Client-based Projects Research Articles

Would You Rather . . . a Simulation or a Client-Based Project? A Case Study of Experiential Learning Methods in Digital Marketing Analytics Courses

The rapid evolution of digital marketing, characterized by the surge in digital channels and data, has amplified the demand for graduates specialized in digital marketing analytics (DMA). Yet, marketing educators contend with insufficient theoretical guidance and practical pedagogical methods in the course design that aligns with industry expectations in teaching analytics within the novel context of digital marketing. Addressing this void, this paper presents a case study operationalizing a practice-informed model through two experiential learning methods—simulations and client-based projects–in teaching these courses. These methods, grounded in three practice-informed dimensions (i.e., knowledge, hard skills, and soft skills), are incorporated to structure two separate sections of a DMA course over distinct semesters. Preliminary findings from student data regarding actual and perceived learning outcomes suggest a slight edge for the simulation approach over the client-based project approach. However, our faculty reflection delves deeper into the benefits and challenges of both approaches. This case study aims to offer insights and recommendations for marketing educators considering incorporating a practice-informed approach integrated with experiential learning methods to teach their DMA courses.

The challenge of skill development through “experiencing” integrated marketing communications

PurposeIntegrated marketing communications (IMC) is possibly “the richest and most accessible service-learning experience” in the marketing curriculum (Petkus, 2000, p. 68). Yet, despite this recognition, scholars and practitioners continue to lament the pronounced theory-practice gap between how IMC is taught and the practice of it in industry (Schultz and Patti, 2009; Kerr and Kelly, 2017). This research embeds IMC practice within a classroom setting and subsequently explores student marketers' perceptions of their skill development through experiential client-based learning.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth qualitative study demonstrates the value of integrating experiential learning within an IMC course, captured through students' reflective practice.FindingsEvidence suggests that experiential, client-based projects are suitable for fostering key practice-based skills in the classroom through students “experiencing” IMC at work. However, this is not always easy. In fact, building key skills such as leadership, motivation, communications, organisation and teamwork presents various challenges for students, whilst students appear unaware of other pertinent skills (e.g. persuasion, critical thinking) gained through exposure to “real-world” IMC tasks.Practical implicationsInstructors adopting experiential learning in the marketing classroom have an opportunity to actively design tasks to embed key workplace skills to bridge the theory-practice gap. Client-based projects offer fertile ground for students to experience marketing in action whilst ultimately bolstering their confidence in their workplace skills.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the marketing education literature and acknowledges the importance of embedding key workplace skills into the contemporary marketing curriculum. An overview of challenges and solutions for instructors seeking to adopt experiential learning via client-based projects in the IMC classroom is presented within this research.

Simulations or Client Projects? Aligning Social Media Skills Development to Industry Expectations

Social media is rapidly growing and evolving from the introduction of new platforms to platform-specific innovations. The dynamic nature of social media makes it difficult for even practitioners to keep up; therefore, the gap between academia and industry continues to grow. This gap presents significant challenges for marketing educators to keep course content current so students are ready for the workforce. To identify which types of social media pedagogical assessments best meet industry needs and make recommendations for bridging this gap, this article uses a three-study approach consisting of content analysis of job descriptions, practitioner interviews, and student perceptions of two commonly used pedagogical assessments: simulations and client-based projects. Results show the critical need for social media meta-skills and technical skills, with client-based projects significantly improving meta-skill acquisition by undergraduate students compared with simulations alone. Practical implications for helping educators improve market-ready graduates for entry-level jobs with a social media component are discussed.

The case for scaling authentic learning across undergraduate and postgraduate research skills courses

ABSTRACT Authentic learning is gaining popularity in higher education, particularly for courses related to research skills, where authentic assessments can overcome trepidation from both students and faculty. Prior literature has demonstrated the potential value of authentic client-based projects (CBPs) in such settings. However, questions remain about how best to scale authentic learning across different student cohorts, including both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This paper explores two case studies of authentic learning applied across undergraduate and postgraduate research courses. We explore the impact of different forms of authentic learning, ranging from in-class activities to fully authentic client-based projects, on both student satisfaction and success rates. The results suggest that client-based projects represent a trade-off between satisfaction and learning at the undergraduate level but can be highly successful at postgraduate level if implemented effectively. We provide practical tips for how faculty may scale authentic learning and assessments across undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

A postgraduate capstone project: Impact on student learning and organizational change

