University Times

As the saying goes, first impressions are lasting. With that in mind, Pitt-Bradford business management professor Brian Vander Schee is studying how his way of welcoming students on the first day of his introductory marketing class may make a difference in their perception of the class and perhaps in their overall performance.

Vander Schee said that most professors mark the first day of class in one of two ways: either as “St. Syllabus Day,” in which the basics and schedule are distributed and students get out of class early, or, for those who can’t afford to lose a class period, a rapid dive into Chapter 1, even though students likely haven’t even opened their textbooks yet. “What are they learning?” Vander Schee questioned.

Students in his introductory Principles of Marketing course walk into the classroom on Day 1 to find that he’s not just handing out the syllabus and setting down the class rules and expectations. Along with that information, Vander Schee has them take time to play a game he devised to spark students’ interest in the class and to better acquaint them with basic marketing principles and with each other.

“The students like it and remember it,” he said, adding that they often ask for the chance to play the game again later in the semester.

Vander Schee said that many students initially have no idea what marketing is all about, thinking that it’s all just advertising and sales. After playing The Exchange Game, they quickly learn otherwise and some non-majors are so hooked that they ultimately declare minors in marketing.

Vander Schee involves his other classes in first-day activities as well. His marketing research class students, for example, take the Pepsi Challenge; his business management capstone students start with a board game.

Vander Schee said he got the seeds of the idea for The Exchange Game from a more complicated international online business strategy game in which his capstone course students compete. His goal was to do something similar on a simpler level. After he’d developed the game, mainly as an icebreaking introduction to marketing concepts, he discovered research on the importance of initial impressions in students’ response to a teacher, making him consider the impact of using the game on the first day of class.

He noted that it’s already well documented that active learning is an effective strategy for increasing students’ retention. But, he said he also was impressed by his discovery of a 1993 study that showed the accuracy of first impressions in the classroom. Based on viewing three 10-second video-only clips, undergraduates were able to predict accurately how teachers they did not know were rated by students who actually had taken the faculty members’ courses. Vander Schee has become more convinced that engaging students right away on the first day of class could mean the difference between a roomful of apathetic students and enthusiastic ones. “The first day could make a difference in the whole semester,” he said.

Research has shown that a good first-day-of-class game has several common elements, each inherent in The Exchange Game:

• It must be simple and easily explained.

• It should be competitive to motivate students to get the reward.

• It should help students get to know one another.

Vander Schee already has seen The Exchange Game generate enthusiasm in the classroom and plant ideas in his students’ minds. But for the first time since he began using the game three years ago at UPB, his two introductory marketing class sections are serving as a testing ground for his business education research.

This fall, one section played the game on the first day of class; the other didn’t. He then gave students a 10-question survey on their level of satisfaction with the class and found that those who played the game showed significantly higher satisfaction with how the first day increased their knowledge of marketing principles, encouraged class participation and helped them to get to know the instructor. And he found the greatest difference in students’ satisfaction with the first day’s help in getting to know each other and how the first day built enthusiasm for the course.

Both classes showed similar levels of satisfaction with more generic questions on the course textbook, course schedule and instructor’s expectations.

They did differ, he said, on their satisfaction with how well the instructor explained the course requirements. Even though both classes got the identical explanation of the requirements, those in the game section showed higher satisfaction, an interesting result Vander Schee posits might be a carryover from their positive experience with the game.

An article he’s written on the research is to be published in the spring 2007 issue of Marketing Education Review. And Vander Schee said he hopes to continue his research to determine whether the game may have a long-term effect on students’ performance and overall course evaluations.

Although The Exchange Game is designed for marketing students, it could be modified for other disciplines, he said. For instance, economics or introductory business classes could emphasize the idea of exchange of goods and services and emphasize learning about distribution channels or ponder the “what’s the value” questions of deal-making. Psychology or communication classes could emphasize the interactive element, or the nature of competition.

Vander Schee said he’s already shared the game with other marketing educators at conferences and that he’s happy to share ideas with professors in other disciplines who want to adapt the game.

The key is to get the students engaged right away. “Students pick up on the excitement,” he said.

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Brian Vander Schee said The Exchange Game could be adapted to classes of varying sizes. In his class of about 30, he first asks for three volunteers to stand in the front of the room and six to agree to circulate throughout the room.

Then, he gives the details. He explains that he is the sole manufacturer of a product, which is represented by sheets of brightly colored paper. The three students in the front of the class are the wholesalers. They receive three units of money, represented by small pieces of green paper. The six students who volunteered to circulate become the retailers; each receives five units of money. The students who remain at their desks are the consumers. They each receive eight units.

He explains that they will have 15 minutes to play the game and that there will be winners in each group. The wholesaler and retailer with the most money at the end win. Two consumer winners are chosen: the one with the most product and the one with the best quality product — judged by the neatness of the edges of the pieces of paper they possess at the end.

Wholesalers are told they must buy from the manufacturer at the set price of three units of money, no negotiating. Vander Schee then explains that part of a wholesaler’s role is to break bulk — a marketing concept new to many of the students. He demonstrates by tearing the “product” into four pieces.

Retailers are permitted to negotiate a price with wholesalers and to sell to the consumers.

Given the ground rule that each must introduce him- or herself before making a transaction, students have 15 minutes to wheel and deal before Vander Schee calls a halt to the action and sorts out the results. Winners receive a candy bar or some other small prize.

Afterward, there’s a 25-minute debriefing to discuss the principles of marketing students utilized in the game.

They talk about strategy: Retailers are asked whether they tried to build relationships with customers to encourage repeat sales, or just maintained a less-personal transactional relationship.

They discuss location: Did students sitting closer to the retailers have an advantage? Or did an enterprising seller find a niche market in catering to the underserved students seated in the back of the room?

They talk about how consumers negotiate to get the best deals: Did they cut out the middleman and go directly to the manufacturer for a better deal?

They talk about time sensitivities: For some products, such as wine or antiques, the passing of time can be an advantage. In others, such as in perishable products, time is of the essence.

They talk about ethics: The retailers can hear others making deals. The class discusses how that might be compared to real-world uses of private information.

While the game and debriefing is designed with a 50-minute class period in mind, “The discussion could fill a long, long time,” Vander Schee said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow