Interactive case materials are materials that are participative, degree subject based within a workplace setting.
They:

• are based as closely as possible on workplace situations and issues (in business, government, industry or the voluntary sector).
  
• enable students to acquire academic knowledge.
  
• are active and participative in style (providing students with opportunity for personal development, in particular developing key skills).

Interactive case materials will usually require students to learn about background academic theory and practice on the way to achieving the set task. The output required may often be in the form of a presentation, a report produced by a group working together, a video or a website.

As well as providing some of the learning situations of the workplace, interactive case materials provide additional dimensions.
These include:

• learning about various employment sectors, situations and a variety of themes and functions in work.
  
• motivating a range of skills development including interpersonal skills learning;
  
• demonstrating the application of academic learning.
  
• providing opportunity to extend student knowledge of workplaces.
  
• broadening career horizons.
  
• enforces problem solving within a specified time frame.

When interactive case materials are delivered as part of the curriculum:

• student learning can be assessed and accredited.
  
• student learning can be debriefed through a supported process.
  
• a wider variety of approaches to learning and teaching is involved.

Interactive case materials can be developed within a partnership of academic staff and employers and provide:

• employers with an understanding of teaching issues.
  
• academic staff in universities with a greater awareness of workplace issues.
  

Other advantages of using interactive case materials include:

• the ability to cope with large numbers of students.
  
• a high quality experience because materials are developed and can be tested and then refined.
  
• students face realistic constraints: time, resources, changing conditions, imperfect information.
  
• a gain in student confidence from a practical approach.

Interactive case materials and other ways of providing work experience are complementary and, when used together, provide the full range of learning outcomes which might also include:

• student confidence in being able to 'do the job';
  
• student development of networks of contacts in the world of work.

Staff actively engaged in key skills work often report that students consider skills development of lesser importance than learning academic content. In response, a number of techniques have been used to motivate students in this kind of experiential learning:

• Clear communication at the outset and at the end of an exercise about the intended learning outcomes and the importance of these to the students' progress in their academic and professional careers. Skills learning outcomes should appear in the documentation describing modules to students.

• Using employers at the beginning and/or end of an activity. The most successful tactic seems to be to invite past students of the department who are now employed in a particular sector relevant to the activity to describe the process of establishing themselves in their career and the importance of key skills. Employers can also be used in helping to assess student presentations and can be persuaded to offer prize money if the task is competitive.

• High quality debriefing strategies that involve students in careful reflection on their skills development and other learning from the exercise. This should ideally involve both plenary discussion and personal reflective writing by the student. The link to personal development planning should be made explicit.