Seth Werner

In response to Louis Barnes’ workshop in March 2004

The goal of the seminar led by Louis Barnes in March 2004 was to enrich classroom discussion through active learning techniques. Barnes, a Harvard Business School Professor Emeritus, focused on providing an “immersion experience” in discussion leadership based on his book, Teaching and the Case Method.

As a result of the seminar, CSOM Professor Seth Werner incorporated the case method in two ways into his course: MKTG 3010 – Marketing Research. First, he used the more traditional method of having the students read and discuss a case. The case he chose had three parts, which allowed the students to see the “outcome” or the choices that were actually made by the firm.

The second incorporation of the case method was a case writing assignment. Students worked in teams to author a case. The three step assignment required the students to solicit a “client”, understand their Marketing Research needs, and then write a two part case. The first step provided the background information, enough for the reader to answer the question: “What marketing research should the firm undertake?” The second step provided the team’s recommendation and suggested research instruments. Teams then presented their case to the class and facilitated the discussion of their case.

How did Seth’s use of the case method of teaching incorporate active learning?

In both situations Seth found it was evident that learning had taken place. The traditional case consisted of three short in class reading assignments. In between each section there was robust in class discussion throughout the exercise. In the past, students had really depended on Seth to moderate the discussion. This time though, students spoke directly to one another. There were disagreements and challenges that resulted in active referencing to not only the case but specific course material. Students used examples from prior classes to help support their point.

Handing out the case in small parts allowed students to re-evaluate their recommendations. It was often the situation that subsequent information altered a student’s recommendation demonstrating their ability to apply the principles of the class to a dynamic situation. The high success rate of exam questions related to the case discussion is evidence that not only those that had orally participated were learning but the more quiescent students were learning as well.

Student Response

The response to the authored case was positive as well. The presenting students seemed really appreciate having the second step of the assignment readily at hand. The presenting students took ownership of the case and command of the classroom. The exciting results of the active learning were exhibited by the students taking leadership positions in the classroom. Being the author of the case allowed them to craft a story and incorporate course material in way with which they were comfortable.

Points for Reflection

Seth felt that the student audience was hesitant to engage fully in discussion on the student authored cases. It was evident that students wanted to disagree but were reluctant as they wanted to avoid possibly undermining a classmate’s grade.

Seth found the case method to be quite rewarding. “I think a big challenge is in case selection,” Seth commented. “I started with what might be considered a ‘mini’ case. I hope to move to larger, read-at- home type cases in the future,” he continued. While Seth found that having students author the case creates an excellent out of class learning opportunity, the challenge of presenting in class made it difficult to engage the audience. Seth suggests focusing on presentation coaching prior to the assignment in order to assist the students in feeling more comfortable with disagreeing with each other’s work.