NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Most of us can demonstrate the effect of such self-construction to ourselves by simply recalling what our most memorable moments of learning were during college, and what experiences produced in us the most solid grasp of our field. When we ask our colleagues to recall such instances, it is rare when examples reported took place while listening to a class lecture. These recollections more often are of revelations that took place while doing theses or dissertations, of memorable experiences on a field trip or in a summer internship, in an independent research course, or in a discussion with others. Almost invariably, the most indelible memories were produced when the student was an active participant in constructing knowledge.

Faculty are likely to embrace research as an essential part of a successful academic life because research projects and discussions with colleagues are places where we construct our own knowledge, and these events are often where we experience profound learning in our own careers. Our challenge for professors as teachers is in how to move the dynamics that produce such memorable learning into the classroom where such experiences are not as frequent as we would like for them to be. One excellent method through which to do this is the "case method," which was developed to a high degree by C. Roland Christensen of the Harvard Business School. The case method (one specific kind of discussion teaching) utilizes a carefully prepared "case study" that has been written so as to permit teaching through discussion and questioning, with a special emphasis on the process of learning and use of knowledge. It is written in a narrative style, structured to encourage student involvement, and provides the data required for analysis of a specific situation. The most successful cases are usually based on actual occurrences or experiences.

Lynn Rhodes of our UCD campus provided a very good seminar on the case method on February 17 in UCD's College of Education. There she demonstrated that discussion teaching has applications in many content areas.

We fortunately have faculty at UCD who are accomplished at using discussion methods and are also experienced in teaching discussion methods to other faculty. Three of these faculty, Michael Hayes (Marketing), Peter Bryant (Business and Administration), and Catherine Wiley (English) will each contribute a third of a short course on discussion teaching. Meetings for the discussion teaching workshop will occur on three Mondays: MArch 15, MArch 29 and April 19 at the Executive MBA Auditorium in Suite 150 of the CU Dravo building from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. Refreshments will be provided. Registration for this short course is limited to 20 faculty, and each of the lucky 20 will recieve a copy of C.R. Christensen's Teaching and the Case Method (290 p.).