Teaching and Learning with Cases A Guidebook Laurence E. Lynn Jr. The University of Chicago CHATHAM HOUSE PUBLIS! SEVEN BRIDGES PRESS,Teaching and Learning with Cases: A Guidebook Seven BripGes Press, LLC P.O. Box 958, CHarpaqua, New York 10514-0958 Copyright © 1999 by Chatham House Publishers of Seven Bridges Press, LLC Alll rights reserved, No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. PunuisHer: Robert J. Gormley Cover DESIGN: Inari Information Services, Inc, Manacinc eptror: Katharine Miller PRODUCTION suPERVISOR: Melissa A, Martin Composimion: Bang, Motley, Olufsen PRINTING AND BINDING: Versa Press, Ine, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Lynn, Laurence E., 1937- ‘Teaching and learning with cases : a guidebook / by Laurence E. Lynn Jr. P. cm. ISBN 1-56643-066-6 (pbk.) 1. Case method, 2. Curriculum planning. I. Title. LB1029.C37 L96 1998 371.39—dear 98-25376 cr Manufactured in the United States of America 170987654321 Contents Preface — Why This Book? xi ee Part | — Teaching with Cases: Principles What Is the Case Method? ‘The Development of the Case Method, 3 Law, 4 Medicine, 7 Business Administration, 9 Public Administration and Management, rr Other Applications, 12 Policy Analysis, 12 Human Sciences, 13 Secondary Education, 14 The Case Study as a Method and Product of Research, 15 Cases and Culture, 16 Summary, 417 2. “Case Teaching Is Not for Me!” “I Don't Think It's an Effective Way to Teach,” 20 “Pd Teach with Cases but..." 22 ‘Why, If You Aspire to Be an Effective Teacher, You Should Continue Reading This Guidebook, 24 3. Why Do We Teach? The Strategic Question Teaching Objectives, 27 19 27Part Il — Teaching Problem-Based Learning, 29) 4, How We Should Teach: The Strategic Answer The Instructor's Toolkit, 32 Teaching and Learning in Theory, 34 The Learner, 34 That Which Is to Be Learned, 35 Teaching and Learning in Practice, 37 The Case for Case Teaching, 38 h Cases: Techniques 5. Teaching with Cases: The Basics What Is Case Teaching? 42 Traditional Teaching versus Case Teaching, 43 Demands on the Teacher, 46 What Else Matters? 46 Who Can Be a Case Teacher? 48 6. Sizing Up Your Learners Different Folks, Different Strokes, 50 Experience, 51 Specialization, 53 Current Position, 53 Culture, 54 Fluency, 55 Learning Style, 55 Ascriptive Characteristics, 57 Designing a Case Study Group, 57 Inexperienced Teachers, Experienced Students: Can It Work? 58 7. Teaching Notes and Class Plan: Them, Using Them What Is a Teaching Note? 60 A Standard Outline, 61 Abstract, 61 Audience/Prerequisites, 62 2 Creating 32 42 50 9 Teaching/Learning Objectives, 62 Possible Assignment Questions, 63 Class Plan, 63 Case Analysis, 66 Comments and Additional Information, 67 Case Discussion: Preparation Motivating Your Learners, 69 Teacher/Instructor Preparation, 70 ‘The Learner's Preparation, 71 Case Discussion, 73 Closure, 74 Case Discussion: Tricks of the Trade First Things First, 75 Assembling Your Tools, 75 Positioning (Validating) the Case, 7 powering Your Students, 76 Your Initial Moves, 77 The Overview, 77 The Analytic Framework, 78 The Quick Question, 78 ‘The One-Sentence Summary, 78 Establishing a Baseline, 79 Opening It Up, 79 Some Basic Tools, 79 Deploying Your Power, 80 Recording or Responding? 83 Democracy or Elitism? 84 Moving the Discussion Forward, 84 Maintaining Coherence, 86 But What If It Isn't Working? 87 Problem Situations, 87 Problem Participants, 90 Evaluating Your Success, 93 Vital Signs of a Good Case Discussion, 93 Getting Feedback, 95 68 7510, Case Discussion: Closure 96 Part IV — Case Writing ‘The Final Impression, 97 Sequels and Other Prepared Materials, 98 Skills for Closing, 100 First Principles, 124 Eight Steps to a Published Case, 125 14, Writing a Case: The Basics 124 1. The Case Prospectus, 125 2. Case Research, 127 3. Drafting the Case, 127 Part Hil — Curriculum Planning 4- Critical Review, 127 5. Editing, Revision, 128 IL. Choosing Cases: Curriculums and Courses 102 6. Teaching Note, 128 The Curricular Context, 102 7. Initial Use of Case, Further Revision, 128 Course Organization, 104 8, Publication/Distribution, 128 Course Content, 106 How Much Time Should It Take? 129 12. Choosing Cases: Types, Formats, and 107 ie ene 3 Teaching Case ioe Lengths ibrary Research, 131 Field Research, 131 Types of Cases, 107 Contacts and Access, 132 Decision-Forcing Cases, 107 ‘The Interview Process, 132 Policymaking Cases, 108 Problem-Defining Cases, 108 Concept-Application Cases, 109 16. Writing a Case Di FD Ilustrative Cases, 109 raft Tertiary Research, 136 Prewriting, 137 Case Formats, 110 Writing a Star-Quality Case, 138 Orientation, 110 f Structure, 110 falls, 339 Content, 141 Internal Organization, 111 Style, 142 Length of Cases, 112 Issues, 144 Review and Clearance, 145 13, Choosing Cases: The Star-Quality Case 14 Teaching Note, 146 uu Done? 1 ‘What Students Like ina Case, 114 Are You Done? 146 ‘What Teachers Like in a Case, 116 ‘The Star-Quality Case, 117 Additional Considerations, 119 Appendix The “Less-Than-Stellar” Case, 119° Quantitative Cases, 120 A Teaching Case: “Roles of Consultants 148 The “All-Purpose” Case, 121 in Project Formulation”Background, 149 Preparation, 150 The Situation in Marinesia, 152 Hirota’s Concerns, 156. A Teaching Note 159 Abstract, 159 Teaching Objectives, 159 Prerequisites, 160 Assignment Questions, 160 Class Plan, 161 A Case Analysis 163 References References 168 Selected Bibliography of Case Teaching and Case Learning Guides and Literature, 168 Case Catalogues, 171 On-Line Resources, 171 Index Index 174 The Author About the Author 178 Preface Why This Book? When my daughter Katie was eight years old, she was taken with a ‘group of children into a remote area for two days of hiking and camping. During one of the hikes, to a preselected destination, mem- bers of the group became disoriented and confused. “What hap- pened?” we asked her. “Some stayed on what they thought was the ‘main path,” she said. “Others went off together in a group. But some created theie own path. Thad to decide what to do.” ‘The case method of instruction already has a diverse, often excellent Ii erature written by experienced teachers in a wide variety of fields. Any- one who wants to learn how to teach with cases, or who conducts trai ing courses in case teaching and case writing, as I do, has no shortage of helpful references. The literature ranges from the short “pearls of wis- dom” on case teaching distributed by the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School to authoritative, book- length treatises by experienced teachers such as Howard Barrows, Ro- land Christensen, and Selma Wasserman. Extracting the wisdom from this literature can be a challenge to the novice case teacher, case writer, or student/learner, The difficulties of us- ing the case method literature itself result, in part, from the specialized concerns and perspectives of the authors and, in part, from the discur- sive, even casual, approaches of many of the short pieces. Thus, to answer a particular question—Do inexperienced students require a dif- ferent approach than experienced practitioners? How do I handle a di ruptive student? What is the “right size” for a case class? How long should a case be?—one must search diverse sources without the aid of systematic indexing or cross-referencing. Superb insights can easily go undiscovered bei use they are so widely dispersed in the literatui Thave written this book 10 overcome this fragmentation. It is intended to be a practical, provess-oriented guide to teaching, writing, learning with cases. My objective has heen fo integrate the insights from ‘many veins of literature with my own nearly twenty-five-year experience as a case teacher and writer and as a trainer of case teachers and case writers into an accessible source of answers to basic questions concern- ing the case method. It would be presumptuous of me to suppose that I have grasped the essence of the specialized wisdom accumulated by edu- cators in law, medicine, education, undergraduate instruction, and pub- lic management. Nonetheless, I hope that teachers and learners in a wide variety of fields will find value in this guidebook. Having proclaimed a generalist ambition, I must admit to a preoc- cupation with the use of the case method in my own field: public policy analysis and management or, more generally, professional education for practice in the public and independent sectors. As I discuss at greater Jengch in chapter 1, teaching with cases in the field of administration and management differs from case teaching in law and medicine. Ac~ cordingly, I want to establish the broadest possible context for discuss- ing the use of cases in teaching for the simple reason that approaches used in other disciplines can greatly enrich pedagogy in my own disci- pline. It is the effort to achieve a synthesis that inspires this book and that I hope will appeal to instructors and learners in diverse fields. The book is organized into four parts. Part I, “Teaching with Cases: Principles,” is concerned with the different meanings of the term case ‘method in various domains of teaching, with sources of resistance to case teaching, and with strategic issues teachers face in deciding what and how to teach. Part Il, “Teaching with Cases: Techniques,” is con- cerned with the practice of case teaching and ranges from the basics to more advanced “tricks of the trade” practiced by