The capstone course serves to integrate accumulated knowledge with a culminating experience or project and is a common component in undergraduate and graduate programs. The research on capstones courses shows that many capstone experiences or projects involve students working with outside clients, such as local businesses and organizations, to solve problems or develop new projects or campaigns. Such capstone experiences or projects seek to offer students real-world, career-building experience, while the clients seek to benefit from the learned academic knowledge of the students. Where the literature is scarce on client-based capstone projects is when the client is the student’s employer or career-related organization. A graduate program in administration at a public Midwestern university in the USA offers a different approach to the student–client model by requiring a degree-culminating capstone project that challenges adult students to apply their learned knowledge to solve administrative problems not for an outside client but at their place of employment or career-related organization. The researchers surveyed 66 alumni and interviewed 6 on how the capstone project had benefited their work-related learning and its impact on their employer or career-related organization. Students perceived an improvement in their ability to define and analyze administrative problems in their workplace, while the employers or organizations which implemented the project recommendations experienced positive organizational change. This case study contributes to the literature on capstone courses by examining the relevance of a work- or career-related capstone project to students and their workplace.

Differential Effect of Client-based and Non-client-based Projects on Marketing Students’ Course Performance and Evaluations

ABSTRACT This research investigates the effectiveness of incorporating a client-based project in an undergraduate course by comparing it with a non-client-based project. This study utilizes quantitative (i.e., experiment) and qualitative (i.e., in-depth interviews) methods to examine the impact of client-based projects on students’ course performance and student evaluations of instruction. The experiment’s dataset comprises 305 students in four sections of an undergraduate marketing research course taught by the same instructor over four semesters. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) show that, compared to the non-client-based approach, a client-based approach improves students’ course performance in terms of their midterm grade, final grade, and overall grade. Moreover, students involved in the client-based project perceived higher intellectual growth and skill development than students involved in the non-client-based project. The qualitative data findings extended the previous quantitative results and showed that students who participated in client-based projects believe that they obtained higher academic confidence, career confidence, hard skills, and soft skills than students who participated in non-client-based projects. These findings are supported by the value co-creation model and social exchange theory.

CLIENT-BASED CORNERSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS

Engineering students at the University of Ottawa are exposed to engineering design in first- and second-year courses. Both courses are open to all engineering students and are multidisciplinary in nature. Students work in teams to deliver a physical prototype by the end of the term. The design projects are all community-based and involve a client from the local community with a specific unmet need. Examples of such clients include local hospitals, accessibility organizations, Ottawa police, Indigenous elders and many more. The client meets with the students a minimum of three times throughout the semester to provide the problem definition and give feedback to the student groups at different stages of the design process. The goal of this paper is to share best practices in selecting and delivering client-based projects targeting first- and second-year students in multidisciplinary engineering teams. The paper discusses the choice of project themes and specific projects. In addition, it presents lessons learned based on student-client interactions, lab manager-client interactions and client satisfaction. Examples are presented from the past three years of delivering such engineering design courses, with testimonials from clients and students.

Achieving Scaled and Sustained Use of Client-Based Projects in Business School Marketing Education: A Proposed Suprastructure

Business scholars agree that well-constructed experiential learning and specifically client-based projects (CBPs) provide an opportunity for students to apply concepts they learn to solve particular problems. As an additional outcome, they provide value for multiple stakeholders including the client, business community, university, and the instructor. However, CBPs can be inherently complex and demanding on instructors, impeding adoption and sustained use. As critical participatory action researchers, we worked collaboratively with faculty within our marketing department to examine and address the challenges of scaling capacity to support, effectively replicate, and grow use of CBPs in our business school marketing courses and subsequently other department curriculum. This article describes a unified view of project management and business development processes as a framework for effective scaled use of CBPs and outlines a suprastructure. It additionally offers “how to” guidance that can support use of a suprastructure as a means of achieving economies of scale, including description of roles and relationships.

Using Case-Method Pedagogy to Facilitate Audience Awareness

Introduction: Technical and professional communication (TPC) instructors value audience awareness, using peer- and client-based projects to facilitate it. We explore how students' audience awareness is facilitated by the case method, which presents students with a professional communication task within a workplace scenario. Situating the case: Case-method research suggests including a detailed audience and situation, multiple genres, and multimedia. Few studies have explored how case materials facilitate students' audience awareness. About the case: A 12-week case that was consistent with case-method research asked students to respond to an engineering firm's internal problem with a proposal and report. How the case was studied: Students from two sections of a genre-based course completed reflections about their audience awareness after the proposal and report. We qualitatively analyzed 51 reflections. Results/discussion: Students stated they could understand the facts about their primary audience but couldn't identify secondary and tertiary audiences. Students stated they could identify audience needs, but they disagreed about the amount of detail to understand those needs. Also, students stated they could respond to the audience using appropriate evidence and writing style. Conclusions: When using the case method, instructors should know that students may need varying levels of detail to interpret their audience's needs. Also, including data and conflicting needs gives students opportunities to make strategic decisions about content.

