B-School Blues - IV

The multinational finance course is taught almost exlusively from cases. Interestingly, the professor who taught it last quarter used alsmost exclusively the lecture & book method. This is the first time here at Daniels that I've encountered this phenomenon, of different professors using fundamentally different methods to teach the same course. Up until now, things were pretty tightly coordinated, to the point where if you missed one class you could go to the same class in another section and get 75% of the same material. Evidently, with the higher-level courses, when you get away from the core, the profs give themselves more latitude. Either that, or they're conducting an experiment.

The case method is, I think, significantly more work, but probably more effective. Half the time, half the work is figuring out what the case is about. Then the other half is actually solving the problem. While the lecture method is more passive, more about the exams, and doesn't always connect as well with the real world. Also, you end up doing your work at the end, cramming for the exam, and then likely as not forgetting what you learned. With the case method, you work harder down the line, but are able to build from one case to the next.