Growth and Reflective Practice
Online learning has provided opportunities for a more diverse and encompassing educational landscape to meet the wants and needs of our students. This has greatly benefited my life, as well as meeting students who otherwise might not have crossed my path. With a student's busy schedule, it is essential to provide education by breaking down barriers and creating a more diverse learning style to encourage ongoing educational requirements needed in today's business environment.
I've been teaching online for a variety of universities for nine years, which has brought improvements to teaching marketing and understanding how to increase a student's outcome in the course. Marketing is a tool students can use not only in business but also in their community and self-branding. This is an important lesson I've learned to change and improve how I teach marketing and how I can increase my interactions with students to incorporate lifelong learning goals. Learning how to improve course development and communication methods is a continuous process for all my classes. An essential part for me in learning how to improve is listening to the students on the questions asked. This informs me what might be a necessary detail to them as a student and what may need to be clarified in the classroom, instructions, or requirements. Reflecting on the questions and concerns brings new ways to deliver and design the course.
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Whenever I conduct a class, I brainstorm innovative methods to enhance the learning experience. I evaluate my strengths and weaknesses before, during, and after each session to integrate new approaches to teaching. This reflection process draws insights from including student feedback through evaluations, assessments by peers and course evaluators, and my observations.
Holistic overview of the class goals in the subject matter and projects​
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Were the students able to demonstrate their marketing skills and knowledge throughout the course?
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Can the students relate the material to practical life applications?
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Will the students be competitive in today's marketing business environment?
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What other programs, activities, and assignments can help improve learning?
Design and class organization​
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How can I improve the visual appeal, structure, and organization of the class?
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What were the most common questions asked by students?
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Is the class designed to focus on the student's needs to provide clear communication on expectations?
Class engagement and interactions with students​
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How can I bring more accessibility and inclusiveness to each learning tool, assignment, and engagement?
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What are ways to encourage more class engagement on discussion board assignments and group projects?
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How can I improve on individualized constructive feedback to increase critical thinking?
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How can I bring more personalization to each student?
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Did the students enjoy and seem motivated to learn marketing?
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Like the social phenomenon expression "keeping up the Joneses," so too is marketing; it has been necessary for my development to stay competitive in the latest marketing trends, tools, and strategies to improve my class. Marketing is dynamic, and this is a significant learning experience for students in my class. If students enjoy marketing, which I hope they all do, being forward-thinking and learning the latest gadgets will always be a part of their career to compete with the "Joneses." ​​​
Course Improvements
Think Like a Student
When you've been in an industry for many years, it can be challenging for an educator to remember the difficulty in learning marketing for the first time. Being able to relate the weekly topics to our daily life experiences and the rationale of understanding how they relate to the field of the marketing industry can help students experience the lifelong benefits of the subject matter. I have found students relate easier when they understand the "why" of learning while building new skills and knowledge in the assignments.
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One of the many changes I've made in my class is incorporating the basic questions on the topics as an introduction to the assignment. This helps the students form the project's outcome from the beginning. Here is an example of an opening added after my refection for our class discussion board assignment: ​​​
Example: "Have you ever wanted to peek inside a website's competitive analysis and see what they are doing, where they are located on the web, what keywords they are using, find new strategies, see paid and organic search rankings, find out where your company or the competitors are linked on other sites? Well, we can do it in digital marketing!"
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My reflection: I would like to add more real-world examples to all sections in my class. Bring in the "why" for all assignments, discussions, and group projects. It's a great way to introduce a new topic.
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For class discussion boards, clear expectations have been added to each assignment to provide students with the total points per discussion assignment, due dates for the initial post and peer response posts with suggestions on responses, and grading requirement overview with reminders to review the rubric. Images for visual communication also make it easy for students to navigate from weekly discussion board topics.
Before and after discussion board changes:
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View Like a Student
I've learned always to view my class in the "Student View" each week to reflect on how it looks, the information provided, and the navigation/organization for the modules. I focus on making the announcements, the first page the student views when opening the class, and the current week's information. I've improved the announcements over time by adding more visual appeal, including the week number, dates, a quick overview of assignments due with points/percentages, and an introduction to the week's topics. This will also include any important reminders for students and easy access to weekly Q&A sessions.
Before and after announcement change:
Organize for the Student
At first, I incorporated what was due on the weekly modules for students, thinking this would help to focus the students on material and due dates. After consideration, I found it was too busy and complicated to focus on the weekly topics.
Students can quickly review weekly topic overviews, module dates, group project weeks, midterm and final exams, and holidays.
​Before and after changes to the Weekly Module learning section:
Focus Goals for the Student
For my college years, most of my assignments were based on written assignments to demonstrate structure, format, research, objectives, and goals. Our marketing material for the students is extensive in class, and it can be challenging to focus on leading topics and sections for class projects. In the semester classes, students work in groups to create a real-world marketing plan. I developed a new template format for the summer courses to accommodate the shorter class and independent work assignments and focus on a marketing plan students can keep and use for future business endeavors. The template provides a structured format to help students focus on the main marketing topics needed to develop a marketing plan.
