Creating Engagement with Case Teaching: Theory, Practice, and Immersion
Ivey Business School has been using the case method since 1922. One hundred years later, it is still the main teaching method at the school. While it’s inarguably an effective tool to keep students engaged in practical learning, the world of education has had to adapt to newly developing distractions that are impacting students’ involvement in the classroom.
Even if we don’t account for the shift to “pandemic-induced virtual classrooms,” as Nadine de Gannes puts it, there is an endless number of reasons for students to simply not give 100% of their attention in classes.
"Faculty noticed much more distractedness over this last academic year,” said De Gannes (HBA Faculty Director and Assistant Professor in Managerial Accounting and Control, and Sustainability at Ivey Business School). “I believe [one of] the bigger questions lie[s] in why norms and behaviours have changed this past year, leading to many more students exiting the classroom at more frequent intervals.”
Ann Frost (Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Ivey Business School), has also noticed a lack of enforcement of classroom norms, leading to a lack of engagement. To counter this, she switches her focus to employing tools that complement case teaching methods and help manage that engagement. She also has a non-negotiable classroom rule: “They don’t have their phones in my class,” she says so pragmatically.
Mix and match the media
Whether teaching her 3-hour class in-person or remotely, Frost’s only consistent format is that it always uses a number of different modalities. Each class features different negotiation exercises with students taking on varied roles and negotiating in dyads, teams, or multi-party situations. In addition, every class incorporates some form of small group work – whether buzz groups in person or in virtual breakout rooms, and a unique seating plan based on that day’s negotiation exercise, so students have different neighbours every time.
Sheri Lambert (Associate Professor of Marketing at Fox School of Business at Temple University; Managing Director of Fox Center for Executive Education) believes in bringing the human experience to her classes. “I don’t do death by PowerPoint,” says Lambert. “Just like in the real world, if you are presenting results, marketing research, or consumer insights, and you show data after data after data, you are going to have blank stares.”
Lambert, an industry professional who transitioned her industry career to the world of academia, applies a methodology that focuses on content the students will enjoy reading about. She only teaches with cases, but she strongly urges case educators to get cases that are current and representative of brands that will resonate with today’s students; it creates an opportunity to apply business applications and frameworks to non-traditional business models. Her most recent example of this is how she engaged her undergraduate students in a discussion about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s social media strategy to promote his production, Hamilton, using the Darden Business School case, Hamilton Won More Than Twitter, by Meghan Murray.
De Gannes very much leans on variety in her sessions (“for my benefit just as much as theirs!”). She is a big proponent of moving through the room during class. “It keeps the energy levels as high as possible,” she notes. Lambert has similar thoughts, saying that she does activities where students are required to stick post-It notes on the board and all around the room because it gets people walking.
Anticipation creates accountability
One of Dr. Frost’s often used tools is a collaborative Google document that she has her students work on to collect lessons and to reflect on the next steps at the end of a class. Moreover, she values attendance and thorough preparation, which are mandatory in her classes, given that each session features a negotiation. "We’re here to support each other’s learning, and if you’re not prepared or you don’t show up, you’re letting your classmates down. A lot of the discussion that gets generated in the class is what we learn from – it’s not just from me at the front of the room.”
Further, contributing to the class discussion is also expected. “If you’re not prepared and putting stuff out there that your friends and colleagues can react to and debate with you on, you’re not helping them,” concludes Frost.
Practise immersion, not theory
The case method was designed to introduce a level of practical learning to theoretical concepts. Lambert, an educator who draws on her industry career, takes this idea a step further and creates immersive experiences that she pulls from both the practical components of the cases and her physical environment; she uses people, places, and props to literally bring the case to life.
Lambert is the co-author of the Ivey Publishing and Temple University co-branded case Swoon: Mixing Up the Perfect Cocktail. To teach this case about a ready-to-drink beverage and its marketing strategy, she goes to the grocery store and picks up a bottle for every student so they can literally visualize elements of the case. She refers to this as a “liberal arts methodology” because it takes the theoretical drink out of the picture; the real one is right in front of them. She has also taken an executive class to Trader Joe’s in the middle of a session and engaged Red Bull for a brand activation in her own classroom.
Lambert, who teaches the capstone course for the marketing undergraduate program, executive MBA courses and executive education courses, says she applies this teaching style to all levels. “People leave the classroom, and they are literally thinking about what they’ve learned the moment they walk out.”
For professors that are new to teaching cases, or just looking for something different to try in their classrooms, thinking creatively is key. It brings a new perspective to the classroom for both the educator and the students, and it ensures that case writing and teaching evolve at the same pace as business in the real world. There is value in tradition, and a lot has happened in 100 years, but staying relevant is key.
To learn more about teaching with cases, visit our teaching resource section. And to view the case work of De Gannes, Frost and Lambert, browse through our case collection or use the search bar.