Integrating Information Technology into the Marketing ...

APRIL 2001OF MARKETING EDUCATION JOURNAL

Integrating Information Technology into the Marketing Curriculum: A Pragmatic Paradigm Raquel Benbunan-Fich, Héctor R. Lozada, Stephen Pirog, Randi Priluck, and Joseph Wisenblit

This article presents a framework for integrating information technology (IT) into the marketing curriculum in the context of the specific objectives of an undergraduate business program. The authors propose integration of IT via five technological modules: (1) Web-based communication among instructors and students, (2) use of the marketing department’s Web site as an educational resource, (3) the Internet as a marketing medium, (4) computer-supported market analysis and decision making, and (5) computer-enhanced business presentations. As an illustration, this article details the use of the five modules according to the specific program objectives at Seton Hall University. The article also outlines practical guidelines for the application of IT in teaching and learning and outcomes and assessments measures. Marketing educators can use this paradigm to promote more efficient teaching and better learning, and consequently students will be better prepared to manage and use IT in their professional careers.

Information technology (IT) has become a key component

of today’s business world and college-level business education (e.g., Alavi, Wheeler, and Valacich 1995; Alavi, Yoo, and Vogel 1997; Bilimoria 1999). As the educational marketplace becomes more competitive, educators must employ technology to improve their teaching (Ferrell 1995; Smart, Kelley, and Conant 1999). Furthermore, because today’s managers must be well versed in IT and able to communicate electronically with colleagues around the world, transfer data quickly, and keep in contact with customers, discipline-specific integration of IT into business education is essential. Additionally, the use of IT in the classroom can promote more efficient teaching and better learning (Benbunan-Fich 1999). Students exposed to computer-enhanced curricula will be better prepared to manage and use information technologies when they start their business careers (e.g., Dickson and Segars 1999). Among the business disciplines, marketing courses offer a unique opportunity to demonstrate the use of IT in business. Emerging technologies are radically and quickly changing the nature of the four elements of the marketing mix. For example, distribution strategies now include online shopping,

while pricing strategies must contend with Web-based services that make comparison shopping easier. Moreover, the capability of affordable, advanced software and the Internet diminishes the appeal of mass marketing in favor of a one-toone marketing approach because it allows marketers to develop interactive, customized promotional messages. The pedagogical approach described here details the integration of technology into marketing courses in two different ways: (1) to transmit content (to deliver instruction) and (2) to support communication between professors and students, or among students. As a content transmission tool, IT can mediate the lecturing process by complementing the professor’s instruction and printed materials. As a communication support tool, IT extends faculty availability beyond class times and office hours, establishes student links to classmates, and enables more efficient distribution of materials, reminders, and notifications (Benbunan-Fich and Hiltz 1999). This article explores the integration of technology into a departmental marketing curriculum along five business competencies and the marketing skills corresponding to these competencies. The business competencies are the result of an overhaul of the undergraduate business program at Seton Hall University aimed at focusing the curriculum on key business skills across the different academic disciplines. The article consists of five sections. The next section describes the general context in which integration of IT was carried out and identifies five specific marketing skills that drive the integration process. Then, we present the teaching paradigm for integrating IT into the marketing curriculum, along with practical guidelines for implementation. In the final two sections, we discuss issues associated with outcomes assessment and offer our conclusions.

Raquel Benbunan-Fich is an assistant professor of computing and decision sciences at Seton Hall University. Héctor R. Lozada is an assistant professor of marketing at Seton Hall University. Stephen Pirog is an associate professor of marketing at Seton Hall University. Randi Priluck is an assistant professor of marketing at Pace University. Joseph Wisenblit is an associate professor of marketing at Seton Hall University. Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 23 No. 1, April 2001 5-15 © 2001 Sage Publications, Inc.

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THE ENVIRONMENT FOR INTEGRATING IT The task of integrating IT into the marketing curriculum can be understood in the broad context of skills developed at the business school and university levels. Three basic forces are at work in shaping the integration task: (1) a set of core competencies established at the school level, (2) the marketing pedagogy established at the departmental level, and (3) the expected configuration of computing resources supplied by the university. Figure 1 provides a visual conceptualization of how these forces interact. The result is a set of marketing skills, which represent abilities that the marketing curriculum helps students to develop; these skills are understood in the broader context of skills developed at the business school and university levels. Core Competencies