experienced instruc- tors. Its content might be covered in a case teaching workshop of three to five days in length, Part HII is concerned with curriculum planning; it describes the types of cases available and provides guidelines for select- ing appropriate cases to use in your teaching, Part IV is concerned with case writing as the subject might be approached in a case writing work- shop designed to produced usable new cases. Its content ranges from choosing topics and reaching objectives to strategies for disguising ac- tual names and places in case writing, Additionally, the references sec tion identifies additional sources, and the appendix provides a sample case and teaching note. In writing this guidebook I faced the decision of referring to “teach- ers and students,” to “instructors and participants,” or to “facilitators and learners.” Whereas the latter pair of terms is most consistent with the theory and practice of case teaching and the first pair of terms may seem too narrow and hierarch much case teaching is conducted with experienced professionals and executives for whom the term “stu- dents” may not appeal—I decided to employ them all, allowing syntax to be my guide. I wish to emphasize, finally, that this is a guidebook, not a text- book, a supplement to the actual experience of teaching and learning, not a substitute for it. I have deliberately chosen a direct, nondiscursive style so that the book’s value as a ready reference would stand out.PART I TEACHING WITH CASES: PRINCIPLES1. ‘What Is the Case Method? ‘What is a teaching case? What is the case method of teaching? How do you learn the method? These questions are addressed at length in the sixteen chapters of this book. To orient you to this discussion, T want to begin by providing the answers in a nutshell (see chapter 5 for a more detailed discussion). A tea ing case is a story, describing or based on actual events and circumstances, that is told with a definite teaching purpose in mind and that rewards careful study and analysis. ‘The case method of teaching is the set of pedagogical techniques and “tricks of the trade” that instructors use in the classroom to help learners reach specific learning objectives with the teaching case as a ba- sis for discussion. In the real world, the solutions to complex problems cannot be found in textbooks, nor will everyone agree on the “right an- swers” to difficult questions. The case method prepares learners for a world that demands critical thinking skills and the ability to create con- icing arguments, often with little time and incomplete information. ‘Any method of instruction that involves actively responding to learners requires skill in conducting such interactions. This is true even for the lecturer who agrees to answer questions during or after a presen- tation, where skill in both understanding questions and responding to them are crucial to effectiveness. Those of us who teach earn the respect of learners by showing that we care about whether we are getting across to them and that we are willing to help them achieve their goals. Once ‘we accept that responsibility, the transition from traditional lecturing to case teaching is not unduly difficult. Answering questions, holding office hours, engaging in after-class discussions and informal exchanges with learners—these teaching activities are extended in a structured way when the teaching case is used as a framework. ‘The key to making the transition from traditional teaching to being, comfortable in leading a case discussion is more one of attitude than of personal, pedagogical virtuosity. A teacher thinking about using cases must face one key issue: How much direction or control must I have ‘over what goes on in my classroom in order to feel comfortable? If you are willing to allow students to play a role in defining the content and pace of a class discussion, then you can learn to be a case teacher. If you have very little or no experience with case teaching, then it may be helpful if you complete an additional preliminary step before at- tempting to use this book. In the appendix (p. 147) is an example of a teaching case with its accompanying teaching note (i.e., plan for using the case in a classroom). Reading this case and teaching note will give you a feel for the way teaching cases are written and used. They provide examples of many of the points that I make in this book. e Development of the Case Method ‘The terms case method, case teaching, and use of cases are used similarly in a wide variety of fields. In general, the case method is (1) intended to further the development of professional intellectual and_ behavioral skills, (2) issue- or problem-oriented, and (3) essentially concerned with interpreting real-world experience. Yet the specific definitions of “case method” in classroom and professional practice vary among professions and disciplines and, within them, among teachers. Both the similarities and the differences—in, for example, what is a problem, what evidence or experience is relevant to its solution, and what constitutes skilled problem solving—are instructive. The idea of using cases in the university training of preprofessional students probably originated at the Harvard Law School around 1870, and by 1910 all the leading law schools used “case method teaching” (Kimball 1995). Next to take up the method was the Harvard Business School during and after the First World War. By the time the case ‘method had become widespread in business education in the 1930s and 19408, schools of public administration found a reason to follow suit. In ensuing decades, other professional Fields began adapting case teaching to their own teaching and training needs. Case teaching is also used in arts and sciences instruction at graduate, undergraduate, and even sec- ondary levels of schooling, ‘This chapter surveys principles of ease teaching, as it is practiced in the professional fields of law, medicine, business administration, andpublic administration and management, as well as in other, more specific domains of instruetio In postgraduate education for professional practice, cases are used to assist students in acquiring or further developing those skillS thought essential for professional effectiveness. Law In the practice of law, case law analysis and statutory interpretation are foundation skills. These skills involve “the techniques of close reading, analogizing, distinguishing, positing related fact patterns, and criticizing judicial and legislative exposition and logic” (Ginsburg 1996, v). Such skills are popularly termed “legal reasoning” or “thinking like a law- yer” Whar, then, is a case? In common-law countries such as the United Seates and the states of the British Commonwealth, a case is (1) a partic- ular matter before a judge or (2) a written record of that matter and its disposition. Case law comprises rules of general applicability, or prece- ‘Attorney General Janet Reno, when asked whether she ‘would initiate a ninety-day preliminary investigation of Clinton-Gore telephone solicitations of campaign funds, said: “I don’t know whether we will resolve it by next Fri- day, because ... what one tries to do in all these situations is make sure that you have the facts and that you apply the law to the facts... The facts, as they develop, may in- dicate that the law is applied in different ways. I don’t know what the circumstances will be, and I don't want to prejudge it.” — (New York Times, 27 September 1997, A9} dents, derived from an accumulation of prior decisions by judges in par- ticular matters. (This reference to precedent is known as the principle of stare decisis.) In a particular case, however, “a judicial decision is a prec- edent, and so generally binding, only in future cases involving the same material facts” (Ginsburg 1996, 3). In education for the practice of law, cases are used to promote skill in thinking like a lawyer. ‘What is “thinking like a lawyer”? Some legal educators emphasize the inductive, creative aspect of thinking like a lawyer. Jane Ginsburg quotes Benjamin Cardozo: “The common law does not work from pre established truths of universal and inflexible validity to conclusions de- rived from them deductively. Its method is inductive, and it draws its ‘generalizations from particulars” (quoted in Ginsburg 1996, 1). “Analy- sis of case law,” according to Linda Edwards, “involves the dissecting of courts’ reasoning, coming to a conclusion regarding the status of the law, and applying that conclusion to a current dispute. No magic for- mula will guide you in this process.... Although case analysis is gov- cerned to some extent by rules, itis by its very nature a creative process. AAs such, it cannot be reduced to a simple formula” (Edwards 1996, 18-19). Reading a case is challenging, says Edwards, for three reasons: concepts are complex; some legal writing is unclear; and basic legal pro- cesses and terminology are not explained (p. 1718). She goes on: Seeing connections between cases, drawing inferences from those connections, generating principles from those inferences, applying those principles to specific fact patterns, and explaining this whole Process in a clear, concise manner to another is not unlike ereating a work of art. You are arranging a set of conclusions (court opinions) in a pattern that makes sense to you and, on the basis of that ar- rangement, creating a principle that you