Facilitating a deep approach to learning: An innovative case assessment technique

This research is an attempt to explore the impact of an innovative case assessment technique on a deep versus surface approach to learning as adopted by a large cohort of undergraduate management students studying in a reputed University. Specifically, a case assessment incorporating peer assessment in the form of a Case Challenge was introduced by the researchers to enhance deep learning, as an innovation to compartmentalized approaches to case assessment that may foster surface-level approaches to learning. Data collected through structured interviews suggest that inclusion of a challenge component in case analyses, directed and led by a peer group, substantially increased the level of preparation and ownership assumed by both the presenting team and challenging team in their own learning as also learning for the rest of the class. Results are discussed in the context of contemporary literature on learning-oriented assessment in general and the impact of peer assessments on deep versus surface approaches to learning in particular.