A Well Written Course Description

I have included an example course description of mediocre caliber (but far better than any within the A&D program) in case the Art & Design Administration stumbles upon this blog so that they may realize the short comings of the current system.

MKT 300 - Marketing Management. Terms Offered: F09
Course Objectives
This course is designed to introduce students to the basic marketing concepts and functions in modern firms. As such, the course is a survey class intending to provide insights into the basic principles of marketing management, including the concepts and tools used by marketing managers and issues that they encounter. Various industries are examined in order to better understand and analyze marketing activities. In particular, the course focuses on the marketing functions and strategies which firms may undertake to meet the needs of their stakeholders.

Good! The purpose of the course happens to be a great place to start!Also mentioned are a few specifics that the course will address.
We first discuss the role of marketing and business environment in which firms face their primary challenges and opportunities. The next concentration is the strategic considerations, including segmentation, targeting, and positioning. A substantial amount of efforts are then devoted to specific marketing mix decisions to help execute a marketing strategy effectively.

How the course is intended to progress over the semester, and more specifics on what the course will concentrate on, strategic considerations, including segmentation, targeting, and positioning. This is pretty heavy stuff people...

In summary, students should expect the course to provide them with: Marketing decision-making skills, and a set of concepts and tools to use in support of their decisions.

Never has an A&D professor thought to include a SUMMARY of SKILLS they expect to teach...

Pedagogy
The course involves lectures, class discussions, case discussions and a group project. Case studies and the group project are an integrated part of the course. They offer an opportunity for the students to learn marketing decision-making skills in real business contexts and play an important role in the learning process.

The A&D vocabulary does not consist of "Pedagogy" (ped-uh-goh-jee, -goj-ee). This is basically HOW the course will be taught. Will we sit with our heads down on the desk meditating on natures precipitation, or stand out in the rain all night? Will we make maps of Ann Arbor, or shove the GPS up each others asses and let Google track us? Who knows.


Dear Administration,

I am not sure if there are any requirements given to professors (or whoever teaches classes) about writing their course descriptions, but I believe I speak from the entirety of the student body when I say that they are NOT informative enough. I propose that course descriptions include a summary of the course objective, information about course content including, the teaching methods that will be used and a summary of major assignments. You can not expect students to just feel a tingle in their big toe about a vague description, and let their soul and spirit compel them to enroll in a course that dosent even have a professor. We understand that Professors may not like to commit to teaching a course 22 or more weeks before the next semester starts, but neither do students. Remember the professors are getting paid, the students are paying.

Love,
The Entire A&D Student Body.