use to resolve a problem, Others looking at the same set of conclusions will perceive different patterns and create different principles leading to different resolu- tions of the same problem. How persuasively you can communicate your resolution to others ... determines how viable your creative process is. (P. 19) Other legal educators emphasize the importance of formal correct- ness of legal reasoning. According to Ruggero Aldisert (1989), “a rule of law (x) is viewed in combination with other rules by a process of induc- tive reasoning, (2) to form a broader legal precept, a principle, which constitutes the major premise for a process of deductive reasoning in the rnext case, (3) leading to the conclusion of the deductive syllogism, forms the decision in the case, (4) which in turn takes the form of a new legal rule” (p. 23). The emphasis is on formal correctness, even though judges commonly depart from logical formality and introduce value judgments and formulate new rules. According to Edwards (1996), legal analysis (the thinking process of lawyers) can be reduced to four essential ele- ‘ments: Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion (IRAC). An issue is a ques- tion requiring an answer; it should be based on essential facts, should erve as a sieve straining the insignificant from the significant. A rule is a boundary of confined domain in which an actor must operate. Relevant rules are applied to the essential facts using either inductive or deductive reasoning, and, however difficult it may be, conclusions must be drawn.‘The Socratic Method is widely employed in case teaching in the field of law. The Socratic Method “involves the asking of questions that inevitably lead the answerer to a logical conclusion, intended and fore- seen by the professor or judge. It is an art or practice of forcing opinions or ideas to be examined with an unrelenting logical process in order to test their soundness and validity, ... The open dialogue serves as a repet- itive laboratory demonstration of how solutions to legal problems must be logically justifiable and not reached by predetermined or ingrained belief, impression, hunch, instinct, or impulse.” (Aldisert 1989, 124, 135): “1 defended a Midwestern grain company against charges that it had mishandled and misappropriated Com- modity Credit Corporation grain. First, in the criminal cases, we argued successfully that we owned the grain and therefore could not steal it. Then, in the civit cases, we ar- ued that our obligations in handling the grain were lim- ited because it was government property. Improbably, we contended that the inconsistent criminal evidence should bbe kept out of the civil trials because of the different bur- dens of proof in the two types of cases.... [T]he judge agreed with us. Ah, the majesty of the law.” “— Leonard Garment, Crazy Rit: My Journey from Brook: lyn, Jazz, and Wall Street to Nixon's White House, Watergate, and Beyond ... (New York: Times Books/Random House, 1997), 63+ In education for legal practice, cases are vehicles for examining nificant principles (“mutual mistake” in contract law), legal concey (“proximate cause”), correct interpretation (“torts” vs. “contracts”, gal doctrines (the Doctrine of Summers v. Tice), recurring problems ( termining “intent”). Legislation supplies a principal, and increasingly important, so of law, “The drafting and interpretation of legislation call on skills analyses different from those honed in the adjudicative process. WI ‘case law begins with particular controversies, legislation imposes a eral rule” (Ginsburg 1996, 10). Ginsburg goes on: “The interpretat of legislation requires reasoning from the general to the specific, to termine whether and how a rule claiming wide application in fact cerns an individual controversy” (p. 10). In general, thinking like a yer involves analogic | reasoning and formal, inductive logic applied to the essential facts of a case. As this chapter shows, the thinking process in other professions involves different kinds of reasoning (Kimball 1995). Medicine According to Howard Barrows (1985), “the ultimate objective of medi- cal education is to produce doctors capable of managing the health problems of those who seek their services, in a competent and humane manner.” Competent practice requires knowledge and the ability to use it. The skill of self-directed learning is essential, as schools cannot pos- sibly cover all required knowledge. The term of art, problem-based learning, is used in the health sciences to deal with shortcomings of tra- ditional medical education and, in particular, the tendency in traditional ‘education to emphasize memorization of isolated bodies of knowledge. What, then, is a case? In medicine, a patient with symptoms requir- ing diagnosis and treatment constitutes a case. As with law, the formal written record—in this instance, a record of symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment—can be regarded as “the case.” (This definition holds in other domains of clinical practice requiring written records documenting med- ical treatment.) Unlike law, however, where the written case constitutes ‘precedent and is definitive, Barrows and Robyn Tamblyn (1980) iden- {ily “monumental” shortcomings in relying on written case records. In medical case analysis, case records are “unreal and abstract .... no chal- lenge to the skills of interview and examination ... little challenge in making relevant observations about the patient.” The time-pressured, se- quential nature of clinical reasoning cannot be captured in a written rec- ond (p. 61). But, say Barrows and Tamblyn, “it is unfortunate ... to give the im- n that what the physician does is an art, is intuitive, is not directly teachable, and can occur only with experience... Unless the ‘cognitive skills a student uses in the clinical reasoning process are appro- priately evaluated by relevant techniques, [their] inadequacy may never he noted” (p. 20). The analogy to thinking like a lawyer is “the clinical feasoning process” (Barrow and Tamblyn 1980). ‘What is clinical reasoning? In the clinical reasoning process, “the physician * Perceives initial cues from the patient and environment + Rapidly generates multiple hypotheses+ Applies an inquiry strategy (questions, examinations, tests) to refine, rank, verify, or eliminate these hypotheses © Abstracts an enlarging problem formulation from the signifi cant, hypothesis-related data obtained from ongoing inquiry; and * Closes the encounter when he has made diagnostic and/or therapeutic decisions” (p. 37)- The clinical reasoning process thus “can be divided conveniently into the following distinct behaviors that can be evaluated and learned” (p. 37) * Information Perception and Interpretation * Hypothesis Generation + Inquiry Strategy and Clinical Skills ¢ Problem Formulation * Diagnostic andlor Therapeutic Decision (Closure) “These segments of the clinical reasoning process occur very rapidl in the mind, and their actual presence often is unrecognized, ... Prol lem-based learning permits these segments of the cognitive process in. volved in clinical reasoning to be made visible to both student an teacher so they can be modified or developed” (p. 37). ‘A teacher seeking fo uncover the clinical reasoning process of a stu dent may employ several experiential techniques. One is the simulate patient, a healthy person trained to portray a patient’ history and phy ical examination, The second is simulated recall, reviewing videotape the encounter with the simulated patient. In addition there is “problet based learning ... the process of working toward the understanding resolution of a problem. ... The problem is not offered as an example the relevance of prior learning or as an exercise for applying infor mation already learned in a subject-based approach. A problem in t context refers to an unsettled, puzzling, unsolved issue that needs to resolued.... Finding the answer to a question is not problem-ba learning. The use of a known principle or solution to explain an obs ation or phenomenon is not problem-based learning” (Barrows at ‘Tamblyn 1980, 18). Thinking like a clinician, in other words, is less the analogical re soning of lawyers than a highly compressed version of the formal lo} of science in which faets are examined in the light of preformed hypoth- ses as to what they might mean, Business Administration ‘The development of the case method in business administration gained momentum following World War I and became the centerpiece of bu ness education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Ad- ministration, While early teachers of business attempted to apply meth- ods of case analysis used in law schools, teaching in business drew more heavily on the ideas of John Dewey about problem-driven, experience- based methods of teaching (Kimball 1995, 12). Early orientation toward the use of Socratic Methods of discussion leadership, familiar in law schools, gave way to student-centered group deliberations and presenta- tions, with the faculty member playing a less directive role. The general goal has come to be expressed as “linking knowledge and application” or “knowledge and action”: “acquiring facility to act in the face of new experience” (Dewing 1994, 41). What, then, is a case? In law and medicine, cases occur naturally in the course of professional practice. In business practice (and, as we see, in public