Class Participation
MT498 - Marketing Strategy

IMPORTANT
Read carefully.
A significant portion of your performance in this class is determined by your active involvement in and contribution to the development of the class' collective understanding

- understanding of the intricacies of the case situation
- understanding of the appropriate conceptual underpinnings of the case
- understanding of the variety of potential solutions to the case's problems
- understanding of the appropriateness of applied methodologies to the solution of those problems.

The quality of your learning experience (and your grade) in a case driven class is dependent on your preparedness and your willingness to interact in a constructive and meaningful manner. The dilemma is in defining what is meaningful and constructive. No single, exacting definition will be sufficient for every classroom situation, but some general observations should help.

Ideally, the presentation of and solution to a case should be an evolving process. This evolution begins with a presented and defended position. That position then may be challenged by counter positions taken up by others in the class. It is often the case that the understanding of everyone involved is altered by this constructive debate. Therefore an initial requirement of participation is to be able to hold a position and offer persuasive arguments regarding the relative advantages of your position over someone else's position. This means that participation is more fact-based than belief-based. A first rule then is to avoid statements of simple opinion. Opinion is generally a very weak substitute for knowledge and without considerable supporting documentation, detracts more than contributes to an evolving consensus.

You want your contributing comments, questions or observations to be as conceptually solid and as methodologically correct as a general participant as you would want your argument to be if you were presenting the case originally. As a consequence, look to the same directive given for presenters for participants. Base your contributions on the evidence in the case and on your conceptual understanding of the marketing discipline. If you are comfortable with your interpretation of the facts and your understanding of the appropriate theory, be aggressive in your pursuit. You win points by offering a compelling argument, not by being nice and polite. You need not be mean or dogmatic, remember it is the force of your words and not the harshness of your tone that will be valued. If you are reluctant to enter into the discussion with meaningful comments then realize that you are opting for a one or two letter grade reduction before any exams or presentations.

Revised September 1996