MKT 3310 180: Principles of Marketing

Overview and Course Format

This course is organized into 13 chapters of learning. Each chapter folder can be found in the course content menu on the Blackboard of the class website, including learning objectives, instructional materials, activities, and assessments. To successfully complete this class, students are encouraged to follow the national university standard and spend at least 9 hours per week (for a 3-credit-hour class) reading the textbook, studying the learning materials, and completing the assessment tasks in the course content folder.

This is completely an online class. The course format includes a set of interrelated activities:

• Read the chapter, study the PowerPoint slides and notes, watch the videos, practice the interactive exercise, check the answers for the interactive exercise, and read and participate in class discussion forums, etc.
• Practice the quiz on Smartbook and for the extra credit for the chapter and independently prepare for tests and exams.
• Website, emails, web-based conferencing, and online office hours are used for learning and communication.

OUTCOME ASSESSMENTS

Your grades will be determined at the end of the semester after taking into consideration the following assessment components:

Course Assessment Components  and Points of Course Assessment Components

Quiz on Syllabus (5 times of access before Test 1) : (You must make at least 80% to access the first three chapters’ course content),(0.5 points each × 40) = 20 Points, 80 minutes for 40 questions

Submission of Acknowledgment : 5 points

Practice Test (5 times of Trials before 9/8 at 8:00 pm) : 15 Points (You must pass the practice test in order to continue the class)

13 Chapters’ Readings & Quizzes (Due Every Saturday at 11:59 pm) : Through Smart Book (15 points each × 13) = 195 Points (For Learning objectives 1 and 2)

4 Tests :(9/15, 10/6, 10/27, 11/24), (6:30 pm - 8:00 pm)  :(100 points each × 3+140) = 440 Points (For Learning objectives 1, 2, and 3):Test 1-3: Each test has 3 chapters, and 90 minutes for 50 questions and Test 4: This test has 4 chapters, and 120 minutes for 70 questions.

Final Comprehensive Exam :(12/3 at 6:30 pm-9:00 pm) : 220 Points (For Learning objectives 1, 2, and 3: The final exam has 13 chapters, and 150 minutes for 110 questions

Other Assignments: Discussion Forum_Marketing 4P’s Applications (11/26 at 11:59 pm): 40 Points (For Learning objectives 1, 2, and 3): 5 discussions, each worth 8 points;65 points( For Learning objectives 1 Total : 1000 points

Extra-Credit                   

Chapter quiz practice: 13 chapters * 2.5 points each = 32.5 points

Meet and Greet Forum: 10 Points (Due 9/16 at 6:00 pm)

Test reviews: 5 tests * 1 points each = 5 Points (Due before each test)

 Following the Testing Rules: 5 tests * 5 points each = 25 Points

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Total: 72.5 Points

All the questions for quizzes, tests, and exams are selected from the national test bank. You may assume approximately 90% of the total (A: more than 900 Points), 80% (B: more than 800 Points), 70% (C: more than 700 Points), 60% (D: more than 600 Points), less than 60% (F: less than 600 Points) cut off for final grades.  However, your final grades will be curved based on overall class performance.  Your grade is available in Blackboard’s grade book. The details of each assessment component is described below:

Quiz on Syllabus and Deadlines (20 Points)

This quiz is tested for your understanding of the syllabus and deadlines for this class. It has 40 questions for 20 points. Only when you make 80% on this quiz you will be able to access the first three chapters’ course content. You have five trials for this quiz, but it will be completely closed before the first test. You can access this quiz from the Blackboard syllabus area.

Practice Test (15 Points)

Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor and an external webcam are required for our online exams. The practice test is used to check whether each student truly knows the setup instruction and testing rules for Respondus Lockdown Brower and Monitor (please see the last 2 pages of the syllabus) and how to correctly apply all the rules during the exam. It takes only 1-2 minutes for you to get the practice test done. The practice test is located in the folder of the practice test in the Content Area of the course website. After you submit your practice test and once your test recording video is available online, Dr. Wei will review it, provide you with feedback and let you know whether you did everything right, where the problems are, and how to correct the mistakes. You should immediately redo it. Every student has 5 trials to submit their practice test, and you must pass the practice test before or by Sept. 8^th, Monday, at 8:00 pm to receive the 15 points of credit. So please start to work on it as early as you can. It takes time for the system to process your practice test. It depends on the online traffic, sometimes a few hours and other times 12-48 hours. Thus, please don’t leave the practice test until the last minute.

