Case teaching has been an integral part of Ivey’s learning method since day one – 100 years ago. Naturally, case learning at Ivey has evolved through the years, most recently with the incorporation of interactive online learning tools.
Ivey Publishing has officially launched a series of Digital Learning Experiences (DLEs) – digitally enhanced cases or courses complemented with media and interactive elements to better prepare students for a richer classroom discussion.
“DLEs offer students an opportunity to engage and interact with the material in a way that was not possible with a traditional case or note,” says Executive Director of Ivey Publishing David Wood, HBA ’97, MBA ’12.
Efforts to create Ivey Publishing’s DLEs began in the summer of 2022 as part of a larger strategy on product innovation. Ivey saw an opportunity to convert the standard PDF format into an innovative, interactive tool to support a more engaged learning experience.
“Professors who choose to add DLEs to their curriculum can be assured that students have a better understanding of the material and have received feedback on their learning prior to class,” adds Wood. “As a result, professors can spend time discussing the most important aspects of the case analysis and decision.”
Eight cases and courses have been published to date, and by May 1, 2024, Ivey Publishing plans to publish another 30 cases and courses combined, featuring several Ivey faculty members.
One of the newly launched DLE cases authored by Wood, Sam’s Pizzeria: Managing Peak Demand, invites students to examine how Sam Moretti has organized his operations at Sam's Pizzeria. Through a series of modules with interactive activities, quizzes, and videos featuring faculty and animated elements, students learn to draw a process flow, calculate capacity, explain how to add capacity to meet increases in demand, and determine the costs and benefits of adding capacity to accommodate variability in demand.
Bringing the DLEs to life requires extensive collaboration across Ivey, including faculty members, internal staff, Ed Tech, IT, Classroom Technology Services, sales and marketing administrators, and external vendors who helped design the DLEs.
Violetta Gallagher, Acquisition and Product Manager at Ivey Publishing, has played a key role in the implementation of the DLEs, liaising with all those involved in the execution and launch process.
“I’m most excited about the fact that these DLEs are an extension of what we are already so well known for – the traditional case,” says Gallagher. “We have this unique opportunity to create products that still imbed expertise and real-life experience, but now you have the added interactive element that creates a new focus on courses and cases and prepares participants for rich classroom discussions.”
Gallagher adds that Ivey Publishing’s DLEs also create an opportunity to further Ivey’s international connections. “Being the leaders in business case studies with a global perspective, we envisioned the DLEs as an additional asset to contribute to Ivey’s global connectivity. Each product gives participants and instructors the opportunity to interact and add value from anywhere in the world as if they were in the same classroom, and for us that’s a powerful capability.”
Detailed information about the DLEs is available on the Ivey Publishing website.
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