2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

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LEVERAGING NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR MARKETING EDUCATION: STRATEGIES FOR USING VIRTUAL WORLDS FOR REAL-LIFE EDUCATION Wendy Bryce Wilhelm, Western Washington University, College of Business and Economics, Bellingham, WA 98225; wendy.wilhelm@wwu.edu OVERVIEW Online 3D virtual worlds provide new ways to create, socialize, and collaborate, as well as new ways to teach and learn online. Second Life is a virtual world and developing economy that has its own currency, residents, businesses, media, and educational institutions. Created in 2003 by Linden Labs, it has grown rapidly to as many as 6.7 million or more unique residents. Many real-world companies (e.g., Toyota, Reebok) and universities (e.g., Harvard, INSEAD) have established a presence in SL. The purpose of this presentation is to provide marketing educators with a better understanding of what virtual worlds like Second Life are and how marketing educators can use them as a platform for business simulations, new media studies, and student/faculty collaboration. RELEVANCE TO MARKETING EDUCATION Many mainstream real-world marketers and IMC agencies have a presence in SL, engaging in traditional marketing activities such as test marketing new products prior to introducing them real-world (Starwood hotels), advertising (on SL television networks or newspapers), holding events to generate product buzz (Sears), and even introducing new products on SL prior to their real-world release. The Electric Sheep Company, a content development firm that builds SL homes, resorts, malls, etc., recently sponsored a business-plan contest whose winner was a plan for an SL marketing research company that would help real-world companies decide whether to invest in an in-world presence. Virtual worlds such as Second Life offer unique qualities for educators: immersion, shared presence, and shared experience. They are engaging for the Net Gen students who have grown up online and with video games and are accustomed to interacting via avatars in online 3D immersive environments. Net Gen students have become accustomed to, and will expect to be involved in, the creation of their own media content, thanks to the Web 2.0 revolution. ABSTRACT 104 While many universities have established virtual campuses in SL, very few business schools or marketing courses currently have an in-world location. As might be expected, disciplines such as computer science, engineering, and internet/new media studies dominate SL. SL provides a unique and flexible platform for marketing educators because students can move out into the world-at-large and engage in authentic projects in contexts that have relevance for them. For example, in SL students can: • build a retail space where they can design and sell clothes, furniture, real estate; • learn how to organize and run events; • design and test market new products/services; • do social and ethnographic research with any of the communities and subcultures within the virtual world; • study a new language and culture in an environ- ment that reflects the culture, interacting with native speakers; and • create integrated marketing communications (IMC) plans using in-world media, including SEM, billboards, television, and blogs. CHALLENGES Challenges associated with incorporating SL into marketing pedagogy include: high-end technical requirements, cost, accessibility issues, steep learning curves, closed proprietary systems, legal grey areas (e.g., intellectual property, virtual economies, avatar rights), and student validation and control (virtual worlds have a reputation for being addictive). Assuming these challenges can be overcome, now is the time for marketing educators to be “pioneers,” to actively incorporate virtual worlds into marketing pedagogy. <strong>Marketing</strong> practitioners are rapidly moving into this space, and to remain competitive, our marketing students need to learn how to apply their real-world skills in a virtual world such as Second Life.
