III. Typical Teaching Situations

Case Method

Primarily developed in business and law contexts, case method teaching can be productively used in liberal arts, engineering, and education settings to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as to present students with real-life situations. For the sake of simplicity, this section offers ideas from a business orientation; you can easily adapt details to your needs.
Most studies of case method teaching describe the experience for both teacher and learner as exhilarating. In theory, the case brings into the classroom a "chunk of reality" on which students spend hours in rigorous analysis. In class the instructor asks questions, moderates, and guides the case discussion, which is rational, civil, and at times, passionate. The end of class comes too soon, with many hands still waving in the air but without having arrived at "the right answer." Students continue the debate outside the classroom, and so the learning continues: learning how to think, how to plan, and how to act in specific contexts.
In practice, of course, things are different. Students challenge the case: it has too little or too much information, it is poorly written and confusing, no real business could possibly have all these problems. Some students don't devote time to analyzing the case because they don't know how, or don't think they need to. In class, students are silent or passive, and their comments seem strangely unrelated to the case at hand. The instructor resorts to lecturing about the case, berating the students and explaining "the point" in detail. At long last class ends, and students leave knowing that "that was the right answer-what the teacher just said."
This gap between the ideal and the real raises several questions for the practice of case method teaching. Here are a few tips, based on classroom experience.

How Do You Select Cases?

If you were taught with the case method, your best source is your own experience: teach first the cases you were taught and loved. Your interest in the case and your enthusiasm for exploring its possibilities will inspire both your discussion leadership and your 39 students. Search for and select cases that are exciting, controversial, challenging, complex, and well written. The ideal case would be short, five to ten pages, but still require a full class period to explore fully. It would clearly describe a complicated situation in which people must act on difficult problems that cannot be perfectly resolved, but can be addressed in at least two reasonable ways. When possible, use more recent cases, in settings your students may eventually enter, preferably with an international backdrop. These features, however, are secondary to the basic requirement for a good story open to different endings. You may well be able to find cases in your discipline; otherwise, you might choose to write one yourself.

How Can You Help Students Prepare for Good Discussions?

Prepare students for the course. As with any course, begin with your syllabus, which clearly identifies this as a case method course or a course that includes cases. Outline your expectations, especially for class participation.

• In the first session, describe the course, cautioning, "This will not be like your other courses." Emphasize the importance of "the four Ps:" preparation of each case before class, presence at every class, promptness in arriving, and participation in discussions (Shapiro, qtd. in Christensen, 1987). Explain how you grade participation, promise a written mid-term assessment of that grade, and invite students to discuss their participation with you. For suggestions about grading students' participation, see "Evaluating Students' Work."
  
  
• Describe in general terms how a case discussion runs. You will begin class by designating one student as "the opener" to summarize the key issues of the case, and another as "the action plan person" who will be called on about halfway through class to describe what should be done about the problems in the case. Your role as discussion leader will not be to point to "the truth" but instead to question and to challenge their remarks with a little drama, a little humor, and a focus on their thinking. The students' role is to think, to listen, to express and defend their thoughts, and to argue with and challenge the statements of others.
  
  
• State your ground rules for class discussions, and include these two: 1) No one will be humiliated for anything they say. Carefully distinguish humiliation from embarrassment here. Although you will not permit anyone to berate or personally attack any student, you hold students accountable for their remarks and may want to ensure, in fact, that students are embarrassed by seeing the implications of thoughtless comments or careless suggestions. With this rule you simultaneously establish high standards for discussions, deter banal or foolish remarks, and demonstrate your respect for students' minds. 2) Rude or offensive comments or class behavior, including bigotry of any kind, will not be tolerated. Your discussions are to be civil, with every student showing proper respect for the beliefs and the dignity of every other student.
  
  
• Explain why you use this method in your course. In an introductory management course, for instance, cases help students learn to think like managers.
  
