The Case for Cases: Teaching with Cases

The following sections are included:

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• PROLOGUE
• CONTENTS

The following sections are included:

• Why Use Cases? The educational value!
• A Personal Insight
• The Perils of Teaching with Cases?
• 3P’s of Case Teaching: Plan, Prepare, Perform

The following sections are included:

• Getting Started
• Knowing the Audience
• Choosing Cases

The following sections are included:

• Student Preparation
• Supporting Student Preparation
• Writing up a Case
• Common Errors in Case Writing

Case teaching, while rewarding, is tough! Unlike lectures, you are only in control of part of the process. You also need attentive, willing, prepared and engaged students to bring a case to life. While we have spoken at length about how to support the student prepare for the case discussion, it is important to recognize that you, the faculty, must also be prepared for the class interaction that will soon take place. Your preparation can go a long way in determining how the class flows, the reception of key learning point, student morale, and engagement…

How you deliver is in large part a question of style and what you are comfortable with. Do I want to be friendly or a harsh taskmaster? Do I want slow and thoughtful discussions holding a limited number of students accountable for significant participation, or do I want quick-paced on your toes interchanges where many students get involved? These questions are up to you to answer and they partially depend on the subject, class size and student background…

I hope that the 5 chapters of this book and the insights shared by my colleagues were useful to the readers. Teaching is a skill like many others. To improve as a case teacher, requires practice, analysis, introspection and a keen desire to improve. The best case teachers tend to be the people that search out other great teachers, attend their classes and put themselves in situations that challenge them…

The following section is included:

• EXHIBIT A: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO HOW TO WRITE UP YOUR CLASS ASSIGNMENTS CASES