Sources of Cases and Case Teaching Information

Cases are narrative accounts of actual, or realistic, situations in which policy makers are confronted with the need to make a decision. Cases supply students with information, but not analysis. Case method teaching--the use of such cases in the classroom--is a form of discussion teaching in which students prepare a case, either individually or in groups, and then seek collectively through in-class discussion to discover a solution to the problem presented by the case. Unlike problem sets and papers, case method teaching is a group enterprise in which the emphasis is on self-discovery by the class, working together with the guidance of the instructor. The method has been employed effectively with class sizes ranging from less than 10 to well over 100.

Students are asked to come to class with a detailed knowledge of the case, prepared to analyze and to take a position on the problems raised. As part of their preparation, students may be asked to provide written analyses of the case. The in-class discussion, the core of case-method teaching, is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of different strategies for involving students. Role playing, for example, heightens the identification of students with actors in the case. Groups may be organized, either to prepare the case, or more spontaneously during the course of discussion, as a means of building consensus or of sharpening conflict. An important dynamic of case-method teaching, that the students be allowed the freedom to determine their own solution, does not imply an abdication of responsibility by the instructor for involving all students, for facilitating the discussion, and for ensuring that important factual and analytical issues are addressed. Since the boundaries of the discussion are sharply defined by information in the case, the instructor can relatively easily limit tangential or irrelevant comments and thereby avoid the kind of "bull-session" that makes some teachers wary of class discussion.

Case Sources

The following are sources for cases on a wide variety of topics. Most of these may be purchased for a price that is typically around $2.00-$3.00 per case. Others are available free of charge. Many of these cases come with teaching notes.

Case Readings

 

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