align the work!”