Abstract

LIMA, Marcos  and  FABIANI, Thierry. Rethinking the case method of business courses: challenges and opportunities of the socio-constructivist approach with tools of WEB 2.0. Revista da FAAEBA: Educação e Contemporaneidade [online]. 2014, vol.23, n.42, pp.91-106. ISSN 0104-7043.  https://doi.org/10.2014/jul.dezv23n42008.

This article discusses the origins and current uses of Harvard's Case Method in business education. It argues that the socio-constructivist principles embedded in this teaching technique are more relevant in our post-modern society than it was in the industrial age when it was first conceived. Recent changes in technology, particularly with the advent of Web 2.0 online collaborative communities, suggest that it is time to experiment it with case studies mediated by digital interfaces in order to increase its critical and creative thinking potential in authentic problem environments (what we call "Collaborative Interactivity" potential). After a careful analysis of the pedagogical merits of the original approach, we discuss possible Web 2.0 innovations that could be built into this centennial tradition. We present the findings from our previous experiments in Brazil with the Panteon System for collaborative problem solving (LIMA, 2003), as well as a more recent use of Facebook and Google Sites as tools to discuss a fictitious case called "Organixis" at EMLV, a Business School in Paris. We conclude that while these tolos have an enormous potential in terms of supporting collaborative interactivity, several barriers remain, including the resistance from both teachers and students to new methods based on distance learning and technological challenges of managing online platforms.

Keywords : Case Studies; Management Education; Digital Interfaces.

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