Picking some GREAT books for my Fall Classes -- Not your "run-'o the mill" textbook!

So I'm cleaning out my office and beginning to think about books for the fall -- crazy I know, but it must happen.

For my Exploring Marketing Class I'll be using Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava. Why? Well for several reasons. Yes, this is a freshman level course and my goal is to get them really excited about marketing and introduce them to books they should be reading. PNI is one way I will do that. Bhargava is an expert in Online Marketing and I read his blog "Influential Marketing" religiously. Thanks to social media, when I realized he had set up a Facebook account last year, I "friended" him and we corresponded. When I read the book excerpt I knew this was perfect for my class. It's current and it doesn't require someone to have a PhD to understand the importance of engaging with your customer. It will be something my students will be able to relate to -- even as freshmen!

For my Internship class, which is focused on Career exploration, I have discovered a very different book. The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need by Daniel Pink, author of FreeAgent Nation and A Whole New Mind. Why this? Well, first of all the message in the book is spot on and something I try to express to my students. But the key is the delivery. It's Manga! Not your typical text for sure.

See the video:




My goal in choosing non-conventional text books is to be able to strike that balance between theory and practice -- and books like these help illustrate for students the possibilities. At a time when many find reading "boring" it's my job to get them excited.

It works.

In my Marketing Management class -- a senior level course -- students have to select three books from the field that are interesting to them. The big winners this semester? Seth Godin and Meatball Sunday, LoveMarks by Kevin Roberts, and Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens. What is great is that the students read their books and post their thoughts in a discussion forum for one another and make recommendations -- so if one person likes a book, suddenly more people read them. And while they grumble about the papers I make them write (smile), they also write about being excited about reading books that make sense, are relevant and keep them up-to-date in marketing. As I tell them, once they graduate, the only people who will keep them current are...well....Seth and company. They won't have us Profs. to tell them what to read anymore.

So in the fall, I start with a new crop of students to do the same thing. Rohit has told me he'll video conference into my class in November -- this would be the first time students will get to read a current book and then MEET the author.

All because of Social Media, my passion for bringing marketing to life in the classroom and a wealth of great talent out there writing amazing books!

The END...well..sort of

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Yep...it is for sure! It's the end of classes here at Champlain! This is finals week and last night I wrapped up my last class -- Internet-based Marketing -- with some really decent presentations (one of which the students went beyond what I taught them and showed the results...ohhh....cool!).

Now I grade.

Many papers coming in and it is going to be a big push.

But...I'm excited because I'm getting ready to start up blogging again since I'll have more time as we faculty move into clean out the office mode, May Collaborative mode and just down right REST mode.

I've got some great ideas for the summer and for my fall classes...but can't there until I get the grades done.

Welcome to the "New" Academy -- Prof's who use online tools

So I'm not alone. Ok...I knew that really, but more and more I'm reading about College professors in disciplines other than Business (and there are not many of those either) who are using tools like Twitter and blogging and social networking to connect with their students and to write about their own experiences.

Yes, there are many who are playing around with podcasting at iTunes U, but recent items from the Chronicle of Higher Education have provided some other tidbits.

Like the emergent media Prof. who is now posting video on how he uses Twitter, and then there is today's article from the Chronicle where theologist Dr. Brandon Withrow writes about the pitfalls of faculty writing their own blogs -- who knew? Certainly not I!

It would seem that those of us who are utilizing these new tools may be running into some type of "hiring bias" ... hmmm.... better not tell Prof. John Rogate from here at Champlain -- he's created a whole virtual Champlain College in Second Life.

Bottom line, we are out there and we are experimenting and using these tools for ourselves, to connect with students, and to provide insight in the classroom. We have to. We are educators and we not only need to know about these tools, we need to help our students understand the ramifications of using these tools as well.