TIPS & Tools to increase engagement
Over the past several years, I have tried various techniques in class to engage with more students and enhance student learning. I have participated in book clubs and faculty groups around student learning and highly recommend the following books:
One reoccurring technique that appears throughout the books mentioned above is quizzing. This helps students recall information and additionally gives feedback to you as the instructor. Here are some common online quizzing tools to assist you:
- Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching by Derek Bruff
- Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel
- Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James Lang
One reoccurring technique that appears throughout the books mentioned above is quizzing. This helps students recall information and additionally gives feedback to you as the instructor. Here are some common online quizzing tools to assist you:
- Kahoot! | This online quizzing software is a great way to gamify review material before exams.
- Poll Everywhere | I prefer to embed polling questions into PowerPoint with the Poll Everywhere plug-in.
- Quizlet | Many students are already using this flashcard tool, but you can incorporate them in the classroom as well.
Project ideas for Consumer behavior
In a typical marketing major program, consumer behavior is a common deeper dive course in the marketing curriculum. In this course, I like to have students thoroughly analyze what motivates a consumer to acquire, use, and dispose of a particular product as they attempt to derive some value from the exchange and then create a new product entrant to meet underserved needs in the market.
For the mid-term project students have to:
For this final project students have to:
Some additional hands-on assignments include:
- Memory Games | As we apply the concepts of learning associations and elements that help recognition and recall, students take part in a variety of hands on activities where they can identify and deploy skills, learned from the chapter material, to increase retrieval of stored concepts and ideas.
- Atmospherics | Students join me on a campus fieldtrip to the University Bookstore to analyze the components of a retail store (merchandising, crowding, lighting, colors, sounds, odors, etc.) as they make recommendations to improve the consumer experience, increase traffic, and drive more sales.
- Letters of Satisfaction | Students craft hand-written letters to local businesses who have exceeded their expectations. They fine tune their written communication skills as well as reflect on concepts they have learned in the classroom. The potential for free "swag" is a bonus!
For the mid-term project students have to:
- Select a product category and research the industry;
- Create a qualitative research interview questionnaire that focuses on consumer motivation;
- Conduct depth interviews about acquiring, using, and disposing of their team's selected product;
- Create a formal qualitative research poster, documenting an attempt to understand the voice of the consumer.
For this final project students have to:
- Determine what opportunity exists in the marketplace;
- Develop the product idea or prototype with a unique competitive advantage;
- Create a brand identity (logo, slogan, etc.) that signals their product's UVP;
- Identify a market segment(s) to target and create a buyer persona;
- Build two perceptual maps that show the strategic positioning of their product;
- Select two different media channels to advertise their product;
- Develop a brief IMC campaign utilizing these two complementary channels.
Some additional hands-on assignments include:
- Memory Games | As we apply the concepts of learning associations and elements that help recognition and recall, students take part in a variety of hands on activities where they can identify and deploy skills, learned from the chapter material, to increase retrieval of stored concepts and ideas.
- Atmospherics | Students join me on a campus fieldtrip to the University Bookstore to analyze the components of a retail store (merchandising, crowding, lighting, colors, sounds, odors, etc.) as they make recommendations to improve the consumer experience, increase traffic, and drive more sales.
- Letters of Satisfaction | Students craft hand-written letters to local businesses who have exceeded their expectations. They fine tune their written communication skills as well as reflect on concepts they have learned in the classroom. The potential for free "swag" is a bonus!
DIGITAL marketing Resources
This course is one of the most popular among my students. Students find the topic interesting and engaging as they learn about the robust power and capability of digital analytics. In my course students create a professional website around their personal brand that showcases their experiences and accomplishments. Some additional assignments include using digital marketing tools to create a search engine marketing plan, email marketing, social media ads, etc.
In addition to hands-on tools, students can earn certifications to showcase on their resumes and show potential employers their
- Canva | User-friendly design tool to create social media ads without downloading any software.
- ConvertKit or MailChimp | Hands-on email marketing tools. Students can create, send, analyze, and optimize email campaigns.
*Note: I have had problems with the spam filter when using MailChimp so I'm looking at changing to ConvertKit. - Google Ads | The most robust resource is Google Ads with additional the Google Keyword Planner
- Google Analytics | The most universal analytics software package. Students link UA to their own personal websites.
- SEMrush | An amazing resource for competitor analysis, SEO, content marketing, PPC and social media marketing. Free access for students!
- Weebly | I use this as the web design and hosting platform because you can link Google Analytics to a free Weebly account.
In addition to hands-on tools, students can earn certifications to showcase on their resumes and show potential employers their
- Fundamentals of Digital Marketing from Google Digital Garage | There are plenty of additional free courses through Google, this course is a great introduction into all things digital marketing. I have found it to be a great complement to the digital marketing textbook from Stukent.
- Hootsuite Academy | This resource used to be free, but more recently have started charging.
- HubSpot Academy | HubSpot has a variety of certifications. Their Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing certifications have had broad recognition.