News Archive

Turning teaching into an online game has won Marketing Professor Wade Halvorson an international award for  education innovation.

He and Professor Sabine Emad, from the Geneva School of Business Administration, Switzerland, have won the Innovation in Case Teaching competition run by global company ecch, which advocates learning marketing through case studies.

The judges observed that the pair's innovative approach turned cases into a truly engaging experience for a new generation of students who were always connected and in the virtual world.

They used Second Life to pique students' interest in case information by dispersing it throughout the virtual world, turning data collection into a collaborative treasure hunt.

Changing the format of cases in this way enhanced the educational experience.

Professor Halvorson and Professor Emad said they were both great fans of teaching through cases and had enjoyed putting this methodology together.

"The ability to bring our students from Switzerland and Australia together in virtual groups enhanced their engagement in the case, especially the gaming element of case preparation and solution presentation in a virtual world.," Professor Halvorson said.

"Next we plan to focus on the cross-cultural aspects of student collaboration on case analysis in virtual groups and we welcome from academics around the world with students who may be interested in joining the study."

ecch (formerly European Case Clearing House) is a not-for-profit educational group which promotes the case method of management teaching.