The Implementation of Case Method to Improve Academic Performance: A Study on Accounting Student

Previous studies of learning in higher education have found that students need more than just learning but must have deep learning experiences to adapt to increasingly dynamic and competitive environmental conditions. Moreover, students are required to master critical skills instead of technical skills. Therefore, higher education learning design must also anticipate the need for these skills. In response, the government requires universities to implement case study learning (case methods) to guide students in in-depth learning activities through their close interaction with teaching materials during the case solving. Experimental participants in this study were accounting students at the Faculty of Economics, State University of Medan, Indonesia. Data were collected using a test instrument and then analyzed by a one-way ANOVA test. The results of data analysis showed that 1) Case Method designed with group-based learning improved accounting students' academic performance. This finding becomes a reference for lecturers in related fields to apply the case method in accounting studies to develop students' critical skills. Furthermore, this can also be a bridge to create different case method designs more suitable for other subjects in the same field of study. Thus, this research can be a bridge of knowledge for further research to innovate higher education learning in economics and business.