Pedagogical strategies for integrating SEO into technical communication curricula

Preparing students to understand and practice search engine optimization (SEO) teaches them writing skills, technological literacies, and theoretical background needed to pursue a successful technical communication career. SEO employs a multifaceted skillset, including an understanding of coding, skills in shaping and crafting effective user experience (UX), marketing skills, effective research strategies, and competence in accessibility. We argue that instruction in SEO in undergraduate and graduate programs in technical communication prepares graduates for the interdisciplinary and agile profession they seek to enter and enables them to be successful in positions from information architect to technical editor. Our article details how studying and enacting SEO helps students to develop proficiencies and knowledge central to technical communication pedagogies, including technological literacies, an understanding of the interconnections between human and non-human actors in digital spaces, and the ethical concerns central to work within those spaces. We then detail how SEO can be incorporated into technical communication curricula and share details of client-based projects that can facilitate that integration..

It Takes Two: Developing a Successful Partnership between Clients and Students in Client-Based Projects

It Takes Two: Developing a Successful Partnership between Clients and Students in Client-Based Projects

Client-Based Pedagogy Meets Workplace Simulation: Developing Social Processes in the Arisoph Case Study

Teaching problem: Immersive pedagogies—including real-world or client-based projects, case studies, and simulations—have long been used to encourage student problem-solving, analytical thinking, and teamwork in professional communication. Building a connection to the real world has real challenges, however, for both instructors and students. How can we better prepare students for their future careers in our technical communication courses? Situating the case: This paper draws on three areas in the literature to situate the Arisoph case study: First, we discuss the work that has been done with client-based projects and the problems and challenges researchers have found with incorporating these projects into the classroom. Second, we discuss a newer model of workplace simulations, particularly focusing on the work done by Fisher and Russell. Third, we discuss the psychological theories of attribution and reattribution, which provided a foundation for our development of the Arisoph case study. How this case was studied: This paper describes the development of the Arisoph case study, an online client-based simulation course designed for engineering students to learn and practice technical communication. Course development and collection of instructor and student responses took place from 2010 to 2014. About the case: This paper details the development and implementation of the Arisoph case study, which brought the workplace realities of a variety of engineering professions into a classroom filled with engineering majors. The Arisoph simulation was designed to manage student attribution and reattribution, particularly to help engineering students connect the principles and skills learned in technical communication courses with their future careers. The Arisoph case study is a full-semester simulation, where students apply for work in a fictional company and fulfill different roles on professional teams. Each assignment during the semester is situated in the context of the simulation. The major projects for the simulation, however, come from a real client in the engineering field. This unique combination of simulation and client-based projects provides students with greater opportunities for successful reattribution. Conclusions: Initial student reactions to the course show an increased understanding of workplace communication and a greater motivation to produce the best possible product for the client. We hope that long-term studies will show significant carryover of those attitudes into students' careers.

Enhancing Student Performance in Collegiate Marketing Competitions: The ECHO Judges' Perspectives

Marketing and advertising educators are striving to better prepare students to meet the demands of the rapidly changing, data-driven, knowledge-based world. Employers seek graduates who have analytical and creative knowledge and skills and experiences beyond typical classroom learning. Most educators agree that it is critical to reduce the gap between marketing theory and practice by incorporating more experiential components in students' learning processes. This study reports the findings of an online survey conducted to gather the perceptions and opinions of business professionals who have served as judges for an international collegiate marketing competition, the Collegiate ECHO Challenge, in order to assist marketing and advertising educators to better mentor student competition teams, especially those competing in the Collegiate ECHO Challenge; help educators evaluate the quality of student projects and marketing campaigns created for client-based projects and competitions via grading rubrics; and enhance the overall quality of student marketing projects and campaigns.

Beyond Normal: Preparing Undergraduates for the Work Force in a Statistical Consulting Capstone

In this article we chronicle the development of the undergraduate statistical consulting course at Miami University, from canned to client-based projects, and argue that if the course is well designed with suitable mentoring, students can perform remarkably sophisticated analyses of real-world data problems that require solutions beyond the methods encountered in previous classes. We review the historical context in which the consulting class evolved, describe the logistics of implementing it, and review assessment and student reaction to the course. We also illustrate the types of challenging projects the students are confronted with via two case studies and relate the skills learned and reinforced in this consulting class model to the skills demanded in the modern statistical work force. This course also provides an opportunity to strengthen and nurture key points from the new American Statistical Association guidelines for undergraduate programs: namely, communicating analyses of real and complex data that require the application of diverse statistical models and approaches. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.[Received December 2014. Revised July 2015.]

