There is always gap between acquisition and application of knowledge instudents learning. This problem becomes more significant when students enter theworkforce after they graduate, since the traditional teaching methods are usually notso much helpful for students’ independent thinking and problem solving ability.Participant-Center learning (PCL) and the Case method is originally proposed by theHarvard Business School (HBS) and it aims to cultivate students’ ability to exploreanswers for themselves as well as to boost their motivation to learn by themselves.However, Harvard’s case method is designed for well-established executives and wasintroduced to Asia only in the last few years. The way it is carried out is very muchdifferent from traditional class and it is doubtful if PCL is feasible for non-executiveprograms.
Prior studies focus on the advantages and disadvantages of case studies and lessfocus on using empirical data to justify how effective PCL is. This research collectsthe questionnaire from various universities which practiced PCL in theirundergraduate or graduate, but not EMBA, programs and utilizes SEM for statisticalanalysis. The result shows that HBS case method and the learning process has thesignificant and positive influence on learning motivation and effectiveness. It is alsofound out that participants with and without working experience have differentperception of PCL. Results of this study can be applied in course design or be servedas references for potential case method practitioners.