Over a span of 2 years, the faculty at Seton Hall University reviewed the undergraduate business curriculum and identified five key business competencies that graduating students should possess, in addition to the knowledge of particular functional areas. The five competencies are communication, critical thinking, teamwork, technology, and change management. The competency communication is defined as the ability to communicate in writing and orally with people of diverse business and professional backgrounds, both within and outside the organization. The competency critical thinking refers to the ability to think in abstract terms, identify relevant issues or variables and analyze their interrelationships, conceptualize solutions for specific problems, and understand how the various parts of an organization or an idea fit together. Teamwork is the ability to work with others as part of a team, including working toward a common goal, sharing leadership responsibilities and authority, sharing power in the context of the team, sharing information, and building and maintaining personal and professional relationships. The technology competency refers to the ability to use technology to find and gather relevant data from various sources; organize, summarize, and analyze them; and process them into meaningful and useful information for making business decisions and for improving productivity. Finally, change management is the ability to cope with rapid change by managing change within organizations, understanding the factors that affect change in the global environment, and developing skills for solving problems rooted in rapid change. Gardiner (1994, p. 7) identified four of these competencies as “critical” for national success, and the fifth, technology, was among the foundation skills established by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (Wingspread Group on Higher Education 1993). Additionally, a study of New Jersey employers identified oral and written communication, problem solving, and creative thinking as important skills for employees to possess (Van Horn 1995).

Core Competency

Marketing Skills Computing Technology

FIGURE 1:

Marketing Pedagogy

Marketing Skills as the Outcome of Business Core Competencies, Computing Technology, and Marketing Pedagogy

Because the purpose of this process is to integrate marketing with the rest of the business curriculum, it was agreed that the core competencies would serve as the primary structure for designing the marketing skills. Therefore, a one-to-one correspondence between these competencies and marketing skills is desired. Marketing Pedagogy

Pedagogy at the undergraduate level is consistent with marketing programs at other AACSB-accredited institutions. For example, the marketing department offers a principles course; a set of core electives that include consumer behavior, marketing research, and international marketing; and a set of free electives that expose students to a broad body of knowledge. The principles course, in particular, centers on a widely used textbook and is structured around a fairly standard set of functional topics: assessing marketing’s role in the organization and society, analyzing the marketing environment, developing marketing strategy, planning the marketing mix, and implementing and controlling the marketing effort. The marketing department agreed that in order to enhance the pedagogy, marketing skills must help students to apply and integrate knowledge from these topics. Therefore, each of the topics must be addressed by at least one skill. Basic marketing skills are fairly standard across curricula, since introductory marketing textbooks focus on the same general topics. The skills expected for undergraduate marketing students mirror those outlined in a typical marketing text. Many skills can be enhanced by IT and specific modules in our program: using the Internet to gather information about the marketing environment and target markets, understanding the Internet as a distribution method, understanding the pro-

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TABLE 1 MARKETING SKILLS

motional uses of the Internet, conducting research via the Internet, and developing the marketing mix for new product and service offerings. These skills require students to engage in critical thinking and understand and manage change.

Core Competency

Computing Technology

Communication

The third force consists of the state of computing resources available. Care must be taken to select marketing skills that are consistent with the available technical capabilities. This includes not only hardware and software but also support service. Several computing technology initiatives shape the status of the technology at the school: (1) the mobile computing program, (2) the network-centered computing environment, (3) Web-based e-mail systems, and (4) the courseware environment. The mobile computing program licenses the use of laptop computers to all undergraduate students. These computers include a software suite (word processor, spreadsheet, database system, presentation program, and personal information management). All full-time faculty are also provided with laptop computers equipped with the software suite and Lotus Notes. The mobile computer initiative allows faculty and students to have access to the university network and the Internet from anywhere at any time, both on campus and off. The university provides a network-centered computing environment through the consolidation and standardization of local networks and the implementation of an enterprisewide network operating system. In this environment, the campus network is viewed as an essential utility for the university community, much like electricity. To take advantage of the computing environment, classrooms at the business school are equipped with Internet connections and power supply for laptops for each student, as well as a built-in projection system that takes input from laptop computers, VHS systems, and other sources. Students, faculty, and staff have Web-based e-mail accounts at the university’s home page. In addition, faculty can use Lotus Notes to access their e-mail. These e-mail systems give users e-mail access anytime and anywhere, on campus and off. A courseware environment (Lotus LearningSpace) gives students access to course content material and a way to communicate with classmates and instructors at anytime and from anywhere. This asynchronous learning environment is designed to enhance traditional courses and takes advantage of the technological infrastructure (i.e., mobile computing and campuswide network access). In sum, a broad range of computing resources is available, allowing the marketing department to apply different technologies to both the core competencies and the marketing topics in the development of specific marketing skills.

