Teaching with cases
James A. Erskine, Michiel R. Leenders, Louise A. Mauffette-Leenders (1998)

Introduction

The excitement of effective learning and teaching with cases provides a unque and extremely satisfaying experience to the case teacher and to his or her students. We are convinced that every teacher using cases can improve his or her performance and will find this text helpful.

Almost a century ago the Harvard Business School chose the case method as an effective way of teaching business administratio. Today the use of cases is no longer the preserve of a few selected schools of business. Cases are now taught around the world in a wide variety of disciplines. Participatory and collaborative learning, using descriptions of decisions faced in real life by real managers, has proven to be an exciting alternative to more traditional forms of education. Teaching with cases, however, presents unique challenges to instructors. That is why this book was written.

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Since the case method clearly means different things to different people, we have chosen the title "Teaching With Cases" for this book, as our way of reaching all users of cases. The purpose of this text is to assist anyone interested in teaching with cases. Our assumption will be that to be teaching with cases, someone has to use a minimum of one case in a course. Our assumption will also be that it is possible to use the case method on an individual course basis. We recognize that some of the benefits of the case method may not exist in an institution where only one course is taught with a minimum percentage of cases. We also recognize that it is possible to make a program or institutional commitment to the case method. We prefer to reserve the term teaching with cases for the total set of activities related to the use of cases in the classroom. We prefer to call a problem discussion, a film, a lecture, a simulation, a business game, a class discussion, a question and answer period, a field trip, a student presentation, a reading, and any other educational technique by its proper name.

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