promoting high impact learning through … high impact learning through experiential education:...

Promoting High Impact Learning through Experiential Education:

Community-Based Projects in a Graduate Marketing Class with Integration of Essential Learning Outcomes

Diane M. Holtzman, Ed.D.Associate Professor of Business Studies and MBA Director

Carra Leah Hood, Ph.D.Assistant Provost for Programs and Planning

IntroductionDiane Holtzman, Ed.D.

Associate Professor of Business Studies

Director of the MBA program

Stockton University

Carra Leah Hood, Ph.D.

Assistant Provost for Programs and Planning and Associate Professor of Writing

Stockton University

Responsible for administering Essential Learning Outcomes implementation, program accountability and assessment, and personnel processes

MARKETING PROJECT WITH INTEGRATION OF ELOS-CSI-OCTOBER 2015 2

Stockton University

Focus on the Liberal Arts --Located in southern New Jersey

Students (Fall 2015)

8,674 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students

1,151 first-time freshmen

1,032 new transfer students

Academic Degrees

Degrees offered: BA, BS, BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts), MA, MS, MBA, DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) and LEAD (Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership)

Themes guiding the educational experience at Stockton:◦ Sustainability◦ Globalization◦ Engagement◦ Learning

Focus on Essential Learning Outcomes [ELOs]


Importance of Topic

Accountability movement in higher education◦ Prove that students integrate knowledge and skills from across the curricula

◦ Apply those skill-sets in real-world environments

◦ Prepared for the workforce.

One major project to meet these concerns was the development of Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

◦ learning outcomes to monitor students preparation for twenty-first challenges and jobs (Association…Liberal…, 2015).


Focus of PresentationUse of an experiential learning project in a graduate level Marketing Communication and Social Media Class and how that project:

◦ Addresses students’ learning in terms of the Essential Learning Outcomes of Creativity & Innovation;

◦ Provides students with active learning in working with community partners;

◦ Involves community partners joining with the professor in providing feedback to students on their assigned hands-on projects;

◦ Provides a rubric used for assessment of students’ work

◦ Offers a model for learner-centered implementation of ELOs in courses and assignments.


BackgroundAs a result of the accountability movement, call for proof that students:

◦ integrate knowledge and skills from across the curricula

◦ apply those skill-sets in real-world environments

◦ and are prepared for the workforce.

One example of stakeholders’ concerns is the recent report by Hart Research Associates for The Association of American Colleges and Universities (2014) which states:

◦ 80% of the employers responding to their study indicated that it is very important for graduates to demonstrate their ability to apply learning in real-world settings;

◦ only 23% of the employers think graduates are very well prepared to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings;

◦ and 60% of the employers believe that all college students should be expected to complete a significant applied learning project before graduating.


BackgroundIn addressing these concerns from higher education stakeholders

◦ Use of experiential projects and exercises in capstone projects or through service learning opportunities can provide high-impact learning;

◦ Reflects students’ cumulative and integrative learning and provides them with workplace experiences.

◦ Students engaged in experiential learning, whether through service learning or community-centered capstone projects, are involved in “deep learning” (Kuh, 2008; Kolb & Kolb, 2007). ◦ Through this “deep learning” of students’ engagement with “hands-on” projects students

◦ integrate the knowledge, skills, and competencies gained from academic and personal experiences

◦ apply these to help solve problems within the community.

◦ This integration of knowledge, skills, and abilities by students relates to the Essential Learning Outcomes that graduates should attain after completion of their college education (Association…Essential…., 2015).


Background- college-wide learning outcomesBackground of…

◦ the requirements for outcomes assessment of student learning made by accrediting organizations,

◦ the employers’ demands to prepare students with 21st century knowledge, practical skills, and intellectual abilities

One way institutions have responded is to identify college-wide learning outcomes. ◦ American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) created its Liberal Education and

America Promise (LEAP) initiative in 2005 to provide a mechanism for college and universities to begin this kind of work (Association…Liberal…, 2015).

◦ According to AAC&U’s LEAP website, over 100 liberal arts colleges and universities have incorporated LEAP essential learning outcomes (Association….Essential…, 2015) and the LEAP Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubrics (Association…VALUE…, 2015) for institutional assessment.


https://webmail.stockton.edu/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=yb77VDqllTRYlBIBmAODccFOROuMor_VGs7bpxAi5Gixdd51jgvSCGgAdAB0AHAAcwA6AC8ALwB3AHcAdwAuAGEAYQBjAHUALgBvAHIAZwAvAGwAZQBhAHAALwBlAHMAcwBlAG4AdABpAGEAbAAtAGwAZQBhAHIAbgBpAG4AZwAtAG8AdQB0AGMAbwBtAGUAcwA.&URL=https://www.aacu.org/leap/essential-learning-outcomes

https://webmail.stockton.edu/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=XFiBG70Fk8RVjB1-B_gjkkmIzonBodjDaeHhmyYyYYixdd51jgvSCGgAdAB0AHAAcwA6AC8ALwB3AHcAdwAuAGEAYQBjAHUALgBvAHIAZwAvAHYAYQBsAHUAZQA.&URL=https://www.aacu.org/value

Stockton University & ELOs

• Faculty, administration, and professional staff at Stockton University recognized the importance of the LEAP initiative;

• Rather than adopt LEAP essential learning outcomes (ELOs), they identified ten ELOs that addressed the particular types of learning experiences offered on the campus in both academic and co-curricular contexts.

