The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) and the Case Consortium @ Columbia (CC@C) have announced a new partnership to innovate, develop, publish, and promote case studies and the Case Method of teaching and learning at Columbia University and beyond.

Case Method is an interactive, discussion-based approach to learning in which students analyze an incident drawn from real life. A “teaching” case study puts readers in the shoes of a protagonist who confronts a thorny dilemma. During a class discussion, guided by faculty, students gain experience making decisions in the face of uncertainty and insufficient resources.

Students are expected to analyze the situation, identify the problem, prescribe a solution, defend their views, persuade their colleagues, and/or amend their own position. Case-based courses develop students' analytical, decision-making, and leadership skills and prepare them to use these skills in a professional setting.




By combining resources, CCNMTL and CC@C intend to take advantage of educational technologies and sound pedagogies to make Columbia University a leader in case study use and publishing.

"We know the case study approach is used at a number of schools and we hope this partnership with CC@C will led to an inclusive program facilitating greater awareness and adoption of case studies that feature new media and active learning tools," said Maurice Matiz, CCNMTL’s acting executive director.

Kirsten Lundberg, director of CC@C, added, “CCNMTL’s pedagogical expertise and technical skills will combine naturally with CC@C’s research and narrative abilities to create powerful teaching tools for use at Columbia and elsewhere.”

Over the next two years, the partnership plans to create an annotated bibliography of existing CCNMTL and CC@C cases, inventory and analyze Columbia’s existing modes of case study publishing and delivery, develop new case studies that use digital media, and produce a guide to best practices for case study teaching and publishing in the digital age.

About Case Consortium @ Columbia: The Case Consortium @ Columbia (CC@C) was created in 2011 to provide excellent, case-based curriculum in multiple disciplines. Each online, multimedia “teaching” case study is a vehicle for classroom discussion. The cases, which tell real stories about real people, ask students to think for themselves as they search for solutions to some of the more vexing dilemmas in their professions. The CC@C library includes cases on public policy, public health, journalism and sustainable development, and plans to expand to include many of the disciplines taught at Columbia and elsewhere.

About CCNMTL: The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) was founded at Columbia University in 1999 to enhance teaching and learning through the purposeful use of technology and new media. In partnership with faculty, the Center supports efforts ranging from basic course website management to advanced project development. CCNMTL also extends the scope and reach of its work with strategic initiatives that engage educators, researchers, librarians, partner institutions, and the community in the reinvention of education for the digital age. CCNMTL is part of the Columbia University Libraries/Information Services.