VIRTUAL MENTORING FOR A RETAIL MARKETING CLASS: EXPLORING A TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTION FOR A LEARNING NEED Sandra Mottner and Kristi Lewis Tyran, Western Washington University, College of Business and Economics, 516 High St., MS 9073, Bellingham, WA 98225; sandra.mottner@wwu.edu, kristi.tyran@wwu.edu Student interaction with business professionals is desirable for building student knowledge and skills. While student interactions with business professionals occur through internships, guest speakers, company-based projects, etc., this exploratory research examines a one-to-one student/ business professional pedagogical tool known as “virtual mentoring.” Virtual mentoring pairs individual students with experienced professionals. Interactions between mentor and student are primarily by e-mail. While virtual mentoring has many advantages, particularly for students located far from company locations, there are some disadvantages as well. E-mail communications can create disconnects between individuals, and hence monitoring, support, and structure are important to provide a quality experience (Peltier, Schibrowsky, & Drago, 2007). The virtual mentoring tool used in this research was adapted from a management course model (Tyran & Garcia, 2005) and used in a senior-level retail marketing class. The objectives were to: (1) aid student understanding of how theory was applied in the retail world, (2) better understand the skills used in the retail/business world, and (3) develop communication and networking skills. Virtual mentors were recruited by the instructor and represented a mix of retailers in terms of size, product assortment and job descriptions including owners, merchandise buyers, CMOs, CIOs, sales managers, etc. There was one mentor for each student in the class. Students initiated a series of four e-mail exchanges followed by a thank you e-mail and a reflective essay on what they had learned. Students were encouraged to go beyond the minimum requirements and many met their mentor, talked on the phone, or exceeded the required exchange number. Ongoing student feedback was solicited in class to reinforce learning objectives and help solve problems. Student response to an end-of-term survey indicated that they perceived the virtual mentoring exercise as a good learning tool, although not as strong as more well-tested or traditional pedagogical tools. However, ABSTRACT 105 qualitative student feedback indicated very strong attitudes for enhanced learning through virtual mentoring. Issues to overcome included mentor promptness, fullness of answers to questions, having enough classroom training, and matching of student and mentor. The reflective essay was highly rated as a learning tool by the students. Virtual mentor feedback was obtained through an electronic survey (69 percent response rate). The virtual mentors felt that the exercise was good for students. A very high number of firms view helping students and education as part of their corporate culture. Virtual mentor attitudes were strongly positive about the experience being worthwhile for them, that the executive’s view of the modern student was enhanced, that it helped the mentors reflect on their own knowledge, and that the virtual mentor felt good about helping a student learn. Areas for improvement included better instructions and schedule clarity. This study was very experimental which limits generalization. However, it does help to point the way for using technology in a positive manner to further learning through dialogues between business professionals and business students. The study also points out refinements to the tool, careful mentor recruitment and matching of mentors with students. Further analysis is needed to increase perceived learning and better understand the reciprocal nature of the virtual mentoring experience and the implications for that relationship in the long term. REFERENCES Peltier, J. W., Schibrowsky, J. A. & Drago, W. (2007). The interdependence of the factors influencing the perceived quality of the online learning experience: A causal model. Journal of <strong>Marketing</strong> Education, 29, 140-153. Tyran, K. L. & Garcia, J. (2005). Connecting coursework to real work: University alumni and friends as “virtual mentors” to management students. Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings.
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Marketing Educators’ Association
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PREFACE This volume contains the pr
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Mary Conran, Temple University Debo
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Ethics and Social Responsibility In
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Special Sessions Diverting Traditio
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Linking Marketing Students to the R
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MARKETING EDUCATORS’ ASSOCIATION
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at improving the lives of all Filip
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of the marketing program and streng
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A NEW CONCEPT OF VALIDITY: EVALUATI
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ankings, alumni ratings, and the ra
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simply be utilized to publicly vali
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IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? IMPROVIN
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THE COMMUNITY AS OUR CLASSROOM: STU
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Learning Outcomes Even more importa
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• recognizing that ideas and huma
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Greek Thought Homer, The Odyssey Ae
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INVESTIGATING PLAGIARISM: CREATION
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ATTITUDES TOWARDS BUSINESS ETHICS A
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week semester, the author is able t
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or she may be ready to appreciate h
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RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: A CONCISE C
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BENCHMARKING CHINESE BUSINESS EDUCA
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NOT LIKE US: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FO
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TABLE 2 Example Frequencies: “Rus
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THE MARKETING RESCUE: STRATEGIES TH
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PRICE V. QUALITY: THE CONSUMERS’
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COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
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TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION TO INTER
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understand how the material they tr
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IMPROVING GRADUATE BUSINESS EDUCATI
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Chew and Mclnnis-Bowers (2004) expl
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2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

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