• Some of Stockton’s ELOs replicate LEAP’s; some are unique to Stockton’s mission.


ELOs at StocktonCommunication Skills

Quantitative Reasoning

Teamwork & Collaboration

Information Literacy & Research Skills

Creativity & Innovation

Adapting to Change

Critical Thinking

Ethical Reasoning

Global Awareness

and Program Competence.


ELOs at StocktonCollaboratively derived through campus-wide conversations and professional development

◦ funding support from the college’s administration

◦ gradual but increasing commitment to Stockton’s ELO initiative

◦ administration funded professional development opportunities to support efforts to integrate ELOs into courses, assignments, and out-of-classroom types of learning experiences

◦ provides a model for intentional outcomes-focused pedagogy across disciplines and co-curricular learning activities.


ELO Integration: Marketing Project

The model for ELO integration aids in◦ course design

◦ development of assignments and course exercises

◦ assessment of course projects

Marketing Communications and Social Media MBA class, students work with regional small businesses and non-profit organizations to create integrated marketing communication plans.

◦ By using the model for ELO integration, the instructor can effectively

◦ blend course and program outcomes

◦ offer students meaningful assignments


Assessment of the Creativity & Innovation ELO: Marketing ProjectThe project encompasses many ELOs, the areas assessed in the MBA class focused on Creativity & Innovation in solving the marketing problems of the community partners.

These experiences provided the graduate students ◦ opportunities to hone their skills

◦ acquire new skills

◦ and deepen their relationships within the community

Required students to think creatively in solving the marketing problems faced by the community members and developing innovative ways to address the problems using marketing principles as well as social media.


Assessment of the Creativity & Innovation ELO: Marketing Project

The assessment information would help ◦ guide revisions of the instructional methods

◦ course content

◦ and was essential since the course does not have any pre-requisites of marketing, advertising or social media.

Important to assess students’ ability, after their introduction to marketing and social media concepts in the course, to note how they connected marketing and social media principles to actual solutions and products in creative/novel ways.

The feedback provided direction on where the instruction and the project had strengths and where there were weaknesses that could be improved when the project was revised and refined.


Essential Learning Outcome Evidence of attaining the learning goal:

Creativity & Innovation:

Creativity involves the process of building

new or transforming existing experiences.

Creativity

is defined as the complex, human capacity to

generate ideas, take risks, and recognize

opportunities that are useful in cultivating

understanding, solving problems, stretching

boundaries, making new

connections, and expressing

ourselves to others.

Demonstrated through recommended tactics in the IMC plans for the external

stakeholders:

1) creation and design of advertisements, fliers, brochures, and social media

[ex: web sites, FaceBook pages, blogs] to solve marketing problems

2) brainstorming and idea generation with the client to determine strategies

to take in addressing marketing problems

3) connecting marketing principles with proposed solutions for the clients


Creativity & Innovation ELO Rubric

In evaluating students’ progress in meeting the Creativity & Innovation ELO a rubric was developed adapted from the VALUE rubrics presented on the AAC&U site as a guide (Association…Liberal…, 2015).

The rubric was used in evaluating students’ work on the marketing project.

8 team projects [teams of 2 students] and 2 individual projects


Creative Thinking/ Innovation ELO Relates to work done on the Integrated Marketing Communication Plan

Aware

Recognize the importance of creative pursuits and processes within the discipline

While you are a Stockton student, you will learn and be asked to demonstrate your

ability to:

Competent

Generate new ideas and express them to others

In addition, you will have a chance to learn and to demonstrate

your ability to:

Skilled

Synthesize ideas, knowledge, and e x periences to devise innovative solutions to complex problems.

Finally, you will be able to expand your creative thinking skills to include the ability to:

1.1 Recognize and identify existing connections among ideas, concepts, or solutions.

2.1 Create a novel or unique idea, question, format, or product.

3.1 Extend a novel or unique idea, question, format, or product to create new knowledge and understanding

1.2 Identify one or more approaches for solving the problem that do not apply within a specific context.

2.2 Connect ideas or solutions in novel ways. 3.2 Transform and articulate ideas or solutions into new forms.

1.3 Complete an assignment while minimally expanding upon or extending the guidelines.

2.3 Identify two or three approaches for solving the problem, only some of which apply within a specific context.

3.3 Identify more than three approaches for solving the problem that apply within a specific context.

2.4 Incorporate two or three new directions or approaches to the assignment in the final product.

3.4 Actively seeks out two or more potentially risky directions or approaches to the assignment in the final product.


ResultsOf the 8 team projects and 2 individual projects [18 students in the class],

◦ 6 team projects and the 2 individual projects scored with the majority of the assessment at the “skilled level”;

◦ 1 team project scored, overall, with the majority of the assessment at the “competent” level

◦ 1 team project scored with the majority of the assessment at the “aware” level.