Critical thinking Teamwork

Technology

Change management

Marketing Topic Marketing mix communications Marketing strategy Role of marketing in the firm and society functional teams Implementation and control of the marketing effort Environmental analysis; implementation and control

Marketing Skills Improving marketing Evaluating marketing strategies Improving performance of crossImplementing and controlling marketing programs Understanding the challenges of new media and emerging technologies on the marketing field

Marketing Skills

Based on the demands arising from the three forces (core competencies, marketing pedagogy, and availability of computing technology), a set of marketing skills was designed. These skills are shown in Table 1. The first skill, improving marketing communications, matches the communication competency with the marketing mix topics, particularly distribution and promotion. Because marketing professionals must communicate with a variety of audiences, they must be prepared to use a variety of techniques to interact with channel members and customers. The importance of marketing communication in coordinating channel activity as well as stimulating buyer demand is stressed. The second skill, evaluating marketing strategies, matches the critical-thinking competency with marketing strategy. This skill centers on using technology to gather and interpret evidence of companies’ strategies for segmenting markets and targeting them with an offer. For example, the World Wide Web contains up-to-date information on product lines, the types of channels that make them available, prices, and promotional themes. Often, this information is fragmented and has to be “pulled together” into a coherent strategy. The third skill, improving cross-functional teamwork, matches teamwork competency with the role of marketing in the firm and society. Marketers interact with professionals from various functions to develop new products, improve service quality, and manage brands. IT should help the marketer to promote the “voice of the customer” in these cross-functional settings. The fourth skill, implementing and controlling marketing programs, matches the technology competency with imple-

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menting and controlling the marketing effort. IT should help marketers to not only plan the marketing program but also oversee its execution and steer it toward objectives. Finally, understanding the challenges of new media and emerging technologies matches change management competency with environmental analysis. Marketers must be aware of the opportunities that both new and emerging technologies provide for improving the firm’s capacity to create value and compete in a global environment. However, it is equally important to understand the drawbacks associated with these technologies. The marketing department agreed that the set of skills has suitable validity. The skills fit the basic framework of core competencies and the demands of the marketing pedagogy. Moreover, based on our examination of the new dynamic economy and our own experiences in marketing and/or IT consulting in the field, the skills have face validity. THE PARADIGM: DEVELOPMENT OF FIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MODULES The next step in integrating IT into the curriculum is to cast the five marketing skills to be developed in the student into a set of learning modules for developing course content. Five technological modules were developed: (1) Web-based communication between instructor and students, (2) use of the marketing department’s Web site as an educational resource, (3) the Internet as a marketing medium, (4) computer-supported market analysis and decision making, and (5) computerenhanced business presentations. Next, we cross-classified the five competencies and corresponding marketing skills with the five technological modules and developed guidelines detailing the target level of developing each business competency and each marketing skill within each module. These guidelines are depicted in Table 2. Educators can use Table 2 as a template for developing technology integration plans and strategies, particularly on the department or discipline level. The guidelines detailed in Table 2 are only an illustration, since they were constructed in the context of the pedagogical objectives of the undergraduate business program at Seton Hall University (that is, the five business competencies). We propose the following process for developing technology integration plans based on the specific objectives of any given educational program: Step 1: State the specific objectives of the business program within which your marketing department operates. Step 2: Develop a list of discipline-specific skills that reflect the objectives of the business program. Step 3: Using Table 2 as a template, reach a departmental consensus with regard to the desired level of developing each discipline-specific skill within each of the five technological modules presented here. Enter the desired levels into the cells of the proposed template.

Step 4: Specify the hardware and software resources needed to achieve the desired level of skill development listed in each cell. Take an inventory of your technological resources and determine whether you have the needed tools; if not, list the required resources and the funds needed to purchase them. Step 5: Enter each of the courses offered in your marketing department into the appropriate cells in the template. Use discretion here and do not list too many courses in each cell. Step 6: For each course, develop a list of specific activities that will be used to integrate technology into the class according to the guidelines set in the template (see the following sections for examples of class activities). List these activities in the course’s syllabus and integrate them into grading the student’s performance. Step 7: Develop mechanisms for outcomes assessment.

Specific activities and teaching tasks used within each module are described in the following sections. Following this discussion, we present practical guidelines based on our own experiences and suggestions for measuring the success of pedagogical approaches developed through this paradigm. Module: Web-Based Communication between Instructor and Students

This module requires students to routinely use Internet skills (obtained in lower-level courses) by (1) communicating with the instructor, other students in the course, and professionals in the business community via e-mail and (2) composing and transmitting assignments via the Internet. Simultaneously, the professor shows how marketers use the same technologies in dealing with customers, intermediaries, suppliers, and business colleagues around the world. This module includes three sets of educational activities: 1. Faculty use e-mail and the Internet to make better use of the time available for instruction (Welsch 1982). Professors contact the students registered for the course before the start of classes, transmit the course’s syllabus to them, and even assign some preparatory work that makes the start of the class more productive. During the course, instructors routinely send students assignments, exams, review materials, and other messages pertaining to the class. Students transmit assignments electronically, and graded work is returned to them via e-mail. Students are also able to reach professors more often and beyond scheduled class time and office hours. Sometimes, instead of creating e-mail messages with attachments, students enter their responses to assignments into electronic forms posted at the marketing department’s Web site. An electronic form consists of input fields into which students enter information. When the student completes all fields and presses the “submit” button, an e-mail message that includes the responses is immediately sent to the professor. Simultaneously, the student’s responses also become part of an “assignments” database, accessible only by the instructor (or the site’s Web master), that serves as an electronic repository of student materials that the instructor can use in future teachings of the course.

