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The following learning plans and teaching projects are intended only as examples of what can been done under this program. You need not follow them in form or content when completing your application. The examples are taken from the Greening the Future, a compilation of the Miami University Alumni Teaching Scholars Program, the pilot program for this teaching enhancement initiative. We would like to thank Milt Cox, director of the Miami project, for his permission to use these examples. Teaching Scholar Initial Learning Plan Gillian Oakenfull - Marketing 1. A TS Goals and Objectives Objective #1 - Improving My Performance as a Teacher My goal as an academic is to become a well-respected teacher and researcher within the university and in the field of marketing. In order to achieve the former, I must develop the skills that are necessary to really "pull" students into the subject. I believe that I am fortunate to teach classes in subjects that are intrinsically interesting to students. My objective is to find the balance between invigorating students and providing them with knowledge that will serve them well in their future careers. I believe that my knowledge of my teaching area is sufficient to fulfill this goal. However, I feel that my ability to gauge the needs of students and my delivery of the material needs improvement. I have been in teaching situations outside of academics where I could feel students constantly improving their skills and the growing confidence that such an environment fosters. That is the reaction that I want to sense from students at Miami and I believe this program will provide me with the tools to achieve that objective:
Objective #2 - Enhancing the Learning Experience Through the Use of Technology I teach International Marketing and find that Miami students' knowledge of other cultures and world affairs is quite minimal. Thus, it is vital that I inform them, not only about how firms should operate in an international environment, but more simply, how those environments differ from the United States. In an effort to personalize their acquisition of world knowledge and bring the international environment a little closer to their experiences here, each semester I contact all Miami professors with international expertise and solicited cooperation with internationalizing marketing students taking MKT 471. I enlist the help of professors, international students and outside professionals who are affiliated with one of twenty different countries to act as cultural consultants for students during their semester projects. Additionally, I arrange for numerous guest speakers to expose students to information about less familiar countries and culture during in-class presentation. My teaching philosophy is based on the idea of "Learning by Doing." Thus, the group project is a very focal part of my course. While the students have responded well to my efforts to date, I believe that their learning would be greatly enhanced by more direct experience in foreign cultures and environments. My second objective is to use multimedia technology to bring students closer to the foreign markets to which they are exposed during the course.
2.Focus Course As stated above, my focus course will be MKT 471 - International Marketing, a senior level elective. I currently teach this class in a two hours and forty minute once a week format This provides me with an opportunity to experiment with several teaching styles throughout the time period. It also provides a wonderful forum for dedicated group work. I currently spend about one hour and a half hours lecturing, and the rest of the time is spent either on discussions of assigned readings, case work, students' current topics reports and videos. The class concludes with a world music quiz for extra credit. Syllabus and group project outline are attached. 3. Faculty Mentor My first objective is to learn from others who have achieved the goals for which I strive. As my teaching philosophy (see appendix) reiterates, I strongly believe in the philosophy of "Learning by Doing." I need to learn how to teach - this program provides with an opportunity to do so with constant instruction and feedback from experienced educators and peers, particularly my mentor. I have chosen my mentor, Glenn Platt from the economics department for three reasons: (1) he is a well-respected teacher who has one numerous awards and is well-respected by both faculty and students, (2) he is a past participant in ATS and is, therefore, aware of the goals of the program, (3) he is a great deal of knowledge of technology and has used technology very innovatively in his teaching. One of my objectives is to fully appreciate the different methods of teaching that may be available to me. As a teacher, I feel confined to either emulate or avoid experiences that I had as a student. Working with Glenn as my mentor should broaden my knowledge of both traditional and innovative teaching tools so that I may adapt my teaching to meet the specific needs of the students, the classroom environment, and the subject matter. Glenn and I have had some preliminary discussions about my ATS objectives. We have planned to meet on a regular basis to exchange ideas on teaching in general and on using technology in the classroom. I am planning to invite Glenn to provide Glenn with information on my course, in particular the group project, and to get his opinion on how technology can be used to enhance the experience for both me and the students. I will also invite Glen to visit my class and provide feedback. Additionally, we will be attending Lilly Conferences together and will be working together on technology projects within the School of Business Administration. 