Business Marketing Strategies for Effective Course Format Planning

Learners now have greater access to education through technological advancements in both online and traditional classes. The increase in course modality options continues to challenge the ability of administrators to market the different learning environments while maintaining the institutional commitment to provide learning that promotes timely degree completion, changes lives, and reinforces social change. A signal-case study was selected for the publically-funded community college in the upper Midwest in order to explore effective strategies related to the college's class format selection and course scheduling. The study was grounded on the expectancy theory of how personal motivation influences a student's choice of course format. Data was gathered from face-to-face interviews with 15 students and 5 course-scheduling employees from the community college in 2013. The data analysis process included coding through an exploratory approach, from which a few themes emerged. Findings revealed learners' schedules to be the greatest influence in course modality selection. Findings also suggested that the face-to-face environment offered a greater learning experience and that course-scheduling administrators used historical statistics for class scheduling. These findings may influence the decisions of college administrators when marketing changing class formats to current and potential students. The findings may contribute to positive social change by offering students greater convenience and flexibility in class selection, which may have a positive effect on graduation rates. The findings may also assist administration in more effectively marketing degree opportunities.