TABLE 2 LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ BUSINESS COMPETENCIES AND CORRESPONDING MARKETING SKILLS WITHIN EACH OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL MODULES Module 1 (Web-based communication between instructor and students)

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Communication competency (ability to communicate with other people of diverse business and professional backgrounds, both within and outside the organization) Marketing skill (ability to use technology to improve marketing communications) Critical-thinking competency (ability to identify relevant issues or variables, analyze their interrelationships, and conceptualize solutions for specific problems) Marketing skill (ability to evaluate marketing strategies) Teamwork competency (ability to work effectively as part of a team) Marketing skill (ability to increase performance of cross-functional teams to solve marketing problems) Technology competency (ability to use technology to improve productivity) Marketing skill (ability to use technology to develop, implement, and control marketing programs) Managing change competency (ability to cope with rapid change) Marketing skill (understand the impact of new media and emerging technologies on marketing strategies)

Module 2 (the marketing department’s Web site as an educational resource)

Module 3 (the Internet as a marketing medium)

Module 4 (computer-supported market analysis and decision making)

Module 5 (computer-enhanced business presentations)

Extensive development of both competency and skill

Moderate development of both competency and skill

Moderate development of Little relevance to the develboth competency and skill opment of competency and skill

Extensive development of competency and moderate development of skill

Utilization as a communication tool in the submission, grading, and return of critical-thinking assignments

Utilization as a student resource for completing critical-thinking assignments



Little relevance to the development of competency and skill

Utilization as a communication tool among students and the instructor beyond regular class times

Some application in the development of both competency and skill

Little relevance to the development of competency and skill

Effective teamwork is an important component of any marketing decision

Effective teamwork is an important component in designing business presentations

Utilization as a tool that enhances the delivery of the course and discussions of this issue between the instructor and students

Ongoing illustration of competency; key resource in using new media to analyze the business environment



Some relevance to the development of competency and skill

Application as a tool that changes and enhances course delivery and the educational process

(1) Utilization as a resource for completing assignments and (2) ongoing illustration of using the Web in maintaining contact with the organization’s constituencies



Some relevance to the development of competency and skill

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APRIL 2001 2. During the course, instructors illustrate how marketers use electronic communications to enhance their businesses (e.g., database marketing and online marketing research), and students become familiar with the use of new media and information technologies in analyzing and targeting different market segments. 3. Presently, we are developing an electronic alumni-student guidance network. Following the identification of alumni who are willing to participate, we will establish electronic contacts between the students and alumni who will serve as mentors and provide the students with real-world advice in the analysis of cases and preparation of written assignments. The Internet provides more reliable links to difficult-to-reach busy business executives compared with other communication methods because e-mail is not dependent on time or place. Integrating guidance and advice from professionals in the business world into the course will enhance the educational process significantly.

Module: Use of the Marketing Department’s Web Site as an Educational Resource

For almost 3 years, we have used our marketing department’s Web site in two ways: (1) to manage the teaching and learning process more productively through instructors’ postings of assignments, current information about the course, and links to self-testing resources and (2) to provide students with more efficient ways to gather data that enhance the information conveyed by the instructors and textbooks (Kuechler 1999). For example, we require students to use the marketing department’s Web site in the completion of homework assignments and Internet exercises, to obtain materials and real- world examples of topics discussed throughout the course, and to use remotely the electronic periodical indexes and databases available at the university’s library. Because our marketing department’s Web site is updated every 2 weeks, we routinely use it to discuss information with regard to the department’s programs, courses, and events with students. We frequently post updated course descriptions and schedules, announcements about new course offerings, notices about departmental and school events, and details of the faculty’s professional activities. The structure of our Web site is shown in Figure 2. Module: The Internet as a Marketing Medium

Marketers are increasingly turning to the Internet to compile information about consumers, assess the marketing environment more quickly and effectively, and distribute and promote products and services. Unlike more traditional media, the Internet allows marketers to build customized offerings (promotional messages, products, and services) easily, efficiently, and at a lower cost. Because the Web is interactive, marketers can gather data about the customer’s interests and consumption habits during site visits and online purchases and use this knowledge to customize subsequent offerings to the same customer. For example, an online marketer of vita-