Only after Dr. Wei formally writes an email to you and informs you that you passed the practice test, she will mark your practice test’s grade as 15 points. She will release all the testing folders available only to the students who have passed the practice test. In other words, if you don’t pass the practice test, you can’t continue and take any of the tests and see any of the chapter folders for the class.

Weekly Chapter Quizzes on Smartbook (195 Points)

The purpose of the quizzes is to help you become actively involved in learning and reinforce your understanding of the chapter reading.

Smartbook allows you to use the audio function to listen to the textbook if that is your preferred learning method. You must get the quizzes done before the due date. After the due date, you will enter a recharge mode. In the recharge mode, you can continue working on the quizzes as often as possible before tests and the final exam, but you will not earn any grades. This is the app's default and the technology's limitation. Nobody can change the setup of 100% or 0%. After the due date, please use the personalized quiz analytics report to understand your strengths and weaknesses in each chapter for learning improvement.

Smartbook uses adaptive learning: if you answered the question wrong on one concept, the system would keep testing you until you get it right. Please ensure that you read the textbook first and then answer the questions carefully before you submit your answer to each question. For each chapter, we choose only 15 concepts to test your reading comprehension, and it may need only around 20 minutes if you can get it right the first time. If you don't read the chapter carefully, you may need to spend lots of time and answer lots of questions to earn 100% on your chapter quizzes. Therefore, it is very important to start reading the chapter and working on the chapter quiz as early as possible.

More normal chapter practice quizzes are available for extra credits. Please check the further instruction in extra credit session.

Tests and Final Exam (440 Points + 220 Points)

Four tests (100 points each for the first 3 tests and 140 for the last test = 440 points) and one final exam (220 points) will be given to test your knowledge of all materials covered in the textbook and PowerPoint slides. The first 3 tests cover 3 chapters in each test and the last test covers 4 chapters. The final exam is comprehensive and covers all 13 chapters.

My PowerPoint slides contain detailed lecture notes on each slide’s note section, which can help you understand the knowledge points on each slide. The PowerPoint slides intend to explain some of the important issues and difficult concepts in each chapter. However, the PowerPoint slides cannot discuss everything covered in the textbook. So, it is very important to read the textbook very well and ask questions about anything that you do not understand.

The tests and exams will be multiple-choice. All the questions are from the national standard test bank. The questions will be about general concepts as well as details discussed in the textbook and in the PowerPoint slides. You will be asked to pick the best answer from the options you are given and to mark your answer on an answer sheet. 

All the reviews for each chapter are available online in the exam folder. The dates for tests and exams are indicated on the website and at the end of the syllabus. You are fully responsible for being prepared for all exams on time. Please go to the section on online testing policies to learn in more detail about how to prepare and conduct online tests and exams.

We provide a forum called “Questions and Answers” on Blackboard Discussion Boards to let the students ask and discuss questions. TAMIU strongly discourages students from using any external study/chat groups because most of the widespread violations of the Honor code have occurred with those groups. If you are in such a group and participating in viewing purloined exam questions/answers, you are guilty of violating the Honor Code.

Other Assignments (105 Points)

I also give some other types of assignments and exercises. The purpose of these exercises is to help you become actively involved in learning, deepen your knowledge from reading, and motivate you to apply key concepts and frameworks in the real world.  The format includes participating in the discussion forum, responding to questions about how to apply the learned concepts to the real world, and a free writing assignment regarding marketing issues. Those exercises will ask you to organize your ideas, display your thoughts, and show your understanding of what you have learned in the textbook. This semester, two assignments are required for you to work on:

(1) Discussion forum (Individual assignment, 40 Points for Participation)

There are 10 discussion forums across the semester. Each student will be required to work on 5 discussion forums and will be assigned either odd or even module discussion forums to reduce each student’s workload. In other words, half of the students will do all the odd module discussion forums (Modules 3, 5, 7, 9, 13) while another half of the students will do all the even module discussion forums (Modules 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12). I will send an email and announce which discussion forum you will be assigned to (5 X 8 points = 40 participation points).