4. Student Associate My student Associate, Dan Grome, is a former student of my International Marketing course. I plan to involve Dan in developing the new group project so as to gauge student's reactions to the modifications. I will also have some in-depth discussions on Dan's impression of the course when he took it and how he feels it could be improved. Dan is an employee of the marketing Department and I am in daily contact with him in this capacity. This will allow me to have constant feedback from Dan as I plan and develop materials for my ATS project. In addition, we will meet for dedicated ATS discussions on a regular basis. 5. Teaching project as follows 6. The Scholarship of Teaching Teaching international marketing is a difficult assignment in that it requires a reiteration of the marketing process followed by an extension that incorporates the differences between the marketing process in the United States and that when entering foreign country markets. This process becomes truly complicating when students do not have a basic understanding of foreign environments and cultures. Currently, most students are limited to secondary data when researching other countries. A project that uses technology to make the world smaller is one that could be universally adapted and modified by teachers of the subject around the world. In order to evaluate the success of the project, I will compare students' evaluations of this semester's group project with those of next semester's. I will develop a questionnaire that will be administered to both groups of students at the completion of the project that measures their opinion on various aspects of the group project. While these results will not be available for presentation at the Lilly Conference, I feel that the process of developing such a technologically- driven project could be the subject of an informative and timely presentation. 7. The Use of Funds I will apply for outside grants and make use of institutional resources to develop and use the technology necessary for this project. At this time, I do not have a clear idea of how I will use the ATS funds. However, I'm sure this will become apparent as the project progresses. Teaching Project-- Gillian Oakenfull 1. The problem Teaching international marketing is a difficult assignment in that it requires a reiteration of the marketing process followed by an extension that incorporates the differences between the marketing process in the United States and that when entering foreign country markets. This process becomes truly complicating when students do not have a basic understanding of foreign environments and cultures. I have found that Miami University students have an extremely limited knowledge of other cultures. While they may have visited other countries, they have rarely been submerged in the culture enough to truly appreciate the nuances that are critical to the success of an international marketing effort. Additionally, students are limited to secondary data when researching other countries. Thus, they are restricted by the availability and reliability of data available through library resources and the internet My goal is to enhance students' appreciation of other cultures and to provide them with the experience of working with foreign nationals towards a shared goal. American businesses have been criticized for approaching international ventures from an ethnocentric perspective. However, this may often be a result of ignorance rather than arrogance. After completing the course, students should have a far richer understanding of why it is so important to understand a foreign market environment before a firm can hope to successfully market their product there. Additionally, they will gain a unique perspective on the difficulties of overcoming cultural differences in collaborative environments as would be the case with a multinational corporation that employs workers of several cultures. Finally, they will be less reliant on secondary data to provide a basis for the project. Working hand-in-hand with foreign nationals will allow them to tailor their research to the task at hand and develop a far more insightful investigation of task at hand. 2. Context While the idea of cooperative group projects is not a new one for courses with an international basis, little has been done to fully utilize advances in technology to bring students together in as project of this type. A search of the internet does provide information on how others have undertaken this process as syllabi are currently available for this course around the world. This would allow me to build on the efforts of others so as to create a cutting-edge solution to the problems stated earlier. 3. Proposed Solution I plan to investigate the use multimedia technology such as discussion boards and video conferencing to facilitate a cooperative project with a foreign university. During this semester, I will develop a relationship with a member of faculty from a foreign university who is teaching international marketing and arrange a cooperative project for the coming semester. With his project, Miami students would be working in groups with foreign students to provide them with first-hand knowledge of the foreign market they are investigating and to enhance their awareness of the intricacies of foreign cultures. 4. Evaluation In order to evaluate the success of the project, I will compare students' evaluations of this semester's group project with those of next semester's. I will develop a questionnaire that will be administered to both groups of students at the completion of the project that measures their opinion on various aspects of the group project. Additionally, I will be able to compare the evaluations of Miami students to those of foreign students to investigate any cultural differences that may be present. Project Timeline
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