Transformational Education > A new way of teaching
Michael Fascitelli (MBA 1982) on his experience with the case method
Transcript
The case method was challenging because I came from the University of Rhode Island engineering program. And it was a, you know, much more of a lecture, homework, tests. The case method had no answers, and as an engineer you look for answers. And the most difficult thing for me in the transition from Harvard—one of the most two—was the fact that as an engineer I was really trying to always find answers to these cases, and after about three, four hours of frustration of finding an answer, I was learning a lot, but not finding the answer.
The other thing is in class people would spout, go on and on, and never give an answer. So I thought that was a very interesting thing listening to the people. They would be articulate, and passionate, and smart, and intelligent, but, you know, it wasn't necessarily the answer. [Laughs] But they were very forceful, and it showed me that presenting your case in a very forceful manner was a very important skill.
Because again, in engineering you did the calculations, you put down the answer, and usually it was either right or wrong. So this was a different method that really was very valuable for me, given my engineering background.