Is it time for the B-school case study to die?

Simulating problems in real time may be more effective. A little over a century ago, medical education in America was transformed. Before the reforms triggered by the 1910 Flexner Report, you could become a doctor largely by listening to lectures and reading textbooks. Afterward, aspiring physicians learned medicine by practicing it. They learned from more experienced doctors on rounds and in residencies, and eventually with patients and surgical simulators. Young doctors could make mistakes and be corrected before anybody died (with some engaging in what Matt Beane calls “shadow learning” to get even more practice). Today, no one would board a plane flown by a pilot who had only read about flying, or submit to surgery performed by someone who had merely discussed it in a seminar.