Each week’s discussion forum starts on Monday at 6:00 am and ends on Sunday at 11:59 pm. Late posts after the deadline will not be graded. Submissions would be on a post-first basis (which means you must post first, then be able to see other classmates’ responses). An empty post is not allowed. After the first submission, you should be able to see other students' submissions. You must respond to at least 2 other students.

The detailed requirements for discussion board posts are, a) for the first post: you have to clearly answer the questions and address all parts of the discussion questions. It is worth 5 points. b) for the 2 response posts: each post should be at least 3-5 sentences long. They are worth 1.5 points each. Please make sure that your posts demonstrate constructive, specific, and substantial thoughts, answers, comments, or recommendations.

In addition, submissions after the deadline will receive a “0”. I will post my answer key and let the whole class review and learn by the following Monday after the deadline.

(2) Marketing 4Ps Strategy’s Application (Individual assignment, 65 Points)

In this assignment, each student needs to conduct simple marketing research and apply the marketing 4Ps strategy to a job market. The assignment should be submitted to the Dropbox set in the assignment folder. Students should save an electronic copy of the submitted assignments on their personal computers until the end of the semester. SafeAssign is used for the plagiarism detection system. This assignment is due almost at the end of the semester. A rubric will be provided to evaluate this assignment. Please review it very carefully to understand the criteria and ensure that you include all expected components to earn the best grade you desire and deserve.

Extra-Credit Opportunities

I’d like to encourage and reward the students who study hard, do review before the tests, and follow our testing rules for each test.

If you want to improve your grades and earn extra credits, you can complete each chapter’s practice quiz found in the extra credit folder. Around 10% to 20% of quiz questions will be used in the exams without any changes to reward you and help you succeed in this class.

All the quizzes are available from the first day of the semester. Each chapter quiz will be closed before the final exam. You have unlimited trials for chapter quizzes before that time. The computer will record the best performance as your grade. You should print every quiz for your later review to help you prepare for the tests and the final exam.

A total of 72.5 points of extra credit will be offered this semester. No make-up for extra credit points.

Chapter quiz practice: 13 chapters * 2.5 points each =32.5 points

        Meeting and Greeting: 10 Points (Due 9/15 at 6:00 pm)

Test Reviews: 5 tests * 1 point each = 5 points (Due before each test’s starting time)

Following the Testing Rules: 5 tests * 5 points each = 25 points

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Total: 72.5 points

TESTING POLICY

This is an online class. All your learning materials and each chapter’s quiz are online. However, because TAMIU demands all online classes to eliminate possible cheating, you are all required to take tests and exams at 6:30 pm on Sept. 15^th, Oct. 6^th, Oct. 27^th , Nov. 24^th  (Mondays), and Dec. 3^rd (Wednesday). No makeup test/exam will be allowed. The reason that we inform you of all the specific testing dates on the first day of the semester is to help you plan your working hours and life events in advance on those five days. You need to inform your boss now not to arrange your work on these five days. If your boss doesn’t allow it, you may plan to ask for a few hours of leave or annual leave on these five days. I trust that you are willing to commit a total of 9 testing hours on the three days for your valuable education goal and for a better future. If you can’t take tests on these days, you may have to drop the class and take other classes instead.

All the quizzes, tests, and exams will be administered through Blackboard online. The computer will randomly assign different questions to each student each time you take the tests, except for the quizzes.  Even though you are taking them online, they are still "real" tests.  There are always couples, sisters, brothers, cousins, or roommates who take the same class together. So the proctoring rules should ensure fairness and justice in testing. Every student needs to follow the rules and procedures while taking these tests and exams.

