Freshmen Marketing: A First-Year Experience with Experiential Learning

Abstract

This paper describes an experiential learning activity designed for a New England university freshmen course, BUS101-Marketing First-Year Experience (FYE). The purpose of the activity is to teach basic principles of marketing, develop a general perspective of business, and provide FYE activities that facilitate the college transition. The specific activity described in this paper is designed to make the learning experience educational, relevant to everyday business and marketing practices, and memorable to students in a personally satisfying manner. The Great Cookie Challenge activity, an experiential activity described in this paper, provides an opportunity to link marketing concepts with FYE activities in a businesslike setting. The paper concludes with reflections on the experience and recommendations for modifications to the activity.