​Before and after changes to the Marketing Plan Project section:
Course Syllabus
Syllabus Examples and Easy Access
The syllabus is essential for students to access and review before class begins. The syllabus is located on a page in our course, accessed by a course navigation menu button. To help students utilize the syllabus, an overview is provided on the syllabus page and throughout the course announcements.
Two sample syllabi are provided for review.
The video below provides a quick syllabus view for students. Provides information on the link to the full syllabus, course description and information, course materials, semester project grading assignment scales, and the weekly chart with topics, assignments, dates, assignment points per project, and total percentage of class points for the week.
Weekly Syllabus Chart Example: Below is an example of including a part of the chart schedule in the weekly announcements for students to view the upcoming weeks. Utilizing the chart in different areas helps to provided the students a quick overview for planning, group projects, and the percentage of weekly grades. This helps to keep the students focused, remind students to review the syllabus, and say, "This week matters - keep your eye on the prize."
The class weekly Announcement section is another excellent place to incorporate the syllabus chart for a quick view for students to help plan in the upcoming weeks.
New Tools for Learning
Program and Website Experience
In marketing, it is not only essential to learn the top competitive marketing platforms, how they work, and the benefits added to digital marketing but also to experience the platforms for students to incorporate the reading material into real-world experience. In the last decade, getting free access to top marketing programs for students has been challenging, but in the previous two years, I've reached out to companies to access free trials for my students. Marketing programs now provide students with a class trial period for complete access, tutorials, and even free certification. I've been able to incorporate a few of these platforms into my marketing classes for the students as assignments, discussion boards, and optional certifications for resume boosters. It has been an excellent experience for the students to "see" and "do" actual marketing analytic evaluations and create marketing material.
WordPress
WordPress is a popular open-source content management system (CMS), allowing users to create and manage websites easily. Students use this program in the Digital Marketing class to create a website as a class group project. The groups presented their step-by-step progress on website design and blog development throughout the weekly class modules. This creates an atmosphere for students to share their work, see their strengths and weaknesses, learn from others, and evaluate/help their peers. Students gain access to the free program and can add the experience to their resume.
Google Analytics
*Optional free certification for students
Google offers a free web analytic service for students to experience insights into website performance, which allows website owners to track and analyze various aspects of user behavior, traffic sources, and visitor engagement. Students review a real-world GA4 demonstration site and answer questions in a weekly discussion board assignment.
SEMrush
*Optional free certification for students
SEMrush is a digital marketing platform that offers tools and features to help businesses and marketers optimize their online presence. I've worked with SEMrush to provide each class and each student with an individual code for a discussion board assignment. Students are given a free 12-week access to the platform, typically costing $20,000 for the class size based on monthly subscription cost. This is a discussion board assignment where students can access an evaluation on any website they choose and a competitor. Students learn the program's essential features, assess their findings, and learn how to compare to a competitor in the market. The assignment also allows students to view various company websites' competitor research information.
Canva
Canva is a web-based graphic design platform that allows students free access to create a wide variety of visual content for the WordPress design project and a discussion board post assignment. After completing the WordPress website, the group project is for students to create a real-world social media graphic design post to help promote their website.
Quizlet
Students need to build business acumen to learn the vocabulary in the marketing world. I create Quizlet "games" for students to learn the vocabulary and enhance the learning process interactively and in a fun way. Students can select different ways to "test" their knowledge on the weekly terms. This is not a graded assignment for students; students can play as often as they would like throughout the class. The class activity helps students prepare for quizzes, midterms, and final exams.
Professional Development
Students can feel anonymous online, but this doesn't need to be the tone for online education. One educational symposium I attended lectured on providing empathy to online students. This was one of the most significant skills to learn as an online instructor and has helped create positive and supportive learning environment for students and myself. Of course, this starts with the online instructor from the start of the class, but it is also encouraged on class discussion boards, announcements, and assignment grading assessments. When considering the type of leaders the students will be, they need to experience compassion with current leaders.
ROCK-SOLID training course "Coaching Strategies - UMGC
Certificate Marketing Foundations: Customer Segmentation & Competitive Market Analysis
Member – American Marketing Association (AMA)
Member - Digital Analytics Association (DAA)
Television/Media Coordinator - Winchester Public Schools
Marketing Committee Shenandoah Art Council
Lord Fairfax Community College Education Foundation
American Library Association & Exhibit Table Board
Certificate of Online Teaching Assessment Calibration – SNHU Learning Science & Assessment
Certificate Online Teaching Beyond the Bulletin Board – SNHU Learning Science & Assessment
Certificate Online Teaching Cultivating Conversations – SNHU Learning Science & Assessment
Book Art Layout & Design - “Here It Is, There It Was, and So It Goes” by Mark M. Hood
