Keywords
Marketing Education, Integrated Marketing Communications, Sustainability Literacy, Integration, Assessment
Document Type
Proceedings Abstract
Included in
Advertising and Promotion Management Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons, Marketing Commons, Training and Development Commons
Greening an Integrated Marketing Communication's Course: An Assessment of Sustainability Literacy
This article showcases efforts of incorporating Sustainability Issues in an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) class during three semesters during the academic years of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. The course was re-designed using Fink’s (2013) course recommendations of designing significant learning goals. In addition to the way the course was delivered (both face-to-face and online), the instructor worked with a Higher Ed publisher to customize a textbook to include sustainability issues related to the course content (i.e., reflecting IMC topics). The course re-design included sustainability assignments such as Virtual Field Trips (visiting corporate websites and other organizations to study their CSR statements and sustainability efforts). Sustainability related articles were pre-requisites for all assignments. In addition, the students had to watch several movies, including “So Right So Smart,” “Story of Stuff,” and other voluntary (not controlled for) movies dealing with social justice, natural capital or the dark side of “business as usual” provided through the university’s sustainability film series.