C. Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard Business School

video:Inside the HBS Case Method

It's one thing to teach students how to perform a specific technique, such as a breakeven analysis. It's another to teach them why one should be executed, how it should be interpreted—or even when it must be ignored. As decision makers, managers must exercise judgment, not mere skills.

Judgment, based on sound analysis rooted in facts, is what our students need to absorb from their education. But, as the late HBS professor Charles I. Gragg sagely noted, "We cannot effectively use the insight of others; it must be our knowledge and insight that we use." By applying the case method to business education, we break the boundaries of passive learning to encourage students to become active participants in their own progress. With each case, students empathize with a decision maker ("the protagonist"), analyze varied and frequently ambiguous data, and assume responsibility for an action plan that effectively resolves the case's business challenge.

A different kind of teaching requires a different type of teacher

By necessity, your role as teacher changes as well. Rather than serve as a conduit for knowledge, you become the choreographer of a dynamic and multi-faceted discussion. Instead of lecturing, you probe, encourage, and sometimes cajole. Often you deliberately step aside to let the students assume the lead roles—and openly challenge each other with contrary opinions and analyses. You don't provide answers; you offer a pathway to greater experience and understanding.

Get a deeper understanding of the case method.