administration), there are few naturally occurring, institution- alized “cases.” Thus a business administration teaching case must be de- fined by a case teachericase writer, and cases take on an exceedingly wide variety of forms and purposes. A disposition to take decisive ac- tion, under pressure, with incomplete, confusing, or ambiguous informa- tion is the essence of business leadership, and decision-forcing cases are the most popular type of business case. (For a discussion of types of cases, see chapter 12.) C. Roland Christensen (with Hansen 1987) distinguishes the use of cases in law schools from that in business schools as follows. In the legal case analysis, the purpose, he says, is “to derive appropriate legal prin- ciples,” whereas in business case analysis, the purpose is “to help the student develop a way of understanding and contributing to the solution of a corporation's problems” (p. 27). Seen in this way, a typical business case has some features similar to a law or medical case, where there is an urgency to act in the face of problematic information and where there are principles of success: profitability or good financial performance. ‘The difference is the absence of a well-defined professional knowledge base in the field of business admi for its application. Business istration and formal, logical processes we analysis may draw on virtually the en-tire body of knowledge of behavior and social seience and may make use of it in a virtually limitless variety of way’. “Originally, cases were just about anything the ... faculty could find to provide a basis for provocative dist ness report, or a business problem with which the teacher was familiar” (Christensen with Hansen 1987, 25). In the 1930s, Charles Gragg formu- lated this classic statement: “A case typically is a record of a business is- sue which actually has been faced by business executives, together with surrounding facts, opinions, and prejudices upon which executive deci- sions have to depend” (Gragg 1954, 6). That statement has evolved into Christensen’s more complicated view: “A case is a partial, historical, clinical study of a situation which has confronted a practicing adminis- trator or management group. Presented in narrative form to encourage student involvement, it provides data—substantive and process—essen- tial to an analysis of a specific situation, for the framing of alternative action programs, and for their implementation recognizing the complex- ity and ambiguity of the practical world” (Christensen with Hansen 1987, 27). sion: a te document, a busi- Research cases may be used to illustrate appropriate, typical, or exemplary decision making. But research cases are not use- ful in teaching critical thinking skills because the thinking has already been done, the findings already reached, the conclu- sions already included in the case. ‘What are the skills that the case method is thought to inculcate? The do- ‘main of business practice is the business corporation or enterprise. The distinguishing feature of business practice is often held to be an action orientation, the disposition to find opportunities to use administrative processes such as decision making, planning, organizing, and leadership to solve organizational problems and improve organizational perform- ance. The problems confronting a particulae firm may be those identified by its executives, or they may be those identified by a case teacher/case writer as the subject to be analyzed for the general lessons it yields for business practice. The fact that the domains of both knowledge and ap- plication are numerous and diverse tends to create an impression among traditional teachers of a diffuse purpose, a lack of intellectual focus in business case teaching. (For a discussion of the differences between tra- ditional and experiential teaching, see chapter 5.) Because business organizations and their environments are exceed- ingly complex, there has emerged no clearly defined professional reason- ng process called thinking like a manager. ‘That is one reason why teachers are drawn to the decision as the basis for a case and why deci- sion sciences are invoked in their analysis. But most discrete business de- cisions are documented only partially, if at all; thus the documentation must be created, often an arduous, expensive, time-consuming, and, in the end, ambiguous process. Moreover, scholars of management will ar- gue that decision making may not be the most important activity of good managers and an undue focus on it may distort the reality of busi- ness practice. To many teachers trained through lectures and examina- tions within a social science orientation, therefore, “business school” case teaching may seem unfocused, unprincipled, and inefficient. There is skepticism concerning the invisible processes of reflection and learning that a well-led discussion may be creating within the minds of students. While a model of legal analysis might be attempted in business cases, execution of its specific steps is more complicated and challenging; essential facts are more elusive, reasoning less decipherable, applicable rules unclear or altogether absent. If there is such a thing as thinking like 1 businessperson, then, the reasoning process is more experienti associative, involving pattern recognition and intuition, than itis logical reasoning, as in the teaching of law, or scientific reasoning, as in the teaching of clinical practice. and Public Administration and Management ‘The impetus for case teaching in public administration in the United States became irresistible in the mid-1930s with the growing recognition that the practice of public administration was changing much more rap- idly than the teaching of it. Though acknowledging the example of case teaching in the fields of law, social work, and medicine, Harold Stein, editor of the first case book in public administration, observed that “the Harvard Business School cases exist solely for teaching; unlike the medi- cal, legal, and social work cases, questions of form and content are de- termined exclusively on pedagogic and analytic grounds; there are no ‘operative cules of the game to be applied” (Stein 1952, xx-xxi). Thus, Stein believed, Harvard Business School cases are the appropriate model for public administration, What, then, is a case? Stein defined a case as an “examination of particulars prior to or as a part of generalization” (p. xx). Cases de- picted “characteristic modes of behavior of public administrators ... as they go about their task of making decisions” (p. ix). Citing Aesop's Fables and Plutarch’s Lives as precursors, Stein said that “learning by cases, generically considered, is a kind of learning in which the student aOther Applications derives insights or suggestions for generalizations, or in which he is led to examine his own generalized prejudyments, from the observation of particular instances” (p. xxvii Teaching cases in public administration are similar to those in bus ness education in that they are creations of ease teachers and case writ- ers. One can find naturally occurring cases in the public sector: decisions pursuant t© quasi-judicial authority in regulatory matters or following a specific statutory mandate. Moreover, public management is framed by statutes and judicial rulings and by the systems of informal authority that arise within this framework. Nonetheless, cases are as varied as the problems, issues, and organizations found in governments. For this rea~ son, case teaching in public administration, as in business administea- tion, may appear to traditional teachers to lack legitimating rigor and precision because it, too, is based on experiential, intuitive reasoning. If there is a difference, it is that public administration teachers can- ot even appeal to profitability or financial performance as performance principles. There are no clear-cut “right answers” fo issues concerning politics and values. There may appear to be no inherently wrong ones ei ther. Notes Robert Behn (1993), “The practitioners of case-analysis re search will never be able to prove that they are right. They will not eve be able to prove thar their work is helpful, for even the testimony managers who find the insights of case analyses useful does not consti: tute proof. But at least those engaged in case-analysis research will kno\ that they are asking important questions” about what values are stake (p. 53) ‘The use of the case method is becoming increasingly widespread throu out secondary, collegiate, graduate, and postgraduate education au training programs. Following are a few examples of how the method defined in other disciplines. Policy Analysis Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, public policy analysis recognized as an increasingly important function of government. Poli analysis is the disciplined, analytical activity of (x) identifying the p sible purposes of proposed government actions; (2) identifying and ev. uating alternative ways of achieving these purposes; (3) creating a choosing designs for desirable governmental actions; and (4) evaluating the capacity of the government to execute these designs (Lynn 1987, 173). Policy analysis, therefore, requires specialized skills to structure and analyze complex problems and to design feasible and politically at- tractive solutions to them. ‘The purpose of using reaching cases to help students acquire