Integrating Spreadsheets into a Case-based MBA Quantitative Methods Course: Real Managers Make Real Decisions

In discussing how the availability of spreadsheet technology has impacted our required MBA quantitative analysis, we eschewed a more conventional lecture approach for the heart and soul of our teaching pedagogy—the case method. We assigned a simple case to the seminar participants, a cross-section of educators interested in spreadsheet technology and teaching, and then conducted an actual case class. The results were consistent with our experience that spreadsheet technology as an analytical or pedagogical tool is powerful and effective only the extent to which it is clearly embedded in the real world of the practicing decision maker.