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Intelligence Community Case Method Program |
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Home | About Us | About the Case Method | ICCMP Services | Search Site |
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Intelligence Community Case Method Program |
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Home | About Us | About the Case Method | ICCMP Services | Search Site |
The case method is a technique that derives its extraordinary power by explicitly engaging you as a partner in your own learning. Instead of telling you what or how to think, instructors using the case method challenge you to think for yourself, using questions rather than declarative statements to guide you and your classmates through a case-based discussion, probing and pushing you to greater levels of analytic and decision-making skills. Adult students in particular improve their critical thinking skills more effectively for being challenged this way than they do if they are placed in passive learning situations, such as in conventional classroom lectures.
When you are trained with case studies, you will tend to remember the teaching points because you will discover these points for yourself while wrestling with the problems described in the case. Case method teaching is unlike conventional teaching where the focus is on a transfer of facts or concepts from teacher to student, an approach in which you are expected to absorb new material passively. The case method instead engages you in the process of learning and requires you to think for yourself. You will use real data to solve real problems and arrive at practical conclusions on your own - all important characteristics of effective training for adults. In addition, an instructor using the case method can observe whether you and your classmates have grasped the teaching objectives because you have to express your analysis and judgment in the face of constructive criticism from your peers.
Because case studies in the program involve actual successes and failures in the Intelligence Community, the program provides opportunities for intelligence professionals to learn from mistakes and achievements and thereby get better at carrying out their mission. Case studies are especially important in an organization in which the requirements of security and compartmentalization discourage intelligence officers from openly discussing successes and failure with colleagues, who as a result may miss the lessons they might otherwise learn from the past.