FIGURE 2:

Basic Structure/Architecture of the Marketing Department Web Site

mins with the appropriate software can recognize that a particular customer prefers name brands rather than generic products and, during a revisit by that customer, display the product information according to the brands rather than product lines available at the outlet. Also, the firm can send customers new data about the nutritional supplements that they have purchased in the past as soon as such information is published (Mueller 1999). Similarly, publishers of magazines and newspapers can create and transmit customized versions of their publications according to readers’ interests and preferences. With the increasing availability of dynamic, rather than static, Web pages, marketers are creating more sophisticated databases and tailoring their responses to each customer. Marketers have long favored mass and not customized communications (mainly via radio and television), service and product offerings, and distribution and pricing strategies because of their wide reach, low cost per contact, and precise control of content (Pine 1993). However, the growth of the Internet and emergence of other technological advances enabling interactive and customized communications and offerings lessen the appeal of mass marketing and broadcasting methods and increasingly enable marketers to deploy one-to-one marketing approaches inexpensively and quickly. As marketers are increasingly adopting the interactive marketing paradigm, we infuse this model into our marketing courses through (1) illustrating the potential of the Internet as a marketing medium, (2) requiring students to learn and collect information via the Internet, (3) requiring students to


evaluate critically the use of the Internet within the context of the interactive communications model, and (4) illustrating the potential of virtual technologies in building relationships with and retaining customers. To enhance critical-thinking skills, students must conduct research on the Web to gather and synthesize data from a variety of Web sites into a coherent analysis of a business’ marketing strategy. For example, a company’s Web site normally contains information on product offers and pricing points, as well as evidence of the company’s promotional themes and information about company mission and history. Other sites contain supplementary information that students can use to fill in the picture. For example, resellers’ Web sites will present the company’s product alongside competing product alternatives, from which students can infer positioning strategies and issues associated with channel dynamics; competitor Web sites provide evidence of competitor strengths and weaknesses; and journalistic and consumer interest sites often contain relevant editorial content. Furthermore, students are required to appraise any information gathered via the Web according to the following criteria: (1) the relevance and accuracy of the information (this is a crucial factor because the Web is filled with inaccurate and biased data); (2) the site’s value as a marketing tool (or as a mechanism for advancing the goals of the entity sponsoring the site); and (3) the value of the site as an interactive marketing tool, with a particular emphasis on privacy issues. The coverage of ethical, privacy-related issues represents a key component of this module, since marketers often use the Web to compile data about the customers visiting an Internet site and, often, do so without the visitors’ knowledge or permission. In an age where technology increasingly enables the collection and management of personal data, future marketers must have a solid grasp of the ethics that guide such business practices. Module: Computer-Supported Market Analysis and Decision Making

We have also incorporated marketing decision-making software into several courses. In the principles course, we introduce students to such software, and in more advanced courses, the use of such packages is ongoing. Following the use of these instruments, our students become better acquainted with computerized decision-making tools and better prepared for upper-level business courses and business careers. Software for computer-assisted decision making is available from the publishers of most of the marketing management textbooks. We use computer-supported marketing decision making to demonstrate that marketing is a central function of all organizations. We do so by illustrating how competitive market analysis, surveys, market segmentation, test marketing, development of strategic marketing plans, and assessment of the

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effectiveness of marketing programs and sales activities are intertwined with other organizational functions. Module: Computer-Enhanced Business Presentations

The ability to use computer software in the design and delivery of business presentations to potential customers, colleagues, or other constituencies is already expected of graduates with degrees in business. In our courses, we stress that the core of marketing is the development and implementation of effective persuasive strategies, and therefore marketing instruction is uniquely suited to serve as a framework for teaching computer-enhanced presentation skills. To this end, we demonstrate that business presentations accompanied by computer-generated visuals are more persuasive than presentations supported by “traditional” visual aids (such as slides, overheads, flip charts, and so on) and teach students how to create such communications. When they begin to take marketing courses, our undergraduate students already have basic knowledge of visual presentation software packages, and we build upon previously acquired skills. Initially, each faculty member reviews the students’ knowledge and skills with regard to the software and hardware needed to construct a PC-based visual business presentation. If needed, we make arrangements for remedial student training in the use of such software and hardware. The activities within this module consist of four components: (1) coverage of theoretical models for designing persuasive messages, (2) integration of output from marketing decision-making software (like the one detailed in the previous module) into computer-enhanced business presentations, (3) illustration of the interrelationship between the use of output from computer-supported business decisions and visual presentations software (e.g., although some software may be more powerful statistically, output from the less powerful software may be more easily “imported” into the major packages used to create visual presentations), and (4) integrating teamwork into the course by requiring students to develop presentations in groups. (One professor includes technological problems—similar to those that can arise during real business situations—in this module; students are not told of these “sudden” and “unexpected” problems in advance and are taught how to cope with such circumstances.) Practical guidelines for the use of some of these tools are listed in Table 3. The guidelines are based on instructor experiences over several semesters of implementing the five modules. OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT Assessment helps instructors determine how much students are learning and allows them to alter their teaching methods to help students learn more effectively. According to Angelo and Cross (1993), assessment should be focused on improving learning, directed by the teacher for his or her

