Prestigious Award Given to Innovative Real-Time Learning Method
Written by: Patrick Callahan

AMHERST, MA – November 26, 2002 - The Decision Sciences Institute today awarded their 2002 Instructional Innovation Award to Dr. James Theroux, Professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, for the Real-Time Case Study (RTC), the world’s first in-depth real-time case study teaching method. Each year the Award recognizes outstanding contributions in education that advance instructional approaches within decision sciences.

The 24th annual Award, focusing on innovation in college or University level teaching, was presented today the President’s luncheon during the 2002 Annual Meeting, and is co-sponsored by Alpha Iota Delta and Prentice Hall.

“We are honored to be the recipient of this year’s Instructional Innovation Award,” stated Dr. Jim Theroux, Flavin Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts. “Through the Real-Time Case, our goal was to provide a more engaging educational atmosphere for students and faculty, and valuable insights for the participating business. The successful execution of the first RTC proved that new and exciting methods of studying business do exist.”

RTC lives the story of company building in more depth and realism than ever seen before in a university course. By placing a full-time journalist inside a company for an entire semester and utilizing the Internet to provide daily access to company insights, students are given the opportunity to move beyond basic case analysis and to offer valuable critiques and recommendations to the company in real-time. RTC moves beyond the stagnant traditional case study format in order to increase student engagement and motivation to study case material, make case material more memorable and provide students with a greater appreciation of the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of business education.

The RTC was developed by Professor Theroux and was conducted in the fall of 2001 with a consortium of founding business schools including Florida Atlantic University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, Canada. The RTC was produced through support from the Coleman Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City, the Kauffman Foundation, and Inc. Magazine.

The second RTC is scheduled to occur in the fall of 2003. Companies, Universities or associations interested in further information on the program can contact Jim Theroux at 413/545-5677 or theroux@som.umass.edu.