• For all the exams, you cannot use the textbook, notes/ebook/printed ebook/online searching/printed copies.
• It may take a little bit of time to set up the test (such as checking your picture identity, surrounding checks, using a standing mirror (on the desk not on the floor) to show the monitor and keyboard setting, etc). We should plan at least 5-10 minutes of extra time before we start the test. Dr. Wei also opens the test 10 minutes early at 6:20 pm.
• Every student must start the test on time at 6:20 pm. No late start will be allowed. If you can’t see the text link or resume your test, the only way is to email me immediately and ask Dr. Wei to help you with the test.
• After you finish your test, please don’t share test questions with any of the others.
• A security browser called Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor needs to be downloaded and required to be used for all the tests and the final exam, but not for quizzes. Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor will check, monitor, and record your behavior during the whole testing time through the webcam. You must obey Setup Instructions and Testing Rules for Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor:
  • Please carefully read the setup guidelines for Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor attached behind the syllabus. If you fail to follow any of those guidelines and testing rules, it will result in an automatic zero on the exam.
  • You must use a standing mirror on the desk or external webcam in the second step of the environment check. Your webcam should clearly view and capture both hands on the desk during the whole testing period.
  • Any red flags recorded and marked by the system are viewed as cheating/dishonesty and will be submitted to the University’s Student Conduct Office and Honor Council. You will automatically receive a “0” for the exam if you have any red flags.
  • You must ensure that the internet service and speed are stable and fast enough for testing. If the unstable internet service results in the failure of recording your behavior during the testing, you are required to retake the whole test later again.
• A timer appears on your computer screen, and the test continues until you click the submit button.  You must submit your test within the required time. The test should be automatically closed and submitted when the time is up. If not, please click "Submit" to end the test and submit your test.
• If something happens and your computer freezes during the testing, please get back to the test link and resume the test as quickly as you can because the test timer will keep running and won’t stop no matter what.  As soon as you complete the test, send me an email detailing your problem and the time it occurs.
• Please do not wait until the last minute to do the quizzes, tests, or exam! There are many things that can go wrong in the path between your computer and the Blackboard course site. If any issues/problems occur with your computer/internet service at home, it is your responsibility to plan ahead/immediately and go to use TAMIU/other public facility or ask for help immediately from your family members, classmates, neighbors, or friends. So, your personal/public computer/Internet Service Provider issues, bad weather, sick children, family problems, traffic, car accidents (etc) are not acceptable explanations for the last-minute testing or missing the quiz and/or test. If you have any legitimate reasons for not being able to perform the tasks on time, you need to show me legal documentation, have my prior approval, and make special arrangements with me IN ADVANCE in order to take the exam at a different time. Even if you have serious health issues, your family members and/or your friends may help you inform me or leave a message to me immediately through email or phone.
• If any cheating is found, both the cheater and helper will receive a “0” for the test. Both will be submitted to the University’s student conduct office and honor council.

MAKE-UP AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS POLICY

For each chapter quiz, you have unlimited times access within at least one week. For tests/exams, your online testing time will be at 6:30 pm on Sept 15^th, Oct 6^th, Oct 27^th, Nov 24^th (Mondays), and Dec 3^rd (Wednesday).  NO MAKE-UP QUIZ, TEST, and EXAM WILL BE ALLOWED. So don’t arrange any work or life events on these five days. If necessary, you may have to ask for a few hours of leave or annual leave on these five days. Otherwise, you should not consider taking this class.

If you are unable to take the quiz/test/exam during the scheduled time for legitimate reasons, you will need to show me documentation, have my prior approval, and make special arrangements IN ADVANCE to take the exam at a different time. Even if you have serious health issues or car accidents, your family members and/or your friends may help you inform me or leave a message to me immediately through email or phone.

Please do not wait until the last minute to do the quizzes, tests, or exams! There are many things that can go wrong in the path between your computer and the Blackboard course site. Your personal/public computer/Internet Service Provider issues, bad weather, sick children, family problems, traffic, and car accidents (etc) are not acceptable explanations for the last-minute testing or missing the quiz and/or test.

AVAILABLE STUDENT ONLINE RESOURCES

This online course will be managed through the Blackboard course management system. There is a folder called Student Resources that provides various online resource information for you:

Course Technology Requirements

You can find the links to technology resources needed for this course: such as minimum technology requirements for the online class and personal software resources on the Instructional Technology and Distance Education Services’ webpage when using the learning management system (LMS) of the University. TAMIU Students may access online versions of this software through their Dusty Office 365 account at https://dusty.tamiu.edu/. This site also provides students access to download the Microsoft suite for educational use. See instructions for downloading the Microsoft Office suite.