these specialized policy analysis skills is threefold: * To help students acquire the habit of being analytical in areas of political and bureaucratic life where analysis is thought to be of questionable value * To increase students’ facility in using specific analytic con- cepts and techniques that have been helpful in analyzing pol- icy problems * To familiarize students with the intellectual and political con- text of public policy formulation, that is, with the experien- tial basis of policymaking and implementation ‘The use of the case method to teach policy analysis thus combines the rigor associated with teaching law or medicine with the more experi- ential skills associated with teaching business administration. The use of policy cases enables students to get practice in defining problems and purposes, choosing analytic approaches, retrieving or creating relevant information, and communicating findings and recommendations in a style appropriate to actual decision-making contexts, Policy analysis cases help the student appreciate the pressures of real time constraints on public officials, the need to make decisions whether or not scientific understanding of a problem has been achieved, the messiness and ill-de- fined character of most policy problems, and the extent to which policy decisions are embedded in larger bureaucratic, political, and social con- texts. Human Sciences A basic skill in the human sciences is the ability to recall correctly a sub- stantial fraction of a massive corpus of facts, in particular, those perti- nent to particular situations. The traditional method of human sciences instruction is lecture-textbook-laboratory learning. Clinical work, how- ever, requires skill in solving problems—in synthesis, analysis, and diag- nosis. Clinical questions include: What is the disease? What is its prog- nosis? What is the treatment? This requires the correct application of the facts © actual problems,Many cases in the human seiences serve (0 illustrate disease sta establish real-world relevance of topics, and motivate learning. Beyond these uses, cases can deepen a “working, understanding” of basic con- cepts and processes as well as enhance skill at dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity. Examples of anatomical and physiological principles are “three phases of the control of gastric secretion” and the role of the im= mune system in the allergic response. Particular aspects to be empha- sized include “the interaction between neural and hormonal mechanisms in the control of each phase of secretion.” Ideas or facts the students should know include “the relations between the neural and hormonal control of gastric secretion.” ‘The case method is described as “an offshoot or variation of the “Socratic approach’ which is another name for proactive interaction be= tween teachers and students” (Rondstadt 1993, 1), which takes the form of questions and answers. Students learn by discovering answers for themselves. It is appropriate when there are no “right answers” but when there may be “better answers” (p. 2). Problem-solving cases “re semble the decision or dilemma case ... in which a scenario is presented, and a student must assemble the relevant information, identify key con. cepts, and make informed assessments to solve a problem” (Cliff an Wright 1996). Ina “directed case study,” there is a single specific answer expected for nearly all of a prescribed sequence of questions. A case, according to Robert Rondstadt, is “a documented situatio a selection of facts and inferences that present a... problem ... 0 an opportunity [that] equires action.” In his view, “What's critical learning how to deal with unique situations that, like unique human ings, still resemble one another... Vicarious experience. That's what th case method is all about” (1993, 2). Secondary Education According to Selma Wasserman, “Teaching with cases has now becom a viable modus operandi in virtually every secondary subject area, fro mathematics, biology, and general science, to English, government, hil tory, law and family life” (1994, x). In secondary education applications, a case takes the form of a nat rative, constructed from real‘ife problems confronting real peopl drawn around problems or “big ideas” (ie., significant issues that wat rant serious, in-depth examination). Writing for an audience of secon ary school teachers, Wasserman refers for models primarily co the ay proach and purpose of case teaching in business sehools, Students learn 10 communicate their ideas more effectively. The able to examine complicated issues in more critical ways, The dramatic change in students’ ability to n ike good decisions. Students become more curious; their general interest in learning is increased, ‘There is increased respect for the different views, attitudes, and be liofs held by other students. Students are more motivated to read ma- terial beyond thar presented in class. Discussion of issues that began in class extend beyond the classroom, 10 the lunchroom, and to the dinner table, Students enjoy classes more and find school more chal- lenging and more interesting. (Wasserman 1994, 10) teaching, Wasserman argues, “is a methodology for all seasons” (1994, 12). jase Study as a Method Product of Research ‘The meaning of the term case study as a basis for case teaching must be distinguished from its meaning as a method of conducting research or as the product of such research (i.e., a “research case”). The distinction may be blurred because (r) research cases are often used by classroom teachers as an illustrative case or example, (2) cases prepared for case method teaching often include original data and insights and thus have academic research value, and (3) some definitions of “case” seem to in- clude both genres, for example, “A case is a story, real o simulated, that illustrates important features of a field of study” (Cliff and Wright 1996, S25). The differences, however, between teaching and research cases in purpose and construction are fundamental. Robert K. Yin defines a research case as “any research investigation which analyzes a phenomenon in its real-life context” (Yin 1984, 2) or as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon Within its real-life context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and in which multiple sources of evi- dence are used” (Yin 1989, 23). A distinctive feature of the case study, as compared to a quantitative scientific study, is char “there will always be far more variables of interest than there will be data points” (p. 23). Research cases may be used to illustrate appropriate, typical, or ex- emplaty decision making: “Here is what good work or good manage- ment looks like.” But research eases are not useful in teaching critical thinking skills because the thinking has already been done, the findings already reached, the conelusions already included in the case. ‘Thus a re-Cases and Culture search case is more like a lecture: it presents “the truth” to students in- stead of challenging them to discover the truth on their own. A typical research case is “Child Support Enforcement: A Case Study" (Bloom with Dixon 1993). Its concluding section has phrases such as these: “The analysis ... highlights several reasons why,” “recent reforms may address only a subset of the barriers,” “There are numer ous strategies. ... For example,” “The data presented here suggest that (pp. 30-31). Readers are not invited co challenge these findings or given. any opportunity to reach these conclusions on their own based on infor mation in the case. ‘A good teaching case, as defined further in chapter 2, contains no “right answer” to the questions raised by the case, no “correct” way of thinking about or analyzing a situation, no single “best way.” Instead, a teaching case provides the student with issues, problems, choices, ai information and expects the student to come up with solutions and pr posed actions using the information in the case. A teaching case requires the student to answer the question “What would Ldo if I faced the cir: cumstances described in the case?” Because it has no “approved solutions” to the problems it presents, a teaching case is distinctly different from the cases used in academic and other professional research. Research cases do have right answers Such cases typically present correct approaches to problems, illustrat how a situation or issue should be approached, or describe how a prol Jem was actually solved together with an assessment or evaluation of th solution. “If different teaching approaches are more compatible with certain cul tural groups than with others,” observes Karen Mingst, “we need to careful about wholesale adoption of [teaching] strategies inappropria to the cultural setting” (1997, 2-3). Is the case method a Western North American or individualistic or capitalist method that is not suit able to how learning occurs in other cultures or historical experiences? ‘The case method, after all, emphasizes individualism, the power reason, argument and self-expression, and willingness to question at thority and official views. In contrast: ‘= In many Asian cultures, value is placed on harmony, courtesy, discipline, respect for elders, loyalty, and order, and publicly raising skeptical or eritical questions about another's views is considered inappropriate. ‘+ In former communist countries, there may be little experience or comfort with challenging authoritative policies or suggest- ing alternatives to official positions, because such conduct ‘once was punished. ‘* Many cultures (e.g., Asian) emphasize adherence to principle and duty over reliance on reason and independent thinking. ‘Students in countries in which educational opportunities are determined by national examination systems may be resistant to student-centered pedagogy. ‘There is little evidence, as Mingst (1997) points out, concerning the relationship between culture and learning; there is some evidence that differences within groups (ie., differences in individual learning styles) are greater than differences between groups (ie., differences in cultural learning styles). My own experience is similar to that of Eric Hyer (1997), who observes, based on his personal experience, that “certain cultural traits may make adjusting co active learning methods difficult, hue there are not insurmountable cultural barriers that make it impos- sible” (p. 28). Allowing for a period of adjustment, in which the stu- dents of different cultural backgrounds are allowed to gain a feel for active, discussion-based learning, is likely to reward the instructor's pa- tience. (See chapter 6 for further discussion of cultural influences on teaching and learning.) mary A survey of different definitions and applications of the case method suggests the common beliefs (1) that it is useful for learners to attempt to derive general insights from a careful examination of particulars and (2) that the systematic discussion of realistic cases provides vicarious ex- perience that will prepare learners for professional, practical work. Dif- ferences among applications become evident in the way their practition- crs answer two questions: Where do the particulars of a case come from? In some fields—law, clinical social work, medicine—cases are naturally occurringunits of analysis. In others—administration, teaching, policy analysis —cases are “made up,” and their essential faets and boundaries estab= lished, by case writers and teachers in order to serve particular teaching objectives. By what processes do learners draw general insights fro! cases? In reaching generalizations, the emphases of instructors vai along two dimensions: Some instructors emphasize social interaction or problem solvin that is, discussion and persuasion, group dynamics and teamwork, other consensus-oriented or deliberative processes that prepare learnet to cope with the context-dependent, ambiguous, interdisciplinary natur of the real world. Other instructors emphasize cognitive or intellectual performancé the quality of conceptualization, reasoning, data analysis, and argume exhibited by learners. Case analysis in legal education emphasizes an logical reasoning and the formal logic of applying rules to facts. Cases i clinical medical practice emphasize the mastery of scientific reasoning i the light of patient symptoms and circumstances. Cases in admini tration and policymaking emphasize associative reasoning and pat recognition, the interpretation of complicated bodies of informati through the lenses of heuristic models (i.e., synthesis, intuition, judj ‘ment, and application). Still other instructors emphasize the interaction between the quall of thinking and analysis and the form of the social relationships which they occur. Does working in teams produce a higher-quality any ysis? What are the obstacles to reaching agreement or consensus complex problems? 2. “Case Teaching Is Not for Me!” How we teach, instruct, or facilitate discussion are personal matters {governed by experience and temperament. Most of us tend to teach the \y we ourselves were taught and in a style that feels comfortable or natural or appropriate. How we teach is also a product of institutional contexts: incentives, norms, and cues in the environment, and, in partic- ular, the value placed on effective teaching. It is also true that teachers and trainers, especially those in universities and those with Ph.D.’s, {quard their autonomy and resist pressures to teach in a particular way in “thei” classrooms. In the individualized world of teaching and training, advocates of the case method often sound as if they were evangelists for a cult or an esoteric belief system rather than practitioners of an effective, main- stream teaching method. Their goal often seems to be conversion, rather than persuasion. Why is it that case teachers so often adopt the pose of ‘convert or deviant? ‘One explanation for case teachers’ inordinate, sometimes off-put- ting passion for their approach is that they must continually deal with claims that “I already teach with cases” and that case teaching is too “soft.” The fact that most case teachers have first had to be convinced that the case method was worth their time and effort accounts in good Ineasure for the evangelical tone of the case method literature. 1. Many traditional teachers, for whom the word case is a synonym for example, will say that they already teach with cases. That is, they illustrate key points with examples, often drawn from real- world experience, For example, a teacher of introductory micro~ ‘economics may offer students a “case” of “elastic demand,” that ‘an example of a situation in which the increase of a product's price leads t0 a disproportionate reduction in demand for it. When confronted by such a claim that “I already do case teach- ing,” advocates of the case method may become unduly shri“1 Don’t Think It’s an Effective Way to Teach” No! That's not what we mean by case teaching,” as if disti guishing Christianity from Buddhism or Roman Catholicism fror Unitarianism, Though the case method is sine qua non for professional edue; tion in some instructional programs, it remains intensely cont versial in many others. Many teachers and trainers have little for case teaching and actively resist its inclusion in courses a curriculums. There are various reasons for this resistance. One the importance of establishing the legitimacy of one’s own met ods. In scientific domains, where the lectures, problems, sets, laboratory exercises are the primary means of instruction, tea ing with cases may appear to be “soft,” Jacking in rigor. In “legitimate” university or professional school, faculty present body of knowledge that students are required to repeat on mand. Case teaching is little more than pandering to students. In what follows, I present familiar objections.to teaching with together with brief rejoinders to each. The rejoinders are not intend be persuasive as put forth. Instead, they introduce the perspectives inform and are developed further in the remainder of this book. | also Barrows 1985, chap. 10: “Recapitulation and Review of Freq Faculty Concerns.”) “Students don’t learn anything by exchanging half- opinions.” Criticizing the growing orientation of university teachi ward satisfying students-as-consumers, Mark Edmundson writes: Many of the most successful professors now are the ones who have ‘decentered” their classrooms. ‘There's a new emphasis on group) projects and on computer-generated exchanges among their students, What they seem to want most is to talk to one another. A classroom now is frequently an “environment,” a place highly conducive to the exchange of existing ideas, the students’ ideas. Listening to one an= other, students sometimes change their opinions. But what they gen= erally can't do is acquire a new vocabulary, a new perspective, that will cast issues in a fresh light. (19975 45) The question that teachers ought to address is this: How can stu dents learn to distinguish between half-baked and thoughtful opinions ind to engage each other in a thoughtful rather than a merely opinion- ed way? How can they acquire new ideas for their own use? Teac With cases is a means of promoting such learning. “It’s inefficient. It takes too much time to get to the point.” Teachets may reach their points quickly in a lecture, but are they bring- ing their students along with them? The classroom discussion that is the ‘essenice of case teaching is intended to move students in a verifiable way toward the understanding that the teacher seeks to impart. The premise ‘of case teaching is that a larger number of students will be advanced to- ward intuitive mastery of complex ideas if they are actively engaged in discussion than if they are passive listeners or regurgitators of the ideas of others. “'m expected to teach. Students look to me for my knowl- ‘edge and expertise.” It is true that students may resist case teaching because it seems to place them at risk of appearing confused or unpre- pared in class. Or they may feel that case teaching bespeaks instructor laziness, a reluctance to design and prepare a lecture. “I paid to listen to you, not to people as ignorant as I am,” students may say of a discussion class. Bue what students have paid for is che opportunity to learn with skilled teachers who have clear goals for student understanding and in- {ellectual and behavioral development. Learning requires students to take risks, and teaching with cases is intended to create effective learning opportunities. “Students should master basic knowledge, theory, and tech- niques in school. Later, they will learn how to apply them in their Work.” Mastery of (as opposed to mere exposure to) knowledge, the- ‘ory, and techniques has not occurred until students are able indepen- slently to use