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Can Assessment be a Marketing Tool for Your Program? The Roles of Assessment, Student Success and Faculty in Program Success

Abstract

The growth of technology in the last fifteen years has not only restructured existing degree options but has also created new avenues for a quality education. Institutions have recognized the need for marketing and promoting, but typically do not address the marketing of all individual degrees or programs within the institution. This can leave a degree or program struggling to justify not only its bid for institutional funding but its continued existence. What can busy faculty do to promote student success, promote their programs within the scope of their existing responsibilities, and keep in mind quality education?

This paper will explore how a degree or program can be marketed, and what tools are available to busy faculty who have educational quality and student success in mind. This paper will investigate how to identify and employ elements within a degree program that will market themselves to existing and prospective students. Authors of this paper have surveyed existing and potential students to find out what the essential components of a degree are of interest to the students’ decision-making. Marketing a program includes addressing such things as course description, course content and the importance of an assessment plan and what role assessment plays in the process. Course consistency and course relevancy in the scope of the degree-seeking student are also essential considerations. Faculty within a program are key resources to the marketing success of their program within the institution.

This paper will also discuss how busy professors can use elements of their existing assessment tools within the ABET accreditation process to help them preserve and expand their programs.

Background

The Computer Graphics Technology program at Purdue University Calumet began in fall of 2000 with a few courses. During the building and promotion of the new degree program, core faculty conducted informal surveys of current students. These surveys were completed in class and the number of surveys completed consisted of 30 to 150. (Variables were due to program growth). We were interested in how students found out about the program, what they liked about the degree program, and what they looked for in a program degree in relation to career goals. Top responses (in order of number of responses) were as follows: How they found out about the program 1. They heard about the degree from family and peers 2. They heard about the degree from counselors in area High Schools and Community Colleges 3. They found the degree while surfing the Internet and contacted the advisors and faculty for more information. 4. There were a few responses to full-page newspaper ads. 5. There was no response to radio, local television stations or billboards. What they like about the degree program 1. The faculty who put out the extra effort to help them and make the class exciting.

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Nankivell, K., & Whittington, J., & Colwell, J. (2006, June), Can Assessment Be A Marketing Tool For Your Program? The Roles Of Assessment, Student Success And Faculty In Program Success Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1170