Case Studies | Case teaching and the role of the teacher
In 2000, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy published a guide for professors looking to bring the case study method to their classroom, called “The ABCs of Case Teaching.” Prepared by Vicki L. Golich, Mark Boyer, Patrice Franko, and Steve Lamy — all pioneers in the case study field — the guide presented a comprehensive assessment of how professors can systematically deploy the case study method in their classroom.
Over the next few months, we will be reproducing parts of this seminal study in The Diplomatic Pouch, while providing updates and additions for today’s educational and teaching landscape.
In the first piece, we explore the fundamentals of case teaching and the role of the teacher.
A case teacher resembles an orchestra conductor. Much as a conductor creates music by coordinating individual performances, providing key signals, and knowing what the outcome should sound like, a case teacher generates learning by eliciting individual observations and analyses, asking key questions, and knowing what learning outcomes s/he wants students to achieve. And, just as the conductor cannot make orchestral music alone, the case teacher does not generate learning alone; each depends on individual as well as collective performances to achieve stated goals.
One case teacher compared case teaching to attempting to assemble a group of parachutists at a single location after they had all landed at geographically diverse locations.
One case teacher compared case teaching to attempting to assemble a group of parachutists at a single location after they had all landed at geographically diverse locations.[1] Initially, individual students are likely to notice different ideas or details in a case. One of your tasks as a teacher is to orchestrate students’ observations so that they eventually come to comprehend the larger goals for the day. Case teaching grounds academic instruction in reality by engaging students in discussion of specific situations.
Case teaching is learner centered, characterized by intense interaction between instructor and student as well as among students in a group. Conceptually, case teaching assumes that learning is more effective if students discover or construct knowledge with faculty guidance than if they sit passively and receive content from a distant “sage on the stage.”[2] Just as a child learns to ride a bike by getting on it, students in a case-based course actively engage course material. They simultaneously learn curricular content — knowledge — and how to learn — skills and competencies such as writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking. The student lens for a case is the very complicated vantage point of the policymaker — not the clean, analyzed pages of the textbook.
Explore more ISD resources on how to use case studies successfully
Case learning depends on inductive reasoning, making content the very foundation of a case course. Case learning sharpens communication and critical thinking skills as students apply knowledge and evaluate options to solve the problem at hand. Case discussions teach students to listen carefully to each other, to respect opinions of others, and to work collectively to solve a problem. Thus, students learn to value the contributions of others while strengthening their own ability to think creatively and communicate effectively.
Case teaching vs. traditional teaching
First, it may be important to specify how case teaching and traditional — lecture — teaching are alike. The objectives are largely the same. No matter what pedagogy is used to deliver an education, most faculty want their students to learn significant disciplinary content, to refine their critical thinking and communication skills, and to gain in self-confidence and social awareness. The differences between case and traditional teaching derive from the underlying assumptions about how to achieve these goals most effectively.
Traditional teaching depends upon the teacher transmitting the data in a clear and interesting manner. In a lecture class the professor is center stage, does most of the talking, and provides most of the information and analysis. Students become stenographers, trying to write down as rapidly as they can the font of data and interpretation flowing from the expert. At best, students make cameo appearances to react to what the professor says. With case teaching, students occupy center stage, and your role is as a “guide on the side” — a production choreographer. Students are likely to construct a less linear highway to the day’s planned learning outcomes; thus, you will benefit from practicing different planning strategies than you have when preparing a lecture.
Much like writing a manuscript for publication, developing a lecture involves choices about the quantity and scope of information and analysis you will present. Notes for a case class look more like a road map or a decision-making tree. Preparation shifts from making decisions about articulating a perspective, to detailing a question strategy that enables students to discover for themselves the content, arguments, and theories implicit in the case.
Case classes differ from traditional classroom experiences in the material used and the activity during the class setting. Case teaching places the student at the center of the educational process. Students matter. They are given significant responsibility for what and how they are learning. The instructor in the case class is no longer the “automatic teller machine” spewing forth facts and theories, but the orchestra conductor attempting to elicit each student’s personal best. As with a musical group, the conductor — the professor — is essential to achieving excellence. With case teaching, the teacher helps students work collectively through the material to understand it. Students are asked not only to learn the theory but also to apply it to the messiness of the real world. In the process, students learn facts because they are central to case analysis; they also acquire requisite life-long learning skills of analysis, communication, and collaboration because they are necessary tools to unravel the puzzle that is the case.
Sources:
[1] John Boehrer and Marty Linsky, “Teaching with Cases: Learning to Question,” in M.D. Svinicki (ed.), The Changing Face of College Teaching, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 42 (San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass, 1990), p. 42.
[2] John Boehrer, “On Teaching a Case,” International Studies Notes, Vol. 19, №2 (1994a), pp. 14–20; John Boehrer, “Spectators & Gladiators: Reconnecting the Students with the Problem,” Teaching Excellence — Toward the Best in the Academy, Vol. 2, №7 (1990–1991); D.A. Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1984); Jane Tompkins, “Teaching Like It Matters: A Modest Proposal for Revolutionizing the Classroom,” Lingua Franca (August 1991), pp. 24–27.
