Developing decision-making skills through asynchronous online case-based learning

Case-Based Learning (CBL) has been used extensively in the fields of business, medicine, law, and social work, but has not been embraced as a training strategy in the corporate or government sectors. CBL requires groups of learners to apply procedural and declarative knowledge to solve problems that closely resemble those found in the real world. Previous research indicates that the pedagogical requirements of CBL are ideally met through the affordances of asynchronous online discussion. Through an intrinsic case study methodology, the current research study examines the combined use of CBL and asynchronous online discussion as a cost-effective training strategy for frontline government welfare workers situated across a large geographical area.