facts, ideas, and concepts to address issues and solve prob- lems. Application of concepts involves higher order analytical skills that an be learned in an educational or training environment. Teaching with {ses is a means of motivating and verifying mastery. “With case teaching, you cannot determine or evaluate how much students are learning. Grading is too subjective.” Students ‘often reveal more of their progeess in developing intellectual skill and wastering concepts through open on than through periodic test ‘ores, Also, instructors have more opportunities to evaluate intellectual“1 don’t have time to learn how to do case teaching.” ‘Teach- ing with cases requires some investment of time, effort, and trial-and-er- ror experience, But any instructional method, including the creation and delivery of a lecture, requires effort and skill if itis to be effective. Might this statement mean, “I don’t really want to devote time to learning how to teach”? when actively engaging students than when lecturing to them, Though confbiacon of skilled discon leadership, complement written assignments, and case-based exercises, instructors may come f know their students? absolute and relative abilities far better than whet relying on a traditional lecturefexamination format. “I teach undergraduates. My students are not mature or re- sponsible enough to learn from cases.” The case method has been ‘Widely and successfully used in a variety of subjects with high school students. ‘Thus maturity cannot be the issue. Teaching “inexperienced” ‘or younger students requires the teacher to select cases with which their students can readily identify and to show them the way to learn from uch cases. In contrast, older, more experienced students are more in- lined to be tolerant of a case’s shortcomings and a teacher's particular style and learn what they can from case discussion. “Pd Teach with Cases but «| have too much material to cover.” Success in covering ma rial may occur at the expense of students’ cumulative learning or um standing. Exposing students to ten topics, whereupon they master or three (and not the same two or three), may be less effective than posing students to five topics and taking the trouble to verify hat students have mastered all five. But this strategy requires teacher tvaluate the relative worth of the topics they intend to cover, to chi “My students don’t like to speak up.” Mark Edmundson OE aoe ropiea-—choioes cat mail Iyrites that “students frequently come to my office to tell me how intimi- the most important five of “ ee wo make. dated they feel in class; the thought of being embarrassed in front of the who have been trained as scholars 4uroup fills chem with dread” (1997, 45}. Teachers with international ex- d Wee agree that students in some cultures are more inclined to engage «| don" ality.” Engaging students ac perience agree t Bag pe date decision ae is at the heart of case W# critical analysis and debate than others. A teacher in any culture can in the kindof ai evolve more aspects of a teacher's personality thi weatly enhance the prospects for effective discussion by ensuring that ing does indeed involve more as Asusdents are given clear direction as to what they are expected to study Le eee oe ee In preparing for a case discussion, by giving them adequate time and op- genuine affectio + hing. But personal qualities areal Portunity to prepare, and by managing the discussion ina manner that contributes 10 effective cas tea a ao can motivate andi wards preparation and constructive engagement. If you don’t want poreant in traditional reaching Totgminat format, you will prob We students to feel self-conscious, see to it that what they say is not be = withing ee scussion leader as well, and you feived by teacher or classmates as embarrassing. able to motivate them as a discus livering a lecture. Admittedly, a flair for “acting,” a sense of hu ccomplish more as a teacher. “My classes are too large.” Case teachers differ in their judg- | “ideal” class size. Classes that are too small, for example, less rience to be a case teacher. ts 0 ; ple, “You need aie "The ability co tell “war stor {en students, may lack the diversity of viewpoint and background wise you have ne e sible to effective case teaching, but this is ‘feates stimulating discussion. In classes that are too large, for ex- oP nese world experience with the subject matte le more than sixty students, an instructor will find it difficule to en- conception. While real-world ex % wore than a fraction of the students in any class session, and stu- import factor is a teacher's ability more y " ean hat mastery ofthe material being covered ise may lack the incentive to prepare. A class of any size will benefit dan eta Using cases as de experene™ that stent Hoine active discussion, however, and cases can be useful vehicles their later success. Using cases as the “experience a Bar cae pected to learn from diverts attention from the teacher's personal Bi esuch discissiony ‘ence to students’ mastery of the case, Instructors: who feel they fessional experience can be fine ease teachers nonetheless. “It’s too hard to find good cases.” Finding good cases is moredifficult with highly specialized topies or when a teacher seeks a case fof More than that, the interactive, argumentative style of the typical discussion imitates the style of argument and interaction that is the ingly rich source of teaching cases, however, and a search of the man} rule in a wide variety of professional work settings. Far from being an on-line indexes and case listings may prove successful. Moreover, artifact of an educational environment, case discussions prepare partici teacher may be able effectively to use “caselike materials,” for exampl pants for the pressures and demands of professional practice. a newspaper article, published report, book excerpt, or document The recent literature suggests growing momentum behind case motivate a discussion teaching (see chapter 1). Cases have long been used in graduate educa- tion, and Robert Rondstade argues that in the past three decades there a particular country or location and topic, ‘The Internet is an increai © “It’s an American/Western/capitalist (business schoo!) od. Our culture (history, traditions) is different.” Superficially, “What the faculty have to cultivate is activity in the igh appear o be a aul poine ces view Colt differences i escscs of kinkindgy het de esata bine wou in human affairs, Why woulda'r thar be true in teaching? The argum ea ses activity in the presence of knowledge. is refured, however, by the experience of teachers who, like myself, hy aes used the case method in various countries on different continents is discussion rejects the doctrine that students found that students and practitioners, especially those whose oriental should first learn passively, and then, having learned, is to the changing worlds of business, politics, and administration, should apply knowledge. It is a psychological error. In the remarkably similar appreciation for the method. When students in © process of learning there should be present, in some sense writing workshops are asked to choose case topics and teaching ol or other, a subordinate activity of application. In fact, the tives, their choices reflect a remarkable convergence of concerns. A applications are part of the knowledge. For the very versation about case teaching across cultures is a stimulating expe a of de ait i because of what teachers discover that they have in common. ng of the things known is wrapped up in their rela- tionship beyond themselves. This unapplied knowledge is “| teach experienced practitioners. They don’t have knowledge shorn of its meaning. ime oF the patience to study long cases that are not immed “The careful shielding of a university from the activities relevant to their needs.” So don’t use long cases that are not im of the world around us is the best way to chill interest and ately relevant to their needs. to defeat progress. Celibacy does not suit a university. It ‘must mate itself with action.” = Alfred North Whitehead, Essays in Science and Philosophy (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), 218-19, quoted in Hammes, Christiansen, and Hansen 1994, 34. ‘Why, If You Aspire to Be an Effective Teacher, You Should Continue Reading This Guidebook Cases are used in virtually every arca of education and training for fessional practice: law, medicine, business, public administration, & tion, accounting, foreign service. They are used for instructio training at virtually every level of experience and prior knowledge, secondary through college, graduate programs, and programs for tioners from direct service workers through chief executive office political leaders. Cases are used for discussion purposes, for a candidate qualifications for employment, and for examining, Ws been a revolutionary change in teaching practices at the undergradu- ie level, away from lecturing toward required student participation, “In form or another, the basic approach of the case method has spread ws the academic landscape” (1995, r). Indeed, educators in several fields already regard the case method as Wie and advocate more complex problem-solving approaches incorpo- Wii both interactive technology and on-line engagement with the real wld while sill in school. My most important argument, however, is that this guidebook is, il foremost, a book about teachings itis, as well, a book about a achievement and skill development. Teaching cases have evolved i fective, mainstream instructional tools,particular approach to teachings the ease method. My underlying cons viction is that if you incorporate teaching eases into your courses or eu riculum—if you encourage your students to be active rather than passi ‘& compliant learners—your students will learn more about what y« are teaching them. This is a book, then, about how you might more el fectively accomplish your own teaching objectives. Unless you alrea have an entirely settled view about such an issue, you might find som thing of value here and in the references on which this book draws. 