The challenge of good teaching as a core task of the universities occupies the entire European higher education sector. The project e³Cases therefore, concurrent to the objectives of Erasmus + and Europe-wide standards, strives to innovate and to develop the higher education sustainably. European, E-Learning and Education: These are, as the title of the project already suggests, the contexts that are further developed and reformed by e³Cases in business administration with innovative ideas. For this purpose, three novel and pedagogically high-quality end products will be created: 12 Case Studies with pedagogical high content, a Manual as a guide for the conception of such Case Studies as well as an Online-Planning-Guide for digital Case Study use by virtual, international learning tandems, which lead to a live final presentation (including the inclusion of all participants through a role play within the Case Study) between the tandem partners. The need for these products arises on the one hand from the previous didactic-educational deficits of existing Case Studies in business administration, the lack of a guide to the creation of elaborate, high-quality pedagogical Case Studies with practice content at the same time (which was previously in the foreground). On the other hand from the new requirements in the world of work as a result of digitization and the resulting necessary skills in intercultural relations and in dealing with new technologies. With the involvement of the project partners with extensive expertise and the associated partners 12 Case Studies are being developed with a high didactic-pedagogical level and at the same time the necessary practical relevance, whereby the deficits of the existing Case Studies in university teaching can be eliminated. The Manual, which provides guidance and suggestions for self-development for teachers, can guarantee the sustainable quality of Case Studies, designed according to this guideline, through the two-stage evaluation and optimization even beyond the project. For the first time, the Online-Planning-Guide enables location-independent, transnational Case Study deployment and use via virtual learning tandems. The quality of the three products is guaranteed by the double testing at the four partner universities, the two-stage evaluation concept and the feedback from internal and external experts. With the three outputs mentioned above, teachers can design their methods varied and creative and expand their own expertise. Students will be offered an interesting teaching setting, which, in addition to social competences, also promotes media and intercultural competence as a result of transnational learning tandems for Case Study editing. In addition, e³Cases gives students more autonomy in their learning process, enables their participation in teaching and provides innovative education. Under these conditions created by e³Cases, skills and capabilities required for the ever-changing labour market can be developed further, increasing the employability of graduates. Thus, with e³Cases, a long-term revolution in the teaching of higher education in terms of its quality, its diversity and the cost-neutral (through the use of new media no travel costs), international exchange is brought about. The dissemination and sustainable use of the results of e³Cases, in addition to the extensive dissemination activities, will be ensured by the transnational final conference, which will be linked to an international conference being selected during the project period in the partner plenum. Furthermore, the independent application of the project results of all four project partners as well as the partner tool (contact tool for transnational Case Study use) guarantees the international sustainability of e³Cases even after the end of the project. Interested parties from the higher education sector can entry partnerships develop further high-quality Case Studies with the help of the Manual, organize more international learning tandems with the Online-Planning-Guide and expanding their networks at the European level with the partner tool given by e³Cases.
The challenge of good teaching as a core task of higher education institutions – especially in times of digitalisation and the COVID19 pandemic – occupies the entire higher education sector in Europe. This requires a close linking of university theories and subject content with the experiential world of students in order to promote the employability of university graduates. Suitable teaching and learning formats that strengthen application orientation are still insufficiently available. The use of case studies can provide the link between university teaching and professional practice. However, case studies are often subject to didactic deficits. In addition, the aspects of digitalisation and the labour market 4.0 are hardly taken into account within these teaching-learning arrangements. European, e-learning and education: These are, as already indicated in the project title, the contexts that should be further developed and reformed with progressive ideas by the e³Cases project in the higher education business sector. To this end, three innovative and didactically high-quality end products were developed: 12 case studies of appropriate didactic quality and simultaneous practical relevance, a manual as a guide for university lecturers on how to create didactically high-quality case studies, and an online planning guide for digital, inter-university case study use via virtual, multinational learning tandems. The need for these outputs results, on the one hand, from the poor quality of the existing case studies on the didactic level and, on the other hand, from the need for support of university lecturers with regard to case study development and international networking in teaching. With the involvement of the university project partners, didactic quality dimensions were developed that served as a basis for the development of the project results and were able to sustainably remedy the above-mentioned deficits. The involvement of the associated partners as experts from the business community and national education experts from the fields of higher education/pedagogy further guaranteed external quality assurance. The two-stage test procedure in higher education teaching also allowed direct use in practice by involving the target group of students, so that empirically evaluated products were created which are now available free of charge and without barriers as OER. The partner tool provided by e³Cases also stimulates the academic discourse on innovative teaching and learning methods in international higher education didactics in the future and in the long term, facilitates the exchange of didactically high-quality case studies created in the future and promotes the establishment of further tandem partnerships so that inter-university cooperation is created, collaboration opportunities are developed and university cooperation is strengthened at European level. With the help of the outputs developed at e³Cases, lecturers can expand their own expertise and make their teaching varied and forward-looking. The freely accessible materials allow flexible and self-directed acquisition and further training on a didactic level in the case study area, so that lecturers can expand their teaching experience and increase the quality of teaching. By working on the case studies of e³Cases in the digital tandem format, students experience a practice-oriented learning setting that stimulates an active learning process and its co-creation and that promotes not only key competences but also digital and intercultural competences within the transnational learning tandems. These framework conditions provided by e³Cases can strengthen the employability of students by promoting the competences necessary for the constantly changing labour market. In this way, the e³Cases project promotes the long-term optimisation of European higher education teaching, in which lecturers are sustainably supported in high-quality didactic teaching with the materials and handouts and students benefit from the innovative teaching and learning formats.