Enhancing student learning in marketing courses: An exploration of fundamental principles for website platforms

The design of a course has potential to help marketing students achieve their learning objectives. Marketing courses are increasingly turning to technology to facilitate teaching and learning, and pedagogical tools such as Blackboard, WebCT, and e-Learning Commons are essential to the design of a course. Here, the authors investigate the research discussing the sources of satisfaction in web design and apply these concepts to website platforms used in traditional classes. The purpose of the study is to enhance student learning by identifying fundamental principles to be used when designing website platforms. Our study includes in-depth interviews with graduate and undergraduate students. Among both student groups, our analysis reveals five fundamental pedagogical principles for enhancing student learning through the use of technology: (a) student-to-student connectivity, (b) instructor-to-student interactivity, (c) goal efficiency, (d) quality content, and (e) student appeal. The authors discuss the importance of the presence of the five pedagogical principles and offer useful implications for marketing faculty and suggestions for future research.