Workplace technology competencies for associate degree marketing programs.

摘要

The explosive growth of the Internet, information technologies, computer software applications, and telecommunications has affected marketing educators who are faced with the now on-going challenge of developing and delivering marketing instruction that integrates pertinent and timely technology. Marketing educators must determine the relevance of their program curriculum to the graduates' work environment and then align marketing program outcomes and competencies with workplace expectations.; A Web-based modified Delphi procedure involving marketing practitioners and educators was used to identify the current and emerging workplace technology competencies that employers expect AAS marketing program students to possess upon graduation. The Delphi also determined the curriculum performance criteria that can be used to integrate and assess the requisite technology competencies and established into which marketing courses the technology competencies should be integrated. Ultimately, the Delphi established the state-of-the-art exit technology competencies that graduates will have mastered as a result of the upgraded marketing curriculum.; The research identified 15 essential technology competencies with 42 matching performance criteria for integration and assessment. Five traditional marketing courses and eight marketing technology courses were selected for primary or supplementary technology competency integration. The findings indicated that: Technology competency expectations keep changing and more frequent assessment is needed. Very technical technology skills are not desired, but discipline-specific and generic technology skills are desired. There are different ways to integrate technology content and there are possible barriers to technology integration at the local program level.; Recommendations to evaluate, integrate, innovate, and replicate were provided to get the most value out of the marketing technology integration framework that was the result of the study. Based on Cronbach's alpha and Kendall's W statistical tests, the procedure employed in the study was deemed a valid and reliable process that can be applied to future competency identification and integration studies.