Case studies of professional software development practices describe how real (or realistic) projects are planned and executed. Cases provide engaging models of the activities and materials of software development to students and other novice practitioners. They vividly remind learners of the possibilities for meaningfully applying knowledge and skills in the world beyond the classroom. During the past six years, we have developed and used a collection of usability engineering case studies for teaching human-computer interaction, primarily to upper-level undergraduates in computer science and in information sciences and technology. In this article we describe the rationale for this approach, the structural schema and browser that we developed for case studies, the case-based activities we employ in courses, and the experiences of instructors and students who have used the cases.