Overview
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This project uses a design-based research approach to design, implement, and revise interactive H5P case studies for engineering technology capstone courses.
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The goal is to support students’ professional decision-making by engaging them in realistic scenarios involving ethical, legal, sustainability, and organizational trade-offs.
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The project includes two interactive case studies:
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NDA case in which students help an engineer navigate legal and ethical boundaries after changing companies, and
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Eco vs. Economy case in which students make sustainability-related decisions for a fictional technology company.
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Why This Study Matters
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Engineering capstone courses give students opportunities to work on complex, real-world problems. In these courses, students must consider not only technical solutions, but also ethics, sustainability, stakeholders, cost, time, and organizational expectations.
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However, many case studies are still static. Students usually read a scenario and answer questions, but they do not always make decisions, see consequences, or experience how one choice can create new challenges.
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Interactive branching case studies, such as H5P cases, can address this gap. They allow students to move through realistic scenarios, make choices, receive feedback, and reflect on their decisions.
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This DBR study responds to the limited research on interactive case studies in engineering capstone courses by designing, implementing, evaluating, and revising two H5P cases across two semesters.
Theoretical Foundation
The design and evaluation of the cases are informed by four complementary perspectives. They are not competing theories; each one operates at a different level of the design.
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Situated learning explains why the case must feel connected to real professional practice.
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Case-based reasoning explains what has to happen inside the case for students to draw lessons they can later transfer.
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Reflective practice shapes how the case asks students to examine their own thinking.
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4C/ID organizes the parts of the case so the cognitive demand stays manageable.
Situated Learning
(Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991)
Learning in realistic professional contexts
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Situated learning suggests that knowledge is shaped by the context where it is used. Students learn to reason like engineers when they engage in tasks that resemble real engineering practice, not only when they read about professional problems.
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In this project, this meant placing each case in a realistic workplace setting, positioning students as decision-makers, and grounding decisions in trade-offs that engineers may face in practice, such as ethics, sustainability, cost, timelines, stakeholders, and team communication.
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Students learn professional decision-making by practicing it in authentic contexts.
Case-Based Reasoning
(Kolodner, 1993; Jonassen & Hernandez-Serrano, 2002)
Learning from cases, choices, and consequences
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Case-based reasoning suggests that people use prior examples to make sense of new problems. Cases are more useful when they are memorable, realistic, and structured in ways that help learners compare different options and outcomes.
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In this project, this meant adding feedback for each decision option, comparison tables across decision paths, and debrief prompts that asked students what general lesson or principle they would carry forward.
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Students learn from cases when they can compare decisions and understand why different choices lead to different consequences.
Reflective Practice
(Schön, 1983, 1987; Moon, 2004)
Learning by explaining and reconsidering decisions
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Reflective practice suggests that professionals learn by thinking about their actions during and after complex situations. Reflection should not appear only at the end of an activity; it should be built into the decision-making process.
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In this project, this meant giving students feedback after each choice and asking them to explain their reasoning through open-ended prompts. These prompts encouraged students to reconsider what they would do differently and how their decisions connect to future professional practice.
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Reflection helps students connect case decisions to their values, reasoning, and professional growth.
4C/ID Model
(van Merriënboer & Kirschner, 2018)
Supporting complex learning with guidance and practice
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The Four-Component Instructional Design ( 4C/ID) model focuses on teaching complex skills through whole, authentic tasks supported by guidance, examples, and focused practice.
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In this project, the branching case served as the whole task. Context panels provided supportive information, decision feedback offered procedural guidance, and formative checks such as true/false, multiple-response, and drag-and-drop activities gave students focused practice with key sub-skills.
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Complex professional skills require authentic tasks, timely guidance, feedback, and opportunities to practice smaller skills.