Harvard, IIM-A partner for case method teaching

Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) has partnered with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A)'s Case Centre to offer the case method teaching seminar. Intended for new case-method instructors, or experienced professors looking to improve their discussion leadership skills, the two-day seminar will focus on delivering practical advice that can be easily implemented.

To be held at IIM-A on October 17 and 18, 2014, the program will be co-taught by MR Dixit, faculty member and chair of business policy area at IIM-A, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Andreas Andresen professor of business administration and senior associate dean for international development at Harvard Business School (HBS).

"The case method has been shown to be an enormously powerful method of learning in the management field the world over. However, it is challenging for the faculty to master this approach to teaching. In a discussion-based setting, participants are the source of knowledge and analyses, whereas the faculty acts primarily as moderators, encouraging the participants to share their observations and insights," said Saral Mukherjee, chair, IIM-A Case Centre.

The seminar will cover five main topics including establishing and shaping the learning contract; questioning, listening, and responding; the teacher/student relationship; designing the discussion plan; and practicing the skill. The seminar will see participants reading a number of cases in advance and then discuss them in the role of students in a traditional MBA case-based class.

The seminar will help participants get a first-hand feel of case teaching, receiving feedback, and reflection.

"I am delighted that Harvard and IIMA are renewing the spirit of collaboration that animated their relationship at the time of IIMA's inception, by jointly designing and offering a case-teaching workshop that offers their approaches to the case-study method of learning. This workshop is being offered to management educators from all over India at a time when policymakers, educationists, and business leaders are focused on expanding the nation's management education capacity while also upgrading quality," said Ashish Nanda, director of IIM-A.

Meanwhile, according to Vinay Hebbar, vice president and managing director of the Asia-Pacific region at HBP, by partnering with IIM-A's Case Centre for seminars in India, HBP will be able to enhance local context and scale to serve a rapidly growing community of case teachers. "This will allow participants to learn from some of the best faculty experts from HBS and IIM-A and access outstanding seminar curriculum and content on case teaching," he added.

HBP and the IIM-A Case Centre plan to offer at least one more seminar in the first half of 2015.