All file types should be opened inside the Blackboard system (Adobe Presenter, PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, URLs, video clips, etc). If you have any issues with any type of software to open files, please go to the personal software resources link to find links to any of the missing software. Please make sure that your home computer can access all of our class files.

For this class, you need the following hardware including a webcam (a stand-alone external webcam is recommended), a mouse, and a microphone for testing through the Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor or online virtual meeting place. If you experience any problems with Blackboard, please contact the OIT Help Desk (hotline@tamiu.edu or 956-326-2310) as soon as possible, not the instructor.  If your home computer is outdated and you cannot use TAMIU’s computer labs, you may have to drop the class and take a face-to-face class instead.

Technology Skills & Training

Through the provided link, you can learn the required technical skills and get training through the atomic learning tool.

Technology Statements

You can learn the accessibility and privacy statements on various technologies used in this course. At Texas A&M International University, we believe that all students should have equal technology opportunities in the classroom. These technologies/sites may also require user data, such as the creation of a username and password. In this class, we will utilize Blackboard. You may find the accessibility and privacy policies of these technologies on the following pages: Accessibility Statements and Privacy Statements.

Support Services

You can find links to technical, accessibility, student, and academic support services provided by TAMIU, such as instructional technology and distance education services, technical support services, accessibility support services, academic support services (testing center, university learning center, and writing center, etc), student support services (e.g., Bursar’s office, student health services, and student counseling center, etc) and library support service.

Handbook, Policies & Other links:

You can find the links to the University's student handbook, academic regulations, academic calendar, and schedule of classes.

ATTENDANCE – TIME COMMITMENT- STUDENT EXPECTATIONS 

Attendance (regular participation in the online classroom) is essential for maintaining the best learning environment.

• You will be expected to log into the course site at least 3-5 times per week.
• According to the national university standard, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 12 hours per week on this class. For our class we should spend 6-9 hours per chapter. You may spend more or less, depending on your current level of expertise and capability. 
• You are also expected to participate in all assigned activities for the course.
• Attendance is measured by the completion of course tasks and assignments.

Just as in the business world, this class is meant to emulate real-world experience. Students should treat this class as a real-world professional commitment. Every day in the “real world”, millions of people go to work and complete assignments when they do not feel good, when their family members do not feel good have relationship problems, when their cars will not start, when they are overextended, when their alarm clock malfunctions, etc. But they take responsibility to manage their problems, work on multiple issues and demands, develop time management skills, and accept consequences for their actions and conduct. You are expected to overcome these problems as well.

EMAIL COMMUNICATION, RESPONSE TIME, AND FEEDBACK POLICY

The student is required to check their email account often for important class and University-related information. Students are expected to use dusty email and Blackboard emails for timely updates related to this online class.  From time to time, I may send emails to you.  Ensure that the email address you have registered with the online learning system can receive my emails, and read them on time. I also use announcements in the Announcement section of the Blackboard course site to alert students to important issues or highlight certain aspects of assignments. Email is the preferred method for individual and class communication when necessary.

To make sure that you receive and read my emails, you can connect our course Blackboard email box with your dusty TAMIU email. Here are the instructions for you on how to receive email notifications of my emails.

Online office hours are also available for us to communicate in another way. You need to have a webcam and headphone/microphone in order to use the Virtual Meeting Space. You can learn how to use Blackboard Collaborate through this link: https://youtu.be/6SKSODqUeWg/.  If the normal online office hours do not work for you, you are welcome to schedule an online meeting at another time.

I typically check and respond to students’ emails between Monday and Friday. Please allow for a 24-hour response time during the weekdays. When I reply to some of the students’ emails and answer some of the questions, I may CC my responses to the whole class to make sure that all other students get the answers too. I also expect that the students should respond to my emails within or less than 24 hours during the weekdays. Moreover, I typically grade any assignments/tasks within one week of the due date. For discussion forums, I mainly provide my feedback between Monday and Wednesday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. But I will not grade your discussions until the end of the semester when all the teams have finished their posts.

To help the class understand how to manage the learning and prepare well for the practice test, exams, and assignment, I will do two synchronous meetings for the whole class. You can ask me any questions related to the class’s tasks, rules, exams, etc. Everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.