Collaborative cross-disciplinary client-based projects: a case study

To prepare for the changing marketplace, students must become confident working with both real-world clients and multidisciplinary teams. A major barrier for students is their inability to communicate knowledge effectively or work outside clearly defined objectives. To address these issues, this study explores the application of authentic learning strategies within the framework of collaborative cross-disciplinary client-based projects (CBPs). Students from two disciplines (marketing and fashion merchandising) worked together on a semester-long project, utilising a real client. Data were collected online, before and after the CBPs, regarding student perceptions of authentic learning, social-cognitive learning, value of the experience, learning effectiveness, and career preparedness. A control class participated in a single-discipline CBP. Analysis showed no significant interaction effect between exposure (pre and post) and collaboration type (single-discipline and cross-discipline). However, results showed an increase in students’ perceptions of learning effectiveness and career preparedness at the conclusion of both cross-discipline and single-discipline CBPs.

Practice Makes Perfect: Teaching Policy Analysis through Integrated Client-Based Projects

The role of the client in policy analysis has been shifting in the professional field and in academia. In this paper, I reflect on the client orientation of graduate studies in policy analysis. I propose a framework for teaching policy analysis that relies on theoretical foundations but also uses integrated practical application and client-oriented learning throughout the master’s curriculum. I then illustrate the framework’s application through a sample of highly client-integrated graduate programs in public affairs, focusing particularly on the policy analysis curriculum at The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Evidence suggests that an integrated and continuous client-based approach is the exception; most schools with a client component relegate it to a single capstone at the end of the degree, and few publicize the client work as central to the program. Through a continuous client-based approach, students get repeated practice at real-time policy analysis, learn how to adeptly construct an evidence-based and coherent argument for a variety of issues, and explore ways to confidently communicate their analysis and recommendations succinctly and persuasively in written and verbal form. The integrated client-based curriculum creates value not only for the students, but for the outside clients and the school overall.

Improving Collaboration between Public Health and Family Health Teams in Ontario

To identify and explore areas where responsibilities may overlap between family health teams (FHTs) and public health units (PHUs); to identify facilitators or barriers to collaboration; and to identify priority areas for increased collaboration. DESIGN AND CONTEXT: Cross-sectional mixed-methods study of FHTs and PHUs in Ontario, Canada, consisting of a postal survey, key informant interviews and a roundtable meeting. The survey response rate was 46%. Direct client-based services such as giving immunizations, promoting prenatal health and nutrition, and counselling related to smoking cessation were identified as the top three areas of perceived overlap. The greatest interest in collaboration was expressed in the areas of emergency planning and preparedness, immunization, and prenatal health and nutrition. Good communication with a clear understanding of roles and functions was the most important facilitator, and lack of resources and absence of a clear provincial mandate and direction to collaborate were identified as significant barriers. Small, simple client-based projects of interest to both kinds of organization would be the best way to move forward in the short term. Improving communication between FHTs and PHUs, understanding of roles and functions, the use of shared or interoperable information systems and greater clarity from government on the ways in which these two key sectors of the healthcare system are intended to work together were identified as important for the success of increased collaboration.

Creating Experiential Learning In The Graduate Classroom Through Community Engagement

Educators can provide opportunities for active learning for the students by engaging them in client-based projects with the community, which enhances application of theory and provides students with the relevance demanded from the business community. Experiential learning opportunities through client-based projects provide for such an experience. Students in a graduate research methods class worked in teams to conduct a SWOT analysis for a local non-profit organization. This paper discusses the use of cooperative learning teams to engage in experiential learning with a non-profit.

Moving Beyond Consultation And Into Action With A Client Project

Attempting to implement client-based projects within a single semester often overwhelms students and underwhelms the client and grading professor. In this paper, we share results from a two-year pilot project in which the components of a client project were split between several classes. We discuss the client project model as a valuable teaching method that allows students to implement and reflect on marketing strategies. We show that by dividing the project across several teams, the project becomes more manageable and valuable for students and professors. In comparison to other common projects, the client project presented here produced substantial and valuable outcomes for the non-profit client while providing students the unique experience of working in a multiple team structure. We indicate that this approach may be useful for select marketing classes.

Preparing Hispanic Students for the Real World

Student learning is enriched by problem-based service learning (PBSL) projects. For Hispanic students, the learning that takes place in PBSL projects may be even more significant, although the research published in academic journals about client-based projects for Hispanic students is limited. This article begins to advance an understanding of how PBSL projects can enhance the learning of Hispanic students. Data were gathered from 5 business courses and approximately 127 students, predominantly Hispanic, who served as consultants for various business organizations.