Why You Need Twitter In Your Classroom

Josh Semans (CC BY 2.0)

Still skeptical about using Twitter in the classroom? This powerful tool has done wonders for business, and according to a study in the Journal of Marketing Education (JMD), it can help students feel better prepared for their careers.

Shannon B. Rinaldo, Suzanne Tapp, and Debra A. Laverie, all of Texas Tech University, published “Learning by Tweeting: Using Twitter as a Pedagogical Tool” in JMD’s August 2011 Special Edition on teaching marketing with innovative technology. Their article provides quantitative and qualitative data showing that Twitter can be an effective and highly beneficial tool in any classroom, if used properly.

The abstract:

Marketing professionals use Twitter extensively for communicating with and monitoring customers, for observing competitors, and for analyzing chatter concerning brands, products, and company image. Can professors use Twitter to engage students in conversation about a marketing course? The authors argue that Twitter has many benefits for marketing educators who are interested in engaging students in experiential learning. In a real-time environment for student learning, professors may use Twitter for direct communication with students to generate discussion and interest in the course topics and examples. Just as marketers use Twitter to generate interest, discussion, and brand image, educators can use Twitter to generate this interest in a course through social media. Furthermore, Twitter is a fast, easy method for making announcements, solving student issues, and performing course-related administrative duties. In three studies, both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that when students engage in Twitter use with the professor, students feel better prepared for future careers. In addition, students indicate that Twitter facilitates achieving traditional educational goals. The qualitative data offer insights into potential problems. Suggestions for educators interested in using Twitter are offered.

To learn more about the Journal of Marketing Education, please follow this link.

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Social Marketing and Healthy People

Did you know that social marketing objectives have been added to Healthy People 2020?

Healthy People, the program of national health promotion goals set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to improve the health of all Americans with 10-year national objectives. For the first time, the index now includes measures to increase social marketing in health promotion and disease prevention.

To support this historic achievement, the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida, will include two plenary sessions on strategies for initiating instruction about social marketing, social entrepreneurship, and related social change at universities and improving existing educational endeavors in these institutions.

Included are two “collaboratories” devoted to academic interests, giving people working in and with universities a chance to discuss and expand upon the ideas presented during these plenary sessions.

Healthy People 2020 objectives directed at incorporating social marketing include:

• “Increase the proportion of schools of public health and accredited master of public health (MPH) programs that offer one or more courses in social marketing.

• Increase the proportion of schools of public health and accredited MPH programs that offer workforce development activities in social marketing for public health practitioners.” (Source: Healthy People 2020, US Department of Health and Human Services)

If you have ideas on how to realize these Healthy People 2020 objectives, we welcome your abstracts for short oral presentations or posters. We also invite you to join us for a productive and purposive conversation about the future of social marketing in academia.

For more information about this year’s conference, visit us on the web at: http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/csm/scc.htm

Online registration for the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders is now available! To register, please click here. To view detailed information and download a conference brochure, please follow this link.

Training Academy: June 13-14, 2012
Main Conference: June 15-16, 2012
Sheraton Sand Key Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
Sponsored by USF Health

Fostering Sustainable Behavior

Fostering Sustainable Behavior Workshop
An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing
June 13-14, 2012  

The cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change. Sustainability requires individuals and businesses to act (e.g., reduce waste, increase water and energy efficiency, and prevent pollution). To date, most programs to achieve these changes have relied upon disseminating information. Research demonstrates, however, that simply providing information has little or no effect on what people or businesses do. But if not ads, brochures or booklets, then what? Over the last decade a new approach, community-based social marketing, has emerged as an effective alternative for promoting sustainable behavior.

About the Workshop: 

Presented by Pacific Agenda, Inc. and taught by Doug McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, the Fostering Sustainable Behavior Workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster sustainable behavior. Attendees will learn the five steps of community-based social marketing (selecting behaviors, identifying barriers, developing strategies, conducting pilots, and broad scale implementation) and be exposed to numerous case studies illustrating its use. As such, this workshop provides participants with the knowledge they need to design and evaluate their own community-based social marketing programs.

About the Presenter: 

Dr. McKenzie-Mohr is the founder of community-based social marketing and has written and presented extensively on the topic. His work has been featured in the New York Times and his book, “Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing,” has been recommended by Time magazine.

Workshop Details:

The workshop is being held at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort (Clearwater Beach, Florida) June 13-14, 2012. To register or to find more information, please follow this link.

The workshop precedes the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Training Academy & Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders, sponsored by USF Health. Workshop attendees will be emailed further information on the annual conference as well as a code that can be used to obtain a reduced rate for staying at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort. Online conference registration now available at www.cme.hsc.usf.edu!