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APRIL 2001 TABLE 3 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES

Using e-mail 1. Contact students before the start of the course and introduce yourself (consider giving them a short assignment). However, note that many students have their own e-mail accounts and do not regularly check their university e-mail, and you may be unable to reach them before the start of the course. Encourage students to e-mail back and tell you about themselves (you may even ask them to send a self-picture so that you can relate faces and names as soon as the class starts). 2. During the first class, collect the e-mail addresses where students want to receive e-mail. Send test messages, test transmission of attachment, and finalize the list within 2 weeks of the start of the course (you may even enter the date on which the list will be finalized in the course calendar). 3. Encourage students to communicate with one another via e-mail. 4. Set time frames with regard to transmissions of e-mail messages to students. For example, tell them that you will send them assignments for the next week by a certain time during the previous week. You may also tell students that if they receive no response to an inquiry from you within 24 hours, they should resend their messages. 5. If possible, set up a special e-mail address for communicating with students separately from your personal or administrative addresses. 6. To keep the course on track, send students detailed lecture outlines before each lecture and ask them to print them and bring them to class. 7. At midsemester and in order to improve your teaching, gather student feedback via a short form that you send students via e-mail (in order to ensure anonymity, the filled-out forms should not be returned via e-mail). 8. Establish a coded list that will be used to transmit grades to students during the term (it is time consuming to send grades to each student separately). 9. At the end of the semester, do not delete the list. Keep old student lists in a special directory, and stay in touch with former students.

Bulletin boards and chat rooms 1. Set up a bulletin board for each class. 2. Set up a chat room where you can “meet” students at special times (e.g., weekends) and for special occasions (e.g., review sessions before exams). 3. Be aware that some students (especially evening or part-time students) who work during the day may be unable to enter chat rooms because the organizations they work for have erected “fire walls” that prevent them from reaching chat rooms from their places of work. 4. Be aware that students often forget that online office hours are being held, even when announcements are made in class and posted on the course’s Web site. The marketing department’s Web site 1. Every course syllabus in the marketing department should carry the department’s home page address. 2. The benefits of access to large, unstructured collections of information are limited. Create a catalog of hyperlinks such as the one featured in Figure 1. 3. Post interactive syllabi that students use without paper copies and, wherever possible, include links to additional readings. 4. Create links to the sites that support the textbook that you are using; such sites often include self-testing and supplementary materials. 5. Make sure that a link to your marketing department’s home page is available at the relevant portals. For example, the site at http://mkt.cba.cmich.edu/aacsbmkt/ includes links to a large number of marketing departments at universities in the United States and abroad. 6. Tell students to use discretion in printing materials from the Web. As students print too many documents, our claim that online course documents reduces the cost of course material becomes more questionable (Butler 1996). 7. Tell students not to assume that there must be good information on the Web about every topic and encourage them to manage the amount of time that they spend collecting Web materials. Remind them that a short trip to the library can, at times, be more productive than many hours searching the Web.

teaching style and beneficial to both students and teachers. Techniques should be chosen that match the particular needs of the students and teacher, and the process should be ongoing. The effectiveness of integrating technology into the curriculum can be assessed by gathering quantitative and qualitative data from students and faculty. Most universities use student evaluations administered at the end of the course. The evaluations can include specific questions with regard to each module, and students should be asked to rate their satisfaction with the course’s technological components and provide suggestions for improvement. Table 4 provides a guideline for questions that could be added to student evaluations. Faculty should do a comparison of student course evaluations gathered before technology was incorporated into the program with comparable evaluations of courses that included the five technological modules.

Aside from student evaluations of the course and teacher, students can assess their own learning of the various skills in the course in a paper-and-pencil test. The test asks students how self-confident they feel about their ability to perform various skills. Based on the five modules, the following skills can be identified: using e-mail to communicate with the professor, accessing Web sites, handing in assignments electronically, entering chat rooms, adding to bulletin boards, using presentation software, assessing the veracity of Web sites, and understanding the use of the Internet by marketers. Additionally, professors can ask about students’ familiarity with specific sites such as www.census.gov. Given the technological nature of the course and the access to e-mail, professors can regularly ask students to respond to a question with regard to the course and answer via e-mail. This technique is a quick way to obtain feedback on particular


