Improving the Marketing Math Skills of Marketing Undergraduate Students Through a Unique Undergraduate Marketing Math Course

Abstract

Although analytical and math abilities are among the skills that marketing undergraduates are expected to have, the extant literature indicates deficiencies in these areas. Against this backdrop, this paper describes a course that is part of the core requirements of undergraduate marketing majors at a major public university in the southwest United States. This highly structured course offered in both face-to-face and online formats is designed to improve the students' analytical thinking and quantitative skills. Over four years, concrete evidence was collected and analyzed to provide feedback on the assurance of learning aspects of the course, and the results are quite positive. What is most gratifying is the striking similarity of the perceptions of the face-to-face and online students. Anecdotal feedback from colleagues and former students also appear to substantiate the successful implementation of this course.