  
• In business courses, you may want to distribute short notes available from Darden Educational Materials Services which offer guidance on preparing for class and useful checklists for students. Christensen (1987) also helps students and instructors prepare cases.

Prepare students for individual cases. Students usually analyze every case to answer two central questions: What is your analysis of the situation? What should Actor X do about it? The materials mentioned above, together with class discussions, help students understand those questions.
Very occasionally, at the end of class, you may wish to offer some brief descriptive comments or specific questions to guide students in preparing the next assigned case, especially when the case is lengthy or extremely complex. For example, for a case which recounts several events over the life of a task force, you can ask students to divide the case into six different time periods and assess the actions of the task force leader in each period, the choices made and what might have been done better, before recommending future actions.
You can also use study questions to establish "interest groups" and thereby determine in advance the class controversy or debate. To highlight the conflict between staff and line groups in organizations, for example, you might ask students on the left to take the position of the headquarters staff and those on the right to argue as general managers of subsidiaries.
In general, however, give this type of direction rarely. Because undergraduates often do what they are told, they may read the case solely to answer the study questions, excluding all other issues. Worse, too much direction does little to develop their confidence and ability to see what is and is not important in a situation. Better that they should struggle to make sense of conflicting and ambiguous data than learn to depend on "the boss" to direct them to "the problem."

If you're an expert all the time, you're an authority figure, you're unapproachable, you cut off discussion.

—Laurence Pettit, Commerce

How Can You Get Them To Talk?

The short answer is that you invite them, one by one. To promote active discussion, you must know who they are. First, learn your students' names and something about them as individuals (see "The First Day of Class" and "Discussion Sections"). Announce that for the next class, you will prepare and distribute a permanent seating chart to help you learn who they are. Or have them make large name cards everyone can see.
Second, start slowly and prove that discussion is safe, rewarding, and enjoyable. Early cases must be accessible, and initial participants, as many students as possible, must be allowed to speak without interruption. Give verbal and non-verbal encouragement-nodding, saying "Go on"-and be patient if a student stumbles or falls silent in the middle of a comment. Ask many open-ended questions: "What do you think?" "Do you buy that?" "Any other ideas?" "I saw your hand earlier; what were you going to say?" In early discussions, no student trying to participate responsibly should be "interrogated," or pressed to the point of being uncomfortable. In later classes, you should become increasingly more challenging and less supportive; at the start, tread softly.

What Should You Be Doing?

Instructors most familiar with the lecture method may have trouble imagining spending an entire class period without speaking from notes or writing key phrases on the board. If class time is filled with students talking and arguing, they ask, what am I supposed to do?

Plan the discussion. Your work begins when you prepare each class. First, master the material in the case itself. Even when you've taught the case before, read it again, write a brief situation summary, and develop what Christensen (1987) calls "blocks of analysis," groups of ideas that represent a logical flow in the case. Consider how much time you wish to spend discussing each one, and work within that time frame to plan the discussion process.
Planning the discussion process is, in essence, developing a list of questions. What question will you ask the student you call on to open the discussion? How will you introduce a given topic if no student raises it first? What question will you ask to move the discussion into consideration of action alternatives? You must come to class with a mental list of such questions, including followup questions based on probable student responses. The only certain way to avoid dead silence in discussion is to have another question to ask. Prepare many questions.

Plan the board. In a case method class the board is used, not for documenting "the truth" or "the right answer" but for recording logically the flow of the discussion. Making sections of the board correspond to their blocks of analysis, many experienced case method teachers know before class begins how the board will look at the end.
You might work from left to right, arranging the board into sections for the organization and its environment, the critical decisions to be made, the different perspectives of key individuals involved, options, and then an action plan. Given the many mental activities required to teach the case method, using the board effectively is exceedingly difficult; you will improve with practice.