Training Academy: June 13-14, 2012
Main Conference: June 15-16, 2012
Sheraton Sand Key Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
Sponsored by USF Health

Are You Reaching Your Audience?

The University of South Florida’s 22^nd Annual Social Marketing Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders, sponsored by USF Health, kicks off this summer with The Social Marketing Training Academy, a two-day workshop to be held June 13-14 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL.

Social marketing has potential applications in a wide array of fields such as environmental studies, sustainability, transportation, financial literacy, education, not-for-profit management, labor relations, engineering, public health, and healthcare. All of these and others can benefit from social marketing’s consumer centered, strategic approach to influencing change.

This year’s theme – “Getting Better at Doing Good” – reflects the global reality that government institutions, not-for-profit groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities and colleges, and businesses are searching for better ways to improve people’s health, the environment, infrastructures, and social welfare.

The Social Marketing Training Academy will continue its 20-year tradition of training professionals and students new to social marketing and others who want to enhance their understanding of the basic social marketing model.

Upon completion of the Training Academy, participants should be able to:

• Define and list five distinctive features of social marketing;
• Describe the six steps that comprise the social marketing process;
• Articulate the major tasks to be accomplished during the initial planning phase;
• List at least two types of research used to design a social marketing campaign;
• Describe at least two decisions that must be made in developing a campaign strategy; and
• List at least three new professional contacts.

Online registration for The Training Academy and the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Training Academy & Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders is now available! To register, please click here. To view detailed information and download a conference brochure, please follow this link.

Training Academy: June 13-14, 2012
Main Conference: June 15-16, 2012
Sheraton Sand Key Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
Sponsored by USF Health

Kickstart Your Social Marketing Strategy

Kickstart your social marketing strategy this summer with the Social Marketing Field School’s Introduction to Social Marketing course!

Sponsored by USF Health, the Social Marketing Field School is a carefully crafted selection of courses offered in an intensive five-day format. It is organized specifically for motivated students and busy professionals to acquire skills in an intense, exciting and highly interactive format with some of social marketing’s leading professionals and instructors.

Upon completion of the Introduction to Social Marketing course, students will be able to:

• Define social marketing and identify appropriate uses of social marketing in public health;
• Identify the appropriate methods for use in conducting social marketing research;
• Implement a 10-step model for developing, implementing and evaluating a social marketing campaign;
• Design a social marketing plan, with a 4-5 person team, to ameliorate a public health problem;
• Apply the social marketing mindset to develop, implement/manage, and evaluate social marketing programs; and
• Discuss ethical principles that guide social marketing practice

The Introduction to Social Marketing course will be offered June 10 – 14, 2012 in Tampa, FL at the University of South Florida. Course may be taken for university credit. To register,  visit http://www.cme.hsc.usf.edu and click on Course Calendar, then June 2012, and scroll down to “Introduction to Social Marketing.”

The course will be offered in the days preceding the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Training Academy & Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders. Online registration now available at www.cme.hsc.usf.edu!

Training Academy: June 13-14, 2012
Main Conference: June 15-16, 2012
Sheraton Sand Key Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
Sponsored by USF Health

Facilitating Authentic Becoming

Matthew Eriksen, Providence College, published “Facilitating Authentic Becoming” on November 2nd, 2011 in the Journal of Management Education’s OnlineFirst section. Other OnlineFirst articles can be found here.

The abstract:

A Model of Authentic Becoming that conceptualizes learning as a continuous and ongoing embodied and relational process, and uses social constructionism assumptions as well as Kolb’s experiential learning model as its point of departure, is presented. Through a focus on the subjective, embodied, and relational nature of organizational life, the assignment presented in this article provides a structure to facilitate students becoming more effective and authentic organizational members and self-authors. Learning outcomes also include the development of self-understanding, empathy, and the ability to engage in practical reflexivity and self-reflection. Students incorporate organizational behavior concepts and theories meaningfully into their writing and lives. Additional learning and the improvement of the classroom learning environment are facilitated through students verbally sharing their assignments in class with one another.

To learn more about the Journal of Management Education, please click here.

Are you interested in receiving email alerts whenever a new article or issue becomes available online? Then follow this link!

Facilitating and Creating Synergies Between Teaching and Research

David B. Balkin, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Jeffrey A. Mello, Siena College, published “Facilitating and Creating Synergies Between Teaching and Research: The Role of the Academic Administrator” on August 30th, 2011 on OnlineFirst in the Journal of Management Education (JME). Other articles available in JME‘s OnlineFirst collection can be found here.

