9.4 Blog: Case Analysis Effectiveness

9.4 – Blog Case Analysis Effectiveness

For your case analysis project you worked collaboratively to research, develop, and present a topic associated with major theme of problems or issues associated with UAS design, operations, or regulations. Discuss the effectiveness of the Case Analysis tool in this course. Focus specifically on the utility of Case Analysis as a tool for decision making and how it has (or does not have) utility in your current line of work, future anticipated career, or past experiences (identify at least two examples). Provide any recommendations for how the process or project (e.g., requirements, format, group interaction, topical focus, etc.) could be improved to better support building and expanding student experience for the eventual or further development of their careers.

            The case analysis designed for this course is an excellent tool to develop a decision making process. This author has never had to complete a case analysis, but after completing the case analysis paper, this author believe his writing skills and critical thinking skills have increased thanks to the layout of the paper. The case analysis paper was broken down into 5 parts; the summary, the issue or problem statement, the significance of the problem, the development of two alternative actions with pros and cons for each alternative, and a unique recommendation to solve the problem. Unlike a standard research paper where the writer simply completes research and writes on the problem, a case analysis requires that the writer spend time thinking about the topic in order to develop well thought out solutions to the problem. A case analysis assists the student by allowing the students to focus on a real issue within the aviation industry while also coming up with unique ways to solve the problem. The real benefit for this author was the development of a unique recommendation to solve the problem. This author chose to write on the lack of detect, sense, and avoid technology to allow full integration of unmanned aerial systems within the National Airspace System. The recommendation section of the case analysis really allowed this author to get creative with a recommendation based on radar systems for UAS. With this recommendation, this author was able to describe the radar system that would solve the issue of UAS not being able to detect, sense, and avoid other aircraft or hazards such as birds or power lines.

            A case analysis allows the student to look at a problem from a different perspective. In the workplace, a worker will not always simply have all the right ideas. There will also be times in which it is important to come up with unique ideas to solve a problem. A case analysis introduces students to these different perspectives. The case analysis paper certainly allowed this author to expand his ideas on the issue of the lack of detects, sense, and avoid technology within UAS computer systems. This author is currently a full time student, so a case analysis has no utility in any job at this point in time. However, this author is an aspiring professional pilot, and the case analysis tool will allow this author to look at a problem and determine alternative actions to solve a problem. During the flight planning process, alternative airports should be chosen in the event of an emergency. Alternative actions must be taken during an emergency during flight. By choosing alternative airports, this author would need to look at the pros and cons of alternative airports. Factors to look at include fuel available, runway lengths, and distances from various positions along the route.

            The overall process of the development of the case analysis for this class is laid out in an orderly fashion. One of the steps in the development of this case analysis project that this author enjoyed completing was the peer reviews for the abstract and rough draft. The first recommendation this author would make to improve the development of the case analysis would be a final peer review of the case analysis during the week it is due. This author greatly appreciated the constructive feedback developed by several classmates. This author took the recommendations into consideration and made changes where applicable. A final peer review of the paper before it is turned in would allow students to gain more confidence after a peer within the same graduate course has reviewed it and made recommendations where necessary. The second recommendation this author would make would be to lower the page requirement for the case analysis. After turning the rough draft in, this author found that he struggled to convey the main points of the paper because of the requirements of meeting the 5 learning outcomes that had to be discussed and having 20 pages of content. This author felt that the message within the case analysis could be well developed in less than 20 pages. In order to reach the 20 page requirement, this author added in more information than what was necessary which made the rough draft confusing and hard to follow. Thanks to the recommendations of the professor and other peers, this author cleaned up the rough draft and was able to convey all the issues, alternative actions, and recommendations for the lack of detect, sense, and avoid technology to facilitate full UAS integration into the NAS. This author greatly appreciates the required development of the case analysis throughout the paper. Unlike many classes where a paper is assigned and has a set date, this course kept this author aware of the project by requiring that work be completed on the paper each week. This fact made the author feel much better about the development of the paper because without weekly work being due for the case analysis, this author would have likely attempted to complete the paper within a few weeks instead of utilizing the entire semester. This author would greatly recommend other courses follow the same format. Weekly completion of parts of the case analysis would keep students on their feet and prevent procrastination. This author also believes that students would walk away from the course better prepared for future courses in the Master’s Degree program.

            This author would like to thank his peers for the excellent recommendations given on the peer review assignments and also for the recommendations and guidance provided by Professor Brazelton during the development of the case analysis.