For the past two days I have run a seminar on case teaching for faculty at the University of Stavanger Business School, by initiative and invitation from Ken Wathne. (The picture above was taken at 11pm, which tells you something about summer in Norway and the gardening at UiS.)

I love case teaching (obviously) and think it is not only a very useful tool to use and skill to have – but also a way for business schools to future-proof their business model. In a time of Youtube and learning-on-demand, case teaching offers a way to analyse and learn real leadership skills in complex decision situation – something that cannot easily be automated, like standard business courses.

Here are some links to things I have used in the seminar:

• A useful article on what case teaching is (because many people get this wrong). [My comments on this one is in Norwegian, but by all means read the original]: Garvin, David (2003): “Making the case“, Harvard Magazine.
• A useful article: Christensen, Clayton C. and Michael Raynor (2003) “Why hard-nosed executives should care about management theory”, Harvard Business Review. Well-written article on how to create theory – and why it is important to understand what works in some contexts does not work in others. I use this article as a rationale for using case teaching to test theory (simulated) practice – case teaching is simulation of decision situations, and is great for finding out if theories are theories or mere beliefs and buzzwords.
• Case sources: I primarily use the Harvard Business Press case collection. Anyone teaching at a degree-granting institutions has access (you will have to register with an email address belonging to an institution and be able to point to an affiliation, such as a personal web page at the institution.) There are other case sources too – here is a list.
• Material for students on how to prepare. I like Bill Ellet’s Case Study Handbook, but it can be a bit much for smaller courses or if you use cases only sparingly. HBSP allows you to buy just some its chapters, so that is an alternative. With my colleague Hanno Roberts, I have made a video series for students, originally for BIs MBA program with Fudan University in Shanghai. The videos are a bit long and rambling, but you can always make your own. For complicated cases I have a note on how to analyze complex case using a structured time line.
• A blog post on how to do effective student feedback.
• Course design: You can find many examples on the Interwebs, so I steal with pride. Here are some of my own: GRA6834 Business Development and Innovation Management (M.Sc., one semester, weekly sessions), GRA68175 Technology Management and Disruptive Technology (two day module, EMBA), and my memo to students for my course Strategic Technology and Information Management in Shanghai (four day module, more structured and instrumental than a usual case course.)
• Writing cases: A blog post on how to write a teaching case. You can, of course, use anything – articles, blog posts, videos – as a basis for discussion. Most important is that there is room for real discussion – that there is enough detail, that the material illustrates what you want to get across in a way that is not obvious and allows for interpretations and complexity.