3. Why Do We Teach? The Strategic Question Every teacher, instructor, and facilitator faces a strategic question: In the jass/course/workshop/training session that I am about to lead, how do | wish to change the lives of those who will participate? Change lives? Such an ambition may sound presumptuous, of even unhelpfully distracting, to those of us who, on most days, simply hope that we get our point across. Yet most of us can remember courses, teachers, or class sessions that changed our way of viewing the world, ‘our understanding of an idea, our appreciation of a point of view, out admiration for a style of thinking or acting, or even our direction in life. Organizing and ditecting the thought processes and behavior of learners an have far-reaching consequences for how they subsequently engage the world bjectives When pressed for their particular objectives for a class or course, teach- ind trainers in my workshops have cited one or more items from the following list: * Stimulate interest in or curiosity about a subject or problem * Enhance “appreciation” of unfamiliar issues or material + Convey essential facts, information * Improve intellectual understanding of theories and their ap- plications * Improve critical, analytical, and reasoning skills (i.., improve ve performance)* Enhance decision making as an intellectual skill © Create shared experiences among students/participants ‘Improve behavioral and social skills (e.g. leading a group, organizing a task, making a presentation) « Socialize participants to listen to and respect others’ opinions ‘Enhance personal confidence, the willingness to advocate ideas «Change attitudes toward issues, points of view, organiza- tions, or particular people + Enhance skill in contributing to decision making as a social or political process + Increase desire and capacity to promote change, improve in- stitutions, solve social problems “These objectives are arrayed more or less on a continuum from i dividual (“private”) and largely passive involvement of learners to p active engagement of learners in complex social tasks. Depending their specific content, objectives such as these may be arrayed on any. several other continuums: from rote memorization and reproduction information and concepts to critical, analytical thinking skills; frot simple or straightforward facts to complex arguments involving eval tion of incomplete, ambiguous information; from questions or problei Respect for persons, optimism, and a general regard for the complexity of causality are among the values and attitudes believed to be indispensable to professionalism. believed to have “correct answers” to problems having no right answi and involving considerable uncertainty; from material requiring ( benefiting from) directed learning to material over which the learner given considerable, if not total, autonomy in choosing an approach ai formulating responses, answers, or solutions, A teacher's choice of objectives depends on many variables: experience, and knowledge of students/participants and their level motivation (e.g. are they a “captive” audience for a required course enthusiastic volunteers?}s the content of the subject matter (e.g., essen- tial professional knowledge and basic theory or issues, problems, and applications); the placement and role of the course in a curriculum structure (eg., introductory or advanced, preprofessional or jobltest- related); the particular interests and concerns of the instructor (€.8. €5- tablishing and enforcing high cognitive standards, overcoming precon- ceptions and biases, or assisting in the development of higher-order thinking and social skills). ‘The point is that how we teach, and whether or not we decide to em- ploy the case method, necessarily follows from what we are trying to accomplish as teachers. blem-Based Learning ‘An insightful and more focused formulation of the teacher's strategic de- cision can be derived from Howard Barrows's ideas concerning prob- lem-based medical education (Barrows and Tamblyn 1980). * Structuring knowledge for use in practical contexts refers to the ability to draw selectively from a body of potentially rele- vant knowledge those facts needed to address particular is- sues or to solve particular problems. The goal is skill in matching knowledge to contexts in which it is essential to choosing treatments or solutions to problems. The development of an effective professional reasoning pro- cess refers to the ability to “think like” a skilled professional practitioner (e.g, like a lawyer, a medical specialist, an econ- ‘omist, or a program manager). This goal presupposes the ex- istence of a widely accepted notion of effective professional reasoning or, even more basically, the existence of a profes- sion with an identifiable knowledge basis and principles or theories to guide its application. The development of effective self-directed learning skills re- fers to the ability to learn on one’s own, to confront unfamil- iar problems or issues in a systematic and appropriate way, to identify solutions or treatments and problem-solving or reasoning processes that may fall outside the range of con- ventional wisdom oF accepted practice.* Increased motivation for learning velers to the inclination to seek situations in which the process of learning is essential. Having experienced the enjoyment of learning and problem solving, and having acquired the skill of self-directed learn- ing, participants may resolve to seek out, rather than shy away from, challenging assignments ind roles. Barrows’s conceptualization of problem-oriented learning objectiv enables us to understand better the different approaches to the ca method outlined in chapter 1. Intellectual fields, subjects, disciplines and professions (termed for convenience “intellectual domains”) diff in at least two fundamental respects. Intellectual domains differ in the ease with which the essential knowl- edge can be defined. In scientific and technical domains, or in highly institutionalized d. mains such as law, essential knowledge is relatively well defined and al graduates are expected to have mastered it. A primary objective, assut ing mastery of the knowledge base, is skill in drawing on that know! edge base in addressing the problems of the field. In less institutionalize domains, such as administration, soci work, planning, and education, the question of what constitutes “esse tial” knowledge is far less clear; indeed, it may be difficult to rule o any but the most esoteric and specialized knowledge as relevant ro pra tice, In such domains, “structuring” a well-defined body of knowledge a less essential skill than identifying knowledge potentially relevant t resolving the problem at hand, In many professional domains, mastering essential knowledge is garded as no more important than, or even subordinate to, accultu tion in the values, norms, and attitudes held co be appropriate for pra tice. Especially in fields of human service, respect for persons, optimist and a general regard for the complexity of causality are among values and attitudes believed to be indispensable to professionalism. Intellectual domains differ in the extent to which there are accepted, protocols or processes that constitute professional reasoning or thinking like [your field here]. ‘As noted in chapter 1, thinking like a lawyer and the clinical re soning process automatically invoked by physicians are held to be indi pensable to effective practice. Thinking like an economist may. be re garded as a cognitive skill essential to certain policymaking roles or to solving particular classes of resource-allocation problems. As one ap- proaches domains in which the complexity or variety of problems over- whelms the availability of accessible, “tested” knowledge, more general- ized problem-solving paradigms are invoked to at least rationalize and focus the problem-solving process. Even so-called rationalist paradigms may be considered too restrictive where problems essentially involving human behavior and interaction are concerned. In such domains, intui tive, subjective processes, such as frame reflection or visioning, may be invoked. In emerging domains, or in less institutionalized domains—for ex- ample, public policy analysis and management—professional disagree- ments may center on the identity of those bodies of knowledge and the- ory that should be regarded as essential, or they may focus on the nature of professional reasoning processes. Indeed, some teachers will argue that the transparency of the professional reasoning process is of such overriding importance that only problems that can be addressed by well- structured reasoning processes should be accorded priority in profes- sional practice,