{"id":6140,"date":"2018-02-13T21:08:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T02:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/?p=6140"},"modified":"2018-02-13T21:08:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T02:08:51","slug":"service-education-on-the-verge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/2018\/02\/service-education-on-the-verge\/","title":{"rendered":"Service Education on the Verge"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Mark Rosenbaum,\u00a0University of South Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most service researchers focus on contributing their curiosity, knowledge, and insights to the publication process, to their classroom experiences, and to service endeavors (e.g., performing journal reviews, serving on department committees, operating research centers).\u00a0 Further, nearly all academicians train to enter a profession that permits them to focus on their research, teaching, and service through the duration of their careers.\u00a0 Other academicians opt to leave this research path to enter into higher-education administration, as Department Chairs or Deans, in which they attempt to establish the strategic direction of their departments, or colleges, while working closely with university Provosts, Presidents, Donors, Parents and so forth.\u00a0 Indeed, as a newly appointed Chair of Retailing at the University of South Carolina I was charged with the mission of establishing a strategic direction for my department, given that education is on the brink, or perhaps, the verge, to be less daunting, of major changes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As a Department Chair, I have the pleasure, as well as challenge, of meeting several parents whom assume a key role in the decision-making process of our future students.\u00a0 Despite parents coming from a myriad of socio-economic backgrounds, their questions to me are essentially the same.\u00a0 Will my child get a job after they graduate from your program?\u00a0 What kind of job will my son\/daughter qualify for when they graduate from your program?\u00a0 Given the expense of the program, where is the value<\/em>?\u00a0 Of all the questions that I receive from parents, the most challenging concerns value.\u00a0 How do I justify the value of my Retailing program or of the UofSC in general?\u00a0 How do we create value in our service-focused program?<\/p>\n

\"\"When I queried my faculty as to the value that they create with students, most reply that they bring theory to the classroom.\u00a0 Perhaps, faculty members, who teach at leading research institutions and focus solely on teaching doctoral students, are charged with the mission of brining theory to their classroom endeavors.\u00a0 Yet, parents are not convinced in the value proposition inherent in theory; instead, they want to see value in terms of skills.\u00a0 Parents are sending their children to retailing\/business programs to learn valuable skills that will result in gainful employment.\u00a0 Further, parents interpret gainful employment as meaning that their children will be employed, and able to afford their own insurance, by the time that they reach 26 years (i.e., parental coverage for dependents ceases when a child reaches 26 years).\u00a0 Lastly, for faculty who believe that their primary role is to deliver value to students by lecture are often dumbfounded when I inquire as to how their value exceeds that offered by universities that have placed their lectures on edx (www.edx.org<\/a>) for free.\u00a0 Theoretical knowledge, per se, has become a commodity item, via sites such as edx or Coursera, and now priced in the marketplace near zero.<\/p>\n

Other faculty tell me that they create value by engaging in research and in publishing research.\u00a0 I firmly agree that researchers often bring their knowledge to the classroom and to executive education.\u00a0 Yet, outside of university constituents, the perceived value of published articles is essentially null.\u00a0 Publications are essential in the value promotion process; they influence rankings, which attract students, parents, and help to engage alumni and donors. Yet, once students and parents arrive for a campus attention turns to WIFM (what\u2019s in it for me) quite quickly, which means, future employment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Faculty also tell me that the activities that they engage in, such as the creation of lecture material, typically the sacrosanct PowerPoint presentation, is a source of value.\u00a0 Imagine the bewilderment that I would receive from parents, employers, and alumni when I tell them that our value proposition involves the creation and transfer of knowledge via PowerPoint slides.\u00a0 Most lecture material can be found at Slideshare.net or at YouTube; thus, the value inherent in the creation of lecture material is questionable.\u00a0 Further, in terms of experiences, students no longer find value sitting in lecture halls, or classrooms, as passive listeners of theoretical frameworks.\u00a0 Faculty are competing against competing stimuli for students\u2019 attention; most notably, the pressing need to remain current on social media, with students actively weighing the value of passive listening in a lecture with active engagement in a Snapchat conversation.<\/p>\n