The integrated marketing plans that ranked at the “competent level” ◦ did not have multiple approaches for solving the external partners’ marketing problems-only the minimum

amount of collateral was used (brochures, ads);

◦ at the “aware level” students ◦ did not identify the multiple approaches

◦ nor did they connect the ideas or solutions that applied to the marketing problem expressed by the community partner.

Composition of teams with some students not having marketing or advertising backgrounds were factors that may have contributed to the “competent” and “aware” rankings on the marketing plan project.


“Closing the Loop”/Revisions

Identified areas in which additional instruction and experience needed to be offered. Based on the results of the assessment :

◦ Additional readings and a more comprehensive review of basic marketing concepts have been added and basic advertising principles are addressed within the first quarter of the semester before the project begins.

◦ More case studies are presented throughout the term in order to provide additional experiences and discussions in creative thinking to solve marketing problems.

◦ Students’ progress in developing the marketing plans will be reviewed in class sessions allowing feedback from the students, as well as external stakeholders—not only from the instructor-- on developing novel approaches and identifying multiple approaches to solving real-world marketing problems.

Assessment will take place again when the course is offered to determine if the “Closing of the Loop” (revision) activities provided students with a stronger background to brainstorm and generate ideas, and develop collateral, that helps solve the marketing problems of the community members


In Closing…Students today face a twenty-first century world of volatility in careers and challenges in the workplace. They need preparation in college for:

◦ The changes they will confront

◦ Skills to handle inevitable changes

◦ The ability to be flexible, life-long learners after graduation.

Colleges and universities can help students by offering them opportunities to learn, apply, and integrate skills from across the curriculum.

ELOs provide the means for students to acquire that knowledge and those skills that will benefit them as they graduate into a changeable economy and workplace culture.

◦ Through experiential learning, students receive high-impact experiences that translate well to the workplace and reinforce the value of ELOs.


Thank you for attending our sessionPlease contact us for more information:

[email protected] or [email protected]

Visit Stockton’s ELO site…resources, research, new projects http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=209&pageID=154

Links to articles on the ELO website

Cydis, S., Galantino, M., Hood, C., Padden, M., & Richard, M. (2015). Integrating and assessing essential learning outcomes: Fostering faculty development and student engagement. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(3), 34-52.

Cydis, S., Holtzman, D., Hood, C., & Meyers, S. (2015). 2020-funded ELO/ePortfolio pilot, Fall 2014 overview. Stockton University Day of Scholarship.


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=209&pageID=154

ReferencesAssociation of American Colleges & Universities. (2015, January). Liberal Education & America’s Promise. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://www.AACU.org/leap

Association of American Colleges & Universities. (2015, January). Essential Learning Outcomes. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.AACU.org/leap/essential-learning-outcomes

Association of American Colleges & Universities. (2015, January). VALUE rubric development project. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.AACU.org/value/rubrics.

Fink, L.D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.

Fischer, K. (2015). A college degree sorts job applicants, but employers wish it meant more. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved on January 28, 2015 from http://chronicle.com/article/The-Employment-Mismatch/137625/#id=overview

Hart, Peter D. Research Associates, Inc. (2015, January 20). Falling short? College learning and career success. Retrieved on January 31, 2015 from http://www.AACU.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-survey-results

Kolb, A. Y. & Kolb, D. A. (2007). Experiential learning theory: A dynamic, holistic approach to management learning, education and development. Department of Organizational Behavior Working Paper, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Retrieved on January 15, 2015 from

http://www.learningfromexperience.com/media/2010/08/ELT-Hbk-MLED-LFE-website-2-10-08.pdf

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Prepared for the job (2014, May/June). Biz Ed. Retrieved on January 28, 2015 from http://www.bizedmagazine.com/en/archives/2014/3/research/prepared-for-the-job/

Shavelson, R.J. (2010). Measuring college learning responsibility: Accountability in a new era. Stanford, CA. Stanford University Press.


http://www.aacu.org/leap/essential-learning-outcomes

http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Employment-Mismatch/137625/#id=overview

http://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-survey-results

http://www.learningfromexperience.com/media/2010/08/ELT-Hbk-MLED-LFE-website-2-10-08.pdf

http://www.bizedmagazine.com/en/archives/2014/3/research/prepared-for-the-job/

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