Enhancing Student Engagement and Employability through Video-Based Case Studies

Duy Tan Nguyen and Mohit Kumar Singh

Videos and case studies are frequently recommended tools to promote student engagement in business education. We noticed that combining these tools can increase the effectiveness and explored an approach to apply them together. This blog post takes you on our journey, from self-reflection to collaborative teamwork, as we applied the proposed approach to enhance our teaching practice. The blog post includes three sections. The first one discusses our motivation for the project which was informed by the first author’s self-reflection and the second author’s recommendation after they had attended a workshop. The next section demonstrates the proposed procedure to develop video-based case studies, and the final section presents some application results and notes.

Motivation – from self-reflection to collaborative teamwork to enhance practice

I have recently tutored a postgraduate module in international business and noticed that the module leader developed several case study questions based on videos from news channel such as BBC and CNBC. When I use teaching case studies, I also notice that some teaching notes include videos to be shown to students to guide their discussion. Both the module leader and I observed that students’ engagement in such activities was higher than in traditional case studies where they must read the case in advance or in class.

For critical reflection on the effectiveness of video-based case studies or video-driven discussions, I referred to the four lenses proposed by Brookfield (1998): personal reflection, student feedback, peer observation and the literature.

In addition to my personal reflection and peer observation mentioned above, student feedback regarding the inclusion of videos and case studies has been positive. Research has also shown that video-driven discussions are interactive and engaging activities that help students apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios and practise problem solving and critical thinking (Fidan and Fidan, 2024). The literature has also reported that problem-solving and critical thinking are important skills that foster employability (Andino-González et al., 2025; Garner et al., 2019).

Whilst we should keep in mind the challenges associated with video-driven discussions, such as internet quota (Fidan and Fidan, 2024) and student preferences (Rizvi et al., 2022), video-based case studies can be an effective tool to enrich student learning experiences.

However, not all news articles or teaching case studies are accompanied by videos. My co-author suggested using clipchamp.com, a Microsoft tool available at the University of Greenwich, to create videos. He also showed me the use of Adobe Express, also available at the University, to generate images. Through the ‘GBS Meets AI’ series of workshops conducted by Greenwich Business School (GBS), we learnt how to use Gen-AI, e.g., MS Copilot, to support teaching activities. Combining these tools, we proposed a procedure (see video below) to convert text into video-based case studies to broaden our teaching materials and support student learning experiences.

Procedure

This procedure begins with case preparation where we first summarise the case study or news article, focusing on key details to be covered in the target activity. Then, we prepare a prompt that specifies the context and task for Gen-AI, e.g., MS Copilot, to create an interesting audio script and presentation slide that can engage students in the case and task. For example:

Imagine you are an executive at…

Use the given information to prepare an audio script and presentation slide that:

• Summarises the situation
• Asks the audience to assume the [role] and carry out a [task]

In Step 2, we use the case (summary) and the prompt created in Step 1 to ask Gen-AI to generate the audio script and illustrative images for the video. In addition to MS Copilot, Adobe Express is another tool that can create images based on prompts.

Application results and notes

In term 2 of the 2024-25 academic year, we applied the above procedure to create three videos and used them in two modules. Whilst we did not formally measure student engagement, we observed that students were equally engaged in discussing the case, be they created by AI or provided by news channels. The keynote is that the audio script and images should be informative, engaging and adapted to our students’ learning preferences and interests.

When creating videos for case studies and discussions in class, we need to check the details, especially those generated by AI, to ensure that they are correct and appropriate. To comply with copyright protection, it is recommended to cite the original sources (in the video or in its description) and use open-access materials (e.g., the free collection of the case centre) or resources to which the University has an active subscription.

References

Andino-González, P., Vega-Muñoz, A., Salazar-Sepúlveda, G., Contreras-Barraza, N., Lay, N. and Gil-Marín, M. (2025) ‘Systematic review of studies using confirmatory factor analysis for measuring management skills in sustainable organizational development’, Sustainability, 17(6), Article 2373. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062373.

Brookfield, S. (1998) ‘Critically reflective practice’, Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 18(4), pp. 197–205. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/chp.1340180402.

Fidan, M. and Fidan, M. (2024) ‘The effects of video-driven discussions integrated into the flipped classroom model on learning achievement, practical performance, and higher-order thinking skills in dental education’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 40(1), pp. 158–175. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12869.

Garner, B.R., Gove, M., Ayala, C. and Mady, A. (2019) ‘Exploring the gap between employers’ needs and undergraduate business curricula: A survey of alumni regarding core business curricula’, Industry and Higher Education, 33(6), pp. 439–447. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422219876498.

Rizvi, S., Rienties, B., Rogaten, J. and Kizilcec, R.F. (2022) ‘Beyond one-size-fits-all in MOOCs: Variation in learning design and persistence of learners in different cultural and socioeconomic contexts’, Computers in Human Behavior, 126, Article 106973. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106973.

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Dr Duy Tan Nguyen completed his PhD in Logistics and Operations Management at HEC Montreal, University of Montreal (Canada) in 2023. Before that, he had obtained his master’s degrees in the dual degree programme in Global Supply Chain Management at HEC Montreal (Canada) and in International Business at the University of Melbourne (Australia). He also holds an undergraduate degree in International Business Economics with a specialisation in Foreign Trade. His research explores data-driven and sustainable operations and supply chain management. He has published articles in internationally recognised journals, including Omega (International Journal of Management Science), International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Cleaner Production and other refereed publication outlets. He has also given presentations at several international academic conferences.

Dr Mohit Kumar Singh is currently a Lecturer in Transport and Logistics Management at the University of Greenwich and also holds the position of a Visiting Fellow in Artificial Intelligence at Loughborough University. He has previously served as a Research Associate at Loughborough University in the UK. He earned his Doctorate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. His research interests are diverse and include Traffic Flow Modelling, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Connected & Automated Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.