Dance Studio and Social Media Make Winning Combination

The efforts of students managing a digital marketing campaign for an area ballroom dance studio have granted admission for one assistant professor with Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration to the Wall of COOL.

International Business and Marketing’s Dr. Kristen Schiele was selected for the 2018 Wall of COOL (Celebrating Outstanding Opportunities for Learning) for her contributions to the IBM 403 e-Marketing Course.  The Wall of COOL celebrates exemplary technology-infused and enhanced course development by Cal Poly Pomona faculty.

“Dr. Kristen Schiele’s course IBM 403 on digital marketing was selected because of its emphasis on learn-by-doing by having students complete activities related to what they just learned,” director of the Faculty Center for Professional Development and the eLearning team Victoria Bhavsar, Ph.D. said. “[The activities] feed directly into their preparation for the job market because Kristen so carefully selected the various technologies that the students use.”

IBM 403 presents the strategic use of digital tools for acquiring, retaining, and developing customers, conducting marketing research, branding, and enhancing the organization’s entire marketing mix performance. The course uses technology-mediated instruction to discuss digital platforms and procedures from a marketing perspective.

 By dividing the course into four modules, Search Engine Optimization (SEO); Online Advertising and Email Marketing; Social Media; and Analytics and Online Reputation Management (ORM), Schiele focused on the following learning objectives:

LO1: Examine the main tools and techniques used in digital marketing and how they can be implemented into a marketing strategy.

LO2: Evaluate effectiveness of digital marketing strategies in generating revenue and delivering customer value.

LO3: Critique digital marketing strategies and tactics used in real-world examples.

LO4: Create e-Marketing strategies to enhance marketing functions.

Since the field of digital marketing is a fast-paced environment, Schiele has students use an online textbook from Stukent that is updated each term to keep up with industry changes while conducting projects with organizations to gain real-world experience.

Quality Matters

In 2016-2017, Dr. Schiele was one of ten Cal Poly Pomona faculty members who participated in the Developing Online Learning-Centered Environments (DOLCE) 3.0 program designed to support those who teach online and hybrid courses. Through this program Dr. Schiele was trained in the methods of Quality Matters (QM), a nationally recognized rubric used to develop robust hybrid, online and technology-enhanced courses. Using the QM rubric, she created modules within her course to ensure that learning outcomes are clearly specified and assessments and activities are aligned with those learning outcomes. With QM her course emphasizes active learning, student engagement, and providing students with a variety of learning experiences.

Service-Learning

Dr. Schiele was also recently selected for 2017-2018 Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program, through the Center for Community Engagement (CCE). With this training, service-learning will be incorporated into her e-Marketing course beginning in Spring 2018. Students will continue to receive hands-on experience working to create digital plans and materials, but now they will work with non-profit organizations. Partnerships with non-profits will allow the students to reflect on the relationships between the course lectures and textbook material, and their participation in community-based learning activities.

About Professor

Dr. Kristen Schiele joined the International Business and Marketing (IBM) department at Cal Poly Pomona in Fall 2015. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing from University of California, Irvine. Dr. Schiele is on the Board of Directors for the Marketing Educators’ Association, and her primary areas of research are Digital Marketing and Marketing Education, Consumer Culture Theory, and Design Thinking. Some of her recent awards include Provosts Teacher-Scholar Award, Service-Learning Faculty Fellow, DOLCE 3.0 Grant, and "Best Overall Civic-minded Project Award" at the Cross-Disciplinary Civic Engagement Symposium. Dr. Schiele has recent publications in Consumption Markets & Culture, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, and the chapter “Utilizing Gamification to Promote Sustainable Practices: Making Sustainability Fun and Rewarding,” in Handbook of Engaged Sustainability. She also frequently presents her research and serves as a reviewer for professional communities such as, Marketing EDGE Summit, Marketing Educators’ Association, and Southern California Consumer Culture Community (SC4). She also has over 10 years of industry experience at various companies including: The Irvine Company, Fit for Green, Susan's Healthy Gourmet, and as a blogger and marketing consultant.