The Abstract:

Teaching and research are often seen as activities that compete for a faculty member’s time and energy. This perceived disconnect between teaching and research has been reinforced by a number of norms within the academy as well as by institutional practices related to how faculty are managed and rewarded. This article argues that teaching and research activities of faculty within business schools can have a synergistic relationship and explores the nature of that relationship particularly relative to how administrators can work with faculty to bridge the gap and better align teaching and research activities. Benefits of a closer alignment of teaching and research include teaching that is informed by the latest research findings and research that is more relevant to practicing managers and can be better understood by students.

To learn more about the Journal of Management Education, please click here.

Are Universities Creating Millennial Narcissistic Employees?

James W. Westerman, Jacqueline Z. Bergman, Shawn M. Bergman and Joseph P. Daly, all of Appalachian State University, published “Are Universities Creating Millennial Narcissistic Employees? An Empirical Examination of Narcissism in Business Students and Its Implications,” in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Management Education. Professor Westerman and Dr. Daly kindly provided the following responses on the article.

Who is the target audience for this article?

This article was targeted toward business instructors and business school administrators at the undergraduate and graduate levels – particularly instructors of management.  We also believe that there are implications from this research for business school career services and career development professionals.

Were there findings that were surprising to you?

One of our biggest surprises was a non-finding, that narcissism was not associated with better classroom performance among students.  We had thought that, since business courses are a short-term instructional setting and narcissists have been shown to excel in short-term learning settings, that they would outperform their non-narcissistic counterparts in that context.  The fact that the hypothesis was not supported by the data was a heartening development – it suggested that business professors in our sample are not cutting any slack or catering to their narcissistic students.  I think the other big surprise was the enhanced salary and career opportunities anticipated by narcissists, which were unrelated to their academic performance.  It seems interesting that narcissists expect to prosper in the business world.  

How do you see this study influencing future practice?

We see this study as influencing future management educators, raising their awareness of narcissism and its effects in the classroom.  In the article, we suggest some interventions that educators can try.  A more extensive discussion of corrective actions that includes administrative interventions is presented in our 2010 article in Academy of Management Learning & Education.

How does this study fit into your body of work/line of research?

Our previous work on narcissism in the business classroom extrapolated from previous research in other disciplines that narcissism was likely to be an increasingly difficult problem in management education.  This study was the first to test that proposition with regard to preparing students for managerial positions.

 How did your paper change during the review process?

One issue that kept coming up among reviewers was, given that our young professors are increasingly coming from Generation Y, what effect would that have on one’s teaching style?  We did measure narcissism levels among the instructors of our sample, but there were not enough observations to draw any meaningful conclusions. 

 What, if anything, would you do differently if you could go back and do this study again?

We would like to replicate this study, only with a Chinese sample to compare to our existing American sample.  China is a land of contrasts.  One the one hand, we would expect narcissism to be lower among the Chinese because their culture is a collectivistic one, which would mitigate against the self-absorption that is a hallmark among narcissists.  However, on the other hand, Chinese students in Generation Y are overwhelmingly from one child families.  Many of their countrymen refer to them as “little emperors” because their parents dote on them so much.  Parental doting is thought to be a root cause of narcissism.

New JME Podcast!

The Journal of Management Education (JME), a publication of the OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators, has completed its eighth podcast.

In this podcast, Cindi Fukami talks to Glenn McEvoy about his article, “Increasing Intrinsic Motivation to Learn in Organization Behavior Classes,” which was published in the May 2011 issue of JME.

According to Mr. McEvoy, “this article describes my experiences redesigning a masters-level organizational behavior (OB) course. The course was delivered to two different audiences— MBA and MS-HR students—two different times. The redesign employed several unique features designed to increase and enhance student intrinsic interest in the subject matter. Two measures of intrinsic motivation were collected along with measures of perceived usefulness of the OB course content, student satisfaction, and student learning. Also, follow-up focus groups were conducted with a subset of the students after the courses were over to gain insight on student reactions. Results provide partial support for the notion that MS-HR students were more intrinsically interested in the subject matter of the course than were MBA students, but outcomes with satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and student learning were mixed. Results are discussed in terms of which specific aspects of the course redesign seemed more effective at eliciting student interest and motivation and which proved problematic. Implications for both teaching and research are provided.”

JMI- Six Degrees Interviews

The Journal of Management Inquiry has developed a new section called “Six Degrees,” in which important authors and professors of management are interviewed in a takeoff on Inside the Actors Studio.

In the second installment, Gretchen Spreitzer, University of Michigan, and Robert Quinn , University of Michigan, talk about their long-time collaboration, which began in 1988 when Gretchen was a doctoral student and Robert was a faculty member.

In the third installment of Six Degrees, Richard Stackman interviews Jone Pearce, University of California, Irvine, about her life and career. Jone is the Former President of the Western Academy of Management and the Former President of the Academy of Management. In this interview, she discusses her relationship with her students, who she continues to collaborate with as professors.

To listen to these interviews and more from Six Degrees, click here.