Develop your questioning, listening, and responding skills. These key skills are critical not only in case method teaching but also in facilitating meetings, leading discussion sections, and performing in other settings. As you develop them, you may find your conversational style improving. Here are a few suggestions:

• Answer your own questions before asking them in class. Questions can be broad and open-ended or narrow and pointed. Which type of question do you want to ask? When? Why? Remember that even a little word, an "and" or a "so," can color a question in unintended ways. Monitor your tone as well; the same question can be inviting and intimidating, depending on how it's asked. Consider videotaping a class to analyze your style objectively.
  
  
• When listening to students, pay attention to them, mentally and physically. Look them in the eyes. Stand near them, move toward them as you call on them; use body language to signal your interest in what they have to say. While you listen to a student speak, you must also try to listen for that bridge to the next comment, the next block of analysis. Try to remember who made what critical comments in the course of a discussion; few things invite more participation than the remark, "I'd like to return to Anne's earlier suggestion that we . . ." (see also "Discussion Sections").
  
  
• Perhaps the most frustrating thing about case method teaching is that each class is unpredictable: you never know what a student will say, and so how can you know how you will or should respond? Remember that you have a wide range of possible responses to any statement or classroom event, including silence and verbal and nonverbal responses. Let students respond to classroom incidents before you do. When in doubt, ask a question. Finally, be aware that everything you do— movements and facial expressions as well as statements—will be interpreted by students as a response to what they have said. Choose your reactions with care.

It is a cliché to say you teach in order to be taught, but there are ways of remaining open to surprises-indeed, of structuring classes so that good surprises are inevitable-just as there are ways of shutting down those opportunities. I count on my teaching to keep me intellectually supple.

—Stephen Arata, English

What Should Happen At the End of Class?

In the closing moments of class, summarize the discussion and end with some important questions the case has raised, asking: "What does this say about . . . ?" "Under what circumstances can we . . . ?" "What if . . . ?" "How can . . . ?"
You may also use the last ten minutes of class to lecture briefly on key concepts or theories that relate to the situation just discussed. If useful, draw a chart or write terms on the board, but avoid making comments such as, "And so this explains why X occurred in the case." Such summations encourage students to shift their attention from understanding problems to memorizing tools. For the same reason, never end class with the comment, "Here's what this case was about."
In final remarks, you may tell students why you selected that particular case, pointing out how you believe it relates to previous cases. Remind them of assignments due in the next class period. If appropriate, offer praise for the quality of the discussion, not for "the answer," and for the class as a whole, not for individuals in it.

Some Final Advice

• For most students, the case method represents a big change, and change brings fear. You are fighting against years of experience where good students are quiet in class and listen attentively to the teacher, and where bad ones can get away with no preparation, poor attendance, sleeping, writing notes, or doing other homework on your time. Be clear, consistent, and firm in your expectations of them, and perform up to those same expectations yourself: your students will come around.
  
  
• Respect your students. Respect their minds: if the assigned material is too difficult, let them tell you- let them tell you twice before you judge that they can't handle it. Even when they are floundering, hold them accountable for what they say. It is not cruel to ask a student to defend a silly comment or an ill-advised suggestion. That's how they will learn.
  
  
• Accept the limitations of this method, which is not the only, the universal, or the best teaching method. Be prepared for detractors, for students who say they don't know if they've learned anything, and for colleagues who may agree with them.
  
  
• Be clear about your objectives. With the case method, students can learn how to think, how to approach problems. Although an inefficient way to learn terminology and theory, the case method is an exciting and productive way to involve students in any discipline with a real problem.
  
  
• Consider giving case exams. This means many pages of essays on the same situation: "What should Ms. Gilcrist do?" Although time-consuming and at times painful to grade, they let you provide extensive individual feedback on your students' thinking and see students' progress.
  
  
• Recognize the one aspect of case-method learning that cannot be measured but that students routinely describe as valuable: from a well-orchestrated process of discussion, students improve their listening skills and their ability to express and defend their thoughts to others.