8 - Case method: fostering multidimensional learning

Summary

Thinking is the mind talking to itself.

– Plato

It can be said flatly that the mere act of listening to wise statements and sound advice does little for anyone. In the process of learning, the learner's dynamic cooperation is required. Such cooperation from students does not arise automatically, however. It has to be provided for and continually encouraged.

– Charles I. Gragg

Case method refers to instruction that utilizes descriptions of actual situations to provide a basis for discussion among students and instructor. These descriptions are usually written, but they may be oral, videotape, CD-ROM, or Web-based. The underlying intent of the case method is to narrow the gap between theory and practice by placing students in the midst of a real situation they are likely to encounter, then to press them to analyze the situation, make a decision regarding a course of action to take, and then defend that decision in the midst of their peers. Cases were first used in medical instruction, then in law. The approach was adapted for use in business instruction early in the twentieth century (see Garvin, 2003).

In a typical case-method course, students are given a written case in advance of each class. The case may or may not be accompanied by an additional reading requirement that introduces a theory or an analytical framework that the students can apply to the case. Sometimes, the instructor will present the theory in lectures either before, during, or after the case discussion.