issues. It also requires that the student communicate using this method, thus ensuring his or her ability to use e-mail. Some students may be more Internet savvy than others and may not require as much instruction. Therefore, at the beginning of the semester, it is helpful to determine the skill levels of the students in the course. This can be done by asking students in a simple paper-and-pencil survey to indicate their level of expertise using e-mail, accessing Web sites, and using certain software programs. If there are large discrepancies in skills, faculty will have to adapt the course and may wish to refer students for additional instruction. There are numerous qualitative techniques that can be used for assessment of the five modules. Angelo and Cross (1993) suggested using the “minute paper” or the “muddiest point” techniques for assessment. Students are asked to indicate what they learned in a particular class or what was most unclear to them in a particular class. These techniques can be modified to determine which aspects of e-mail, the Web site, Web research, or Web presentations students learned about in the course or with which they had the most difficulty. These questions may help a professor focus on a particular area of improvement. Another technique called misconception/preconception (Angelo and Cross 1993) asks students to determine whether a particular statement is true or false. This is a very interesting technique to use with the Internet because so much information that is gathered is questionable in terms of accuracy. The professor can pull factual and questionable items from Web sites and ask students about their accuracy. This helps professors measure learning in the module, which covers computersupported market analysis and decision making. A similar technique is the pro and con grid (Angelo and Cross 1993) whereby students can be asked to indicate the pros and cons of using technology for marketing purposes. Students can also assess one another by evaluating presentations and the use of software in presentations. Students who are listening to the presentations can be asked to provide feedback to other students who are presenting. They can be asked to pay particular attention to the use of technology in the presentations. Faculty who adopt the modules may want to keep diaries in which they enter (perhaps once a week) their personal observations with regard to their experiences with pedagogical technology. In these records, faculty should keep track of such efficiency measures as class preparation time, need to update materials, and volume of electronic contact with the students. Students can also be asked to keep journals on their use of the Internet and the purposes for which they use it. These can then be analyzed and discussed at the end of the semester. Finally, learning effectiveness measures based on the specific objectives detailed in the seven-step plan for integrating technology (discussed earlier) should be administered at the end of the course.

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TABLE 4 QUESTIONS TO INCLUDE IN THE STUDENT EVALUATIONS WITH REGARD TO THE TECHNOLOGICAL MODULES Closed ended 1. How often would you say you communicated with your professor via the Internet? 2. How helpful was your communication with the professor via e-mail to your learning in the course? 3. How often did you communicate with other students in the class via e-mail? 4. How helpful was your communication with other students in the class via e-mail to your learning in the course? 5. How often did you visit the Web site for the course? 6. How often did you use the Web site to help you conduct research for assignments in the course? 7. How much were you encouraged to use the Internet for completion of assignments? 8. How well did the instructor explain the use of the Internet for research purposes? 9. How strongly do you feel the instructor explained the use of the Internet by firms engaged in marketing activities? 10.How comfortable do you feel with integrating presentation software (such as PowerPoint) into your presentations? 11.How strongly did the professor encourage the use of presentation software in class? Open ended 1. What would encourage you to communicate more with your professor via e-mail? 2. Was anything preventing you from communicating with your professor via e-mail? 3. What would encourage you to communicate more with other students via e-mail? 4. How could the Web site for the course be improved to help you learn more? 5. How could the instructor improve his or her explanation of the Internet as a research tool? 6. How could the instructor improve his or her explanation of the way marketers use the Internet for marketing purposes?

Current Assessment Program

Outcomes assessment for the competency-based program at Seton Hall University is in place. In January 2000, half of the sophomore class was required to pass a one-credit assessment based on the skills they acquired in the program. In their senior year, the second half of the cohort will be assessed. The assessment process is comprehensive. Students are divided into teams of four and asked to prepare a case that relates to the competencies they should have developed in their business courses. They are also asked to take an examination to determine their knowledge of terms associated with the competencies and their familiarity with various software programs. Assessors, businesspeople from the community, judge the student teams and provide feedback. Students are judged on their ability to communicate in both written and oral form, teamwork capabilities, knowledge of technology,

