Preliminary results of the evaluation of the case-based educational approach of the bachelor of social sciences at Hasselt University

Abstract

In 2022 Hasselt University started the unique bachelor of social sciences. This program is very much needed in the region to avoid a brain drain and to meet contemporary and future needs of regional labour market stakeholders. This bachelor is future-proof, on the one hand because of its interdisciplinary focus on current societal issues, more specifically on the so-called ‘grand challenges’ of digitalisation, diversity and democracy, studied from the fields of communication sciences, sociology and public administration. On the other hand, because of its specific approach with case-based education in small groups, tightly guided by teaching teams. This case-based educational approach allows the program to balance the academic theoretical focus with the application of this knowledge to real-life situations. Although case-based education is an internationally approved teaching concept, there is a lack of a specific approach for case-based education in the field of social sciences. Because of this, Hasselt university granted the social sciences bachelor program the opportunity to elaborate such an approach for its own bachelor program in an innovative educational research project, called CASUS. Within this project, we try to develop a consistent approach for case-based education across the different subjects in the bachelor program, balancing consistency throughout the program and freedom for customizing this approach for each subject by the different teaching teams. In this paper presentation, we will provide you with the preliminary results of the evaluation workpackage, involving both students and staff and some key insights gathered from the project.