I believe in incorporating in-lecture questions, real-world applicable practice tools, and lectures when teaching my students. By teaching in this manner, I believe that I am able to keep students engaged while giving them fundamental skills that they can use on their resumes. For example, in-lecture questions may be something as simple as asking them questions they should be able to answer given what we reviewed in the previous lecture. However, I most often use “why” questions to make them think through why a phenomenon might be occurring. For example, when reviewing data trends, I always use Google searches for the term “weight loss” and ask where the peaks are and why they think they are happening. Of course, the most significant peak is always in January as new year resolutions begin, which students are able to articulate. While this is great for keeping them on their toes and thinking, the most worthwhile activities are the real-world practice assignments we do. In fact, at the end of the course, I provide a list of items they can add to their resume from having taken my course.

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   Incorporating real-world tools is especially important when teaching digital marketing, as the concepts can be very abstract until students are forced to actually implement them. For every class I have taught, the real-world portion has either been a simulation or a project involving actual companies. In both cases, the students must incorporate all of the concepts they have learned to complete the tasks successfully. I also incorporate many activities into my digital marketing class that students say they have even used to improve their business own websites, such as keywording building using one of the leading platforms (SEMRush), learning to build landing pages to match display ads using Wishpond, and learning to create the meta-data for a site using sites like metatags.io. This gives students all of the tools they need to get hands-on experience with software that they can add to their resume and discuss in an interview. The most important project is the final project, where students must build a website promoting themselves to potential employers. This project incorporates all of the web design elements, data analytics, persuasive messaging, and search engine optimization tools they have learned throughout the semester. By building the site in WordPress, they gain a marketable skill as over 30% of web pages are built on WordPress. Also, by utilizing Google Analytics for their data and being required to present an analysis of the data, they are gaining another skill for their resume. Finally, they are required to promote their content on social media, giving them the skills of professional social media management and content creation.

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     Throughout the course, adjustments are made to best support student learning. I explain to students that my syllabus is a living, breathing document that allows us to have the flexibility we need to incorporate new technologies or digital marketing related topics that arise as well as pausing to work through concepts more thoroughly that students are not understanding (as evidenced by their homework). I believe this flexibility helps students stay engaged and shows them that I am paying attention to how they are progressing. I also leave very detailed commentary on their homework assignments so that they can improve on the concepts.

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