Reinvent how students engage with core marketing content
Join us at the Academy of Marketing conference in Stirling on 2-5 July 2018 to hear the results of Swansea University’s pilot to increase engagement and improve performance on a marketing module using RevelTM.
This academic year, a marketing teaching team from Swansea University decided to pilot a new approach in teaching and learning, in response to a range of issues:
- Reading is crucial, but this is not always reflected in student engagement with core texts
- Feedback is necessary to students, but unrealistic for lecturers to provide at an individual level
- Communication with a digital native generation requires new approaches that they find relevant
- A wider range of needs in the student body as it becomes more diverse and international, and
- Student satisfaction and performance.
For two terms the team integrated Pearson’s new platform, Revel. On Tuesday 3 July from 4-5.15 p.m. at this year's Academy of Marketing conference, lecturer Sarah Owens will share the teaching team's findings with you.
Case study: Swansea University
This video shows the response of the students on this Swansea University marketing module, particularly what they valued about the instant feedback, interactivity and the learning design features within Revel.
The Academy of Marketing session will look at how marketing students engage with core course content, using Swansea University’s pilot as a case study.
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The session will revolve around key themes such as student engagement, digital innovation and blended learning, focusing on how the lecturing team at Swansea reimagined the way they delivered their course in order to try and improve student engagement and performance.
Marketing the brave: innovation
This year's conference theme is Marketing the Brave. Deciding to implement the first iteration of a new technology with a large group of students, which included a sizeable international component, is a brave step on Swansea’s part. Not only did the lecturers have to understand how the platform works, but as some of the first lecturers in the UK to use this technology, they have pioneered its usage within teaching. This session would allow the lecturers time to discuss their experiences of doing this, including preliminary results.
The value of interactive learning
When students simply read about marketing, their ability to comprehend and remember the key takeaways is limited. Research indicates that active and constructive engagement with concepts yields a higher impact on learning than mere passive engagement alone (van Merrienboer and Sweller, 2005; Pearson, 2017). When students can read and then immediately put this learning into practice, they are better equipped to both understand and remember what they're learning. Interactive exercises have been shown to boost active and constructive engagement with taught material (Freeman et al, 2014) and feedback, or lack of it, is a common student problem (Carless, 2006; Orsmond & Merry, 2011).
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"Motivate[s] me to read the textbook and engage more."
- Student, Hull University
How Revel responds to learners' needs
Revel aims to change the way in which Marketing students engage with core course content: It allows students to read, practice and study in one interactive, continuous experience, and includes textbook content, activities and videos.
Revel was developed with insights distilled from learning science, particularly around providing immediate feedback, reducing cognitive load by chunking, and increasing active and constructive engagement.
Academy of Marketing session agenda
The session led by Swansea University and Pearson is on Tuesday 3 July from 4-5.15 p.m. at this year's conference in Stirling. Being new ground for all involved, the hope is that this session will spark debate amongst attendees around key issues such as engagement, student satisfaction, student performance and teaching excellence within marketing.
The session will look at the process of creating Revel resources across the marketing curriculum to help reduce extraneous cognitive load, boost active and constructive engagement and provide immediate feedback, and the research that is informing this.
It will address how Revel resources help students to apply theoretical knowledge, understand the complexity of marketing and think critically and holistically about the subject matter.
Resources like Revel allow you to measure success on impact and learning gain. The Swansea University team will provide research details and preliminary feedback on their key outcome: Does the use of Revel lead to better student experience and outcomes? They will talk holistically about the use of Revel, including what did and didn’t go well. We also hope to present preliminary findings from Portsmouth and Middlesex, who have also trialled the Revel product this academic year.
Missed the event? Learn more about our resources for marketing, and contact us for information on future events.
About the author
Tom Hill is a specialist portfolio manager for business and management at Pearson. Before this he spent seven years in various editorial roles in education publishing. His spare time is consumed by playing rugby and looking after his two small children.