Facilitating Case Discussion

In recent years, increased interest has focused on enhancing learning through case-based discussion, interactive technologies, and other learner-centered strategies. Case discussions can “come alive” and promote critical thinking by participants. The need to establish a learner-centered agenda is particularly important because the educational needs of various students may be quite different from what the facilitator anticipates.

Changing the culture from didactic lectures to case-based teaching presents a number of challenges. Pedicases addresses these challenges with a guide to facilitating case discussion that provides an overview of case-based teaching strategies and techniques. In addition to reviewing some of the “basic” principles of facilitation, practical tips for application to clinical conference settings are presented. It resulted from a review of educational literature, feedback from facilitators across the U.S., and observations of the majority of 125 pre-continuity clinic, case-based sessions at Children’s Hospital Boston (Pediatric Health Associates).

While problems and their solutions will still be encountered locally, these resources provide some guidance and suggestions for integrating case-based teaching into instruction. When the case method is integrated into traditional teaching your learners will be able to apply the experiential process of action, observation, reflection, and incorporation of findings as they apply newly developed knowledge and skill in their chosen field.