Faculty tell me that they offer students value by providing them with group-based simulations and group-base case studies that teach students problem-based learning.\u00a0\u00a0 Here is the truth regarding group-based projects; they are not a unified project of equal contributions.\u00a0 The idea that students learn by working with other students, especially at an undergraduate level, is often far-fetched, if not entirely folly, as a handful of group members actually do the required work.\u00a0 Experiential learning occurs by students working on real world consulting projects for clients in which options are unknown, unlike fixed-outcome simulations, or employed on practicums or internships that require them to immerse themselves in novel problems that occur in business practice.<\/p>\n

Finally, students question the value of textbooks and many refrain from purchasing required textbooks despite their realization that this decision will result in them receiving a lower than expected grade.\u00a0 Let us consider the value of a textbook, or for that matter written material.\u00a0 For service academicians teaching digital marketing, the printed textbook is no longer an option because the changes in digital technology, and social media, and in a constant state of flux. Surely, printed material regarding marketing with Google in 2018 will be outdated in less than a year (e.g., screen shots, new dashboards, etc.). At one time, marketing academicians could wait five years for knowledge to move from their keyboards to printed text; however, this time delay in nearly impossible for many topics; namely, digital\/social media marketing.<\/p>\n

Although these realities are challenging, and place education, including service education, on the verge of change, departments can still create value for stakeholders in creative manners.\u00a0 One of my first initiatives was to establish partnerships with key organizations involved in digital marketing, including Wix, Keyhole, Salesforce, JDA, Shopify and 3DCart.\u00a0 In these relationships, our corporate partners create the content material for our students; thus, eliminating the need for faculty to create PowerPoint or for having students purchase outdated textbooks.\u00a0 I encourage anyone to read and to use the Wix daily blog or to e-commerce materials from either Shopify or 3DCart in their digital marketing courses; they are timely, accurate, and free\u2014the value proposition is evident.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to establishing relationships with key technology partners, I specifically looked for partners that offered students opportunities for third-party certification.\u00a0 In fact, the UofSC is currently working with Wix and Keyhole to develop student certification curriculum.\u00a0 Consider my department\u2019s value proposition now\u2014certifications in e-commerce, social media monitoring, JDA, Salesforce\u2014in addition to a respected research institution.\u00a0 Both partners and students now see value in a skillset that is demanded by employers and that helps them attain meaningful employment after graduation. As a side note, many parents search sites such as Indeed.com during my orientation presentations to verify employment opportunities.\u00a0 They leave my presentations with a smile; after all, value in evident.<\/p>\n

Rather than create value via passive lectures, faculty now create value by being mentors and coaches that move students along career pathways.\u00a0 Faculty becomes experts in technology and they share this expertise with students and executives via classroom, executive learning, or online venues.\u00a0 Value is now inherent in meaningful classroom experiences that focus on skill-based learning and problem solving through technology.<\/p>\n

Education is on the verge of change.\u00a0 Stakeholders are requiring educational institutions to justify the value of higher educations, and indeed, parents are demanding us to justify the value of a college education.\u00a0 Online applications, such as edX and Coursera, have permanently altered the way that our stakeholders view the value of educational content.\u00a0 Further, the global onslaught on online programs will further erode the ability of institutions to charge price premiums.\u00a0 We have to find new ways to create value in higher education and to justify an existence that many of us have taken for granted.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mark Scott\u00a0<\/em>Rosenbaum
\nis\u00a0a Fullbrighter and Department Chair and Professor at the University of South Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Rosenbaum,\u00a0University of South Carolina. Most service researchers focus on contributing their curiosity, knowledge, and insights to the publication process, to their classroom experiences, and to service endeavors (e.g., performing journal reviews, serving on department committees, operating research centers).\u00a0 Further, nearly all academicians train to enter a profession that permits them to focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6140"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6162,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6140\/revisions\/6162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}