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and ability to think critically and manage change. Students who did not perform adequately must retake the assessment course in their senior year. Although currently marketing skills are not examined outside of the whole competency assessment by the university, individual faculty members assess students’ marketing skills in their courses through exams, graded assignments, and presentations. Additionally, because one of the competencies is technology, some of the skills that we addressed here, such as the ability to use presentation software and the ability to gather information using the Internet, are part of the university’s competency assessment process. CONCLUSIONS Because systematic integration of technology into instruction is in its infancy, it is still unclear what constitutes an ideal teacher, instructor, moderator, or guide in using such tools (Buchanan 1999). A main consideration is whether the instructor is able to combine the skills of a traditional classroom teacher with technology in order to provide a more interesting and better-organized delivery of the course’s material (Raths 1999). Teachers need to give more attention to advanced preparation, student interaction, visual materials, activities for independent study, and follow-up activities. The method of teaching may need to be changed as well (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment 1989). It is apparent that technology is, in fact, significantly changing classroom strategies. However, several practical issues must be kept in mind as we specifically integrate the Internet to supplement in-classroom instruction. First, students do not necessarily derive significant benefits from having access to large, unstructured collections of information. We must provide students with the skills necessary to filter large collections of information. By creating a catalog of hyperlinks such as the one we have in the marketing department’s Web site, we provide a guided entry point for students. Instructors should be prepared for the unevenness with which the Internet provides coverage of topics. Not all topics are covered equally, and instructors should avoid falling into the trap of assuming that there must be good information out there on every subject matter. Instructors must consciously manage the amount of time that they spend collecting Internet materials and remember that a short trip to the library can, in some cases, be more productive than many hours searching the Internet. Instructors must not only provide incentives for students to use online material (e.g., posting downloadable course materials) but must also design methods to track and measure the use and comprehension of the materials that are found online. When designing Web sites, instructors may want to include a hit counter to measure the number of “visitors” to a specific

page. Another assessment tool that our faculty have used in recent past is the inclusion of a “signature” box on Web pages; after accessing the page, the student must “sign” the form at the end of the online document to validate his or her visit. Last, in our Principles of Marketing course, students are required to hand in selected Internet exercises that require them to navigate the Web to further explore specific marketing issues through real-world examples. IT offers great value for business education, while marketing courses, particularly, offer many potential applications that will enhance instruction, motivate students to learn, and increase students’ proficiency in both general business and discipline-specific skills upon graduation. The five technological modules described in this article are a guide for enhancing marketing education with IT and for narrowing the gap between the curriculum and the practice of marketing in light of the emergence and fast adoption of new technologies by marketers. REFERENCES Alavi, M., B. Wheeler, and J. Valacich. 1995. Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation to collaborative telelearning. MIS Quarterly, September, 294-312. Alavi, M., Y. Yoo, and D. Vogel. 1997. Using information technology to add value to management education. Academy of Management Journal 40: 1310-33. Angelo, Thomas A., and Patrick K. Cross. 1993. Classroom assessment techniques. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Benbunan-Fich, R. 1999. Leveraging management education with information technology. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Academy of Management, May 13-16, 1999, Philadelphia, PA, edited by P. Elsass and J. Harmon. Philadelphia: Eastern Academy of Management. Benbunan-Fich, R., and S. R. Hiltz. 1999. Educational applications of CMCS: Solving case studies through asynchronous learning networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 4 (3). Available: www. ascusc.org/jcmc/vol4/issue3/benbunan-fich.html Bilimoria, Diana. 1999. Emerging information technologies and management education. Journal of Management Education 23:229-32. Buchanan, E. A. 1999. Assessment measures: Pre-tests for successful distance teaching and learning? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration 2 (3). Available: www.westga.edu/~distance/ buchanan24.html Butler, B. S. 1996. Using the World Wide Web to support classroom-based education: Opportunities and challenges for IS educators. Available: www.gsia.cmu.edu/bb26/papers/education/aiswww/ Dickson, Gary W., and Albert Segars. 1999. Redefining the high-technology classroom. Journal of Education for Business 73:152-56. Ferrell, O. C. 1995. Improving marketing education in the 1990s: A faculty retrospective and perspective view. Marketing Education Review 5 (fall): 69-79. Gardiner, Lion F. 1994. Redesigning higher education: producing dramatic gains in student learning. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, vol. 23, no. 7. Washington, DC: Graduate School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University. Kuechler, M. 1999. Using the Web in the classroom. Social Science Computer Review 7:144-61.

JOURNAL OF MARKETING EDUCATION Mueller, Bob. 1999. Keeping your customers from defecting. Beyond Computing, April, 30-31. Pine, Joseph B. 1993. Mass customization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Raths, D. 1999. Is anyone out there? Inside Technology Training, June, 32-34. Smart, Denise T., Craig A. Kelley, and Jeffrey S. Conant. 1999. Marketing education in the year 2000: Changes observed and challenges anticipated. Journal of Marketing Education 21:206-16. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. 1989. Linking for learning: A new course for education. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

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Van Horn, Carl E. 1995. Enhancing the connection between higher education and the workplace: A survey of employers. Denver, CO: State Higher Education Officers and Education Commission of the States. Welsch, L. A. 1982. Using electronic mail as a teaching tool. Communications of the ACM 25:105-8. Wingspread Group on Higher Education. 1993. An American imperative: Higher expectations for higher education. Racine, WI: Johnson Foundation.