MBA 604 Course Guide: Assignments & Evaluation

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Assignment Checklist

projects	points	due dates
1) homework: self-assessment (preliminary)	0	Apr. 19, 1999
2) homework: demographic	5 form	Apr. 21, 1999
3) homework: resume	5 digital	Apr. 28, 1999
4) web site critique	5 form	May 3, 1999
5) marketing Web tour	5 oral	May 5, 1999
6) Magna Carta debate	5 written, 5 oral	May 10 & 12, 1999
7) project: home page	5 digital	May 19, 1999
8, 9) project: concept map & presentation	5 written, 5 oral	May 26, 1999
10) project: prototype marketing web	25 digital	Jun. 7 & 9, 1999
11, 12) project: prototype marketing plan	10 PPoint, 10 oral	Jun. 7 & 9, 1999
13) email (TALK) portfolio: ten postings	10	Jun. 9, 1999
14) self-assessment	0	Jun. 9, 1999
15) X-credit: annotated marketing Web links	5	Jun. 9, 1999

Software

To prosper in the new media world, you need as much competency as possible on computer software. If you have to take a three-credit course for each software package you learn, it'll never happen. You must be able to teach yourself. The key to self-learning is your attitude.

To give you a point of reference, we have established some easily testable software competencies. We decided against giving credit for them because successful completion of the other course requirements would indicate you have the skills you need. You should then feel confident that you have what it takes to prosper in the new media world ... for now.

To keep prospering, you must keep learning.

Assignments

	For each assignment
	one platinum plaque
	one gold plaque
	one silicon plaque

Course Project

Challenging the Digital Future

New Product Introduction through New Media

This project is such a big deal it has its own URL.

Demographic Environment

Click here to go to the form needed for this assignment.

Web Resume

purpose	post your resume to the course web as preparation for starting your own Web site
due	April 28, 1999
objectives	demonstrate the basic mechanical skills to develop documents for the Web
	make pages (.htm, .html) links within pages (bookmarks in Front Page) links within site (navigation bar) links to other sites (hot spots) email link images (.jpg, .gif) graphics (.gif) for navigation (within site) and orientation (on page) nested tables
	extra credit: image maps forms frames
format	hand in or email an html file and the embedded graphics files on a floppy labeled with your name ready for posting to the server

Marketing Web Tour

purpose	take the class on a tour of a Web site from a marketing point of view
due	May 5, 1999
objectives	practice using technology to supplement oral presentations evaluate websites by applying a customer-oriented marketing philosophy
format	submit Web site critique form as email to instructor by May 3, 1999; oral presentation in class with Web browser and projector

Evaluation

| a philosophy of learning and grading |

New media is so new that we do not know it is best used; nor do we know how it will affect us. To understand, we have to use our imaginations. We can explain:

new ways to communicate: graphics, images, interactivity

how to use some of the technologies, specifically the Web, that are converging to create new media

new ways of thinking about what these technologies permit: community-building, disintermediation, etc.

However, you will get paid for how you apply your imagination to see the possibilities for your organization and to move it in that direction. We will evaluate your oral, written, and digital performance as noted on the table above. On the scales below, the characteristics on the left are not conducive to hirings, raises, and promotions.

Oral Presentations

Voice
hard to hear and understand	loud and clear

Body
inappropriate clothes	appropriate business clothes
negative expressions and postures	positive expressions and postures

Visual Aids
default staging: dark, hard to read	well-staged: lighting, positioning
clumsy use of technology	unobtrusive use of technology

Audience
no attempt to break fourth wall	effective breaking of fourth wall, especially with humor

Writing

Content
insufficient, irrelevant, wrong	sufficient, relevant, valid, reliable, credible
boring	interesting, surprising, delightful
misuse of marketing and new media concepts	fluent use of marketing and new media concepts

Structure
puzzling, delaying	intuitive

Language
mixed, shaky voice	consistent, clear voice
inaccurate use of marketing and new media vocabulary	fluent use of marketing and new media vocabulary

Mechanics
intrusive (misspelling, inconsistent punctuation etc.)	invisible

Digital Work

Note: I will evaluate your digital work on these scales in addition to the ones above for your writing:

Content
just a list of links	meaningful, explained, and well-organized links
no attempt to build community	unusual, unexpected, and effective attempts to build community
tries to do too much for too many	clearly defined audience and purpose
monomedia (words only)	multimedia (adds sight, sound)
no reason to revisit	reason to revisit

Navigational Structure
disorientating	I always know where I am
confusing	easy to choose; takes me where I expect to go
no site map	clear, helpful site map
no frames (optional)	helpful frame structure (optional)

Visual Language
puzzling, unclear images	attractive images at the service of content and purpose
puzzling, unclear graphics, inappropriate typefaces, misspelled words	attractive graphics at the service of user-friendly orientation and navigation
gratuitous images	integrated images
gratuitous wizbang	integrated wizbang

Mechanics
dead links	no dead links
graphics don't load	graphics load quickly
requires horizontal scrolling	vertical scrolling only

The threat of low grades has no place in graduate school. Any politicking for high grades is a childish waste of time. Evaluation, however, is crucial.

Agree? Disagree? Comments? Feel free to respond to this one after the module is over: Any adjustments you'd recommend that we make in the assignment and evaluation system?

Last update: July 22, 2000
http://toLearn.net/marketing/assigneval.htm