9/5 (Friday): First Synchronous Meeting at 12:00-1:00 pm

10/25 (Friday): Second Synchronous Meeting at 12:00-1:00 pm

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES IN ONLINE COURSES

The student’s responsibilities and expectations for online courses are different from the student’s responsibilities and expectations for on-campus courses.  Online learning is a pure self-managed learning model. You will enjoy a lot of freedom, but you also must take full responsibility for your own learning process and outcome.

The following statements identify your responsibilities in this course. You must submit the acknowledgment statement of your responsibility in the first week of the class to be able to view the first week’s course content. If you are not able to agree with all the statements, perhaps you should reconsider taking this course in an online format.

1. I verify that I am and will be the student who is really doing all the coursework for this online course.
2. I will not share the test questions with any of the others after I finish my tests.
3. I will log into our online classroom at least 3-5 days per week and understand that I am expected to work online for a minimum of 12 hours per week.
4. I will ask questions directly and immediately if I do not understand the instructions or due dates for tasks and exams, or whenever I have any other questions and issues.
5. I understand that I can't use textbooks, notes, ebooks, printed ebooks, online searching, or printed copies) for all my exams. And I also understand that I must take 4 tests and 1 final exam at 6:30 pm on Sept 15^th, Oct 6^th, Oct 27^th, Nov 24^th (Mondays), and Dec 3^rd (Wednesday).  NO MAKE-UP TEST or EXAM WILL BE ALLOWED.
6. I will connect our course blackboard email box with my dusty TAMIU email and ensure that I can receive Dr. Wei’s email notifications for the class.
7. I know that every Saturday at 11:59 pm is the deadline for that week’s chapter quiz on Smartbook. NO MAKE-UP QUIZ WILL BE ALLOWED.
8. I can improve my grades and earn extra credit by completing each chapter’s practice quiz found in the extra credit folder. Around 10% to 20% of quiz questions will be used in the exams without any changes to reward you and help you succeed in this class. 
9. I will be responsible for keeping up with all due dates for both tasks and exams and submitting them on time or before they are due. All the quizzes are available on the first day of the semester. I have at least one week to work on the weekly quiz. I will organize my time to allow me to thoughtfully and thoroughly complete class tasks.
10. I am required to pay a $15 annual fee for Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor. For online testing, students must have either an external webcam or a standing mirror placed on the desk (not on the floor). External Webcam (preferred option) provides greater comfort and convenience. Students may borrow one from OIT e-Learning or purchase one for about $7.00 at Walmart. Standing Mirror (alternative option) must be placed on the desk during testing. Mirrors can also be purchased for about $7.00 at Walmart. Only one option (webcam or mirror) is required to meet the proctoring requirement.
11. I understand that I have 5 trials to pass the practice test before the deadline. If I don’t pass the practice test, I can’t continue the class.
12. I understand that I must follow the setup instructions and obey the guidelines and testing rules for Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor attached behind. I must start the test on time at 6:30 pm. No late testing is allowed. I understand that if failing to follow any of those setup instructions and testing rules, it will result in an automatic zero on the exam. If my unstable internet results in the failure of video recording during the testing, I must retake the whole test later. 
13. I understand that technical problems related to Personal/public computer/Internet Service Providers, bad weather, sick children, family problems, traffic, car accidents (etc) cannot be used as an excuse for failure to complete the tasks on time. I will locate the computer hardware, software, and Internet connections necessary to stay connected and current with my coursework online. I am aware of alternate Internet connections available through TAMIU’s computer labs/library, the public library, and any friends, relatives, or neighbors, and will access them if my personal computer equipment/internet is not working. I understand that technical problems with Blackboard require that I contact OIT at 956-326-2310 for technical support during their working hours from Monday to Friday from 7:30 am-6:00 pm.
14. If I have legitimate reasons for being unable to take the quiz/test/exam during the scheduled time, I understand that I need to show Dr. Wei documentation, have her prior approval, and make special arrangements IN ADVANCE to take the exam at another time. When I have serious health issues or car accidents, I will ask my family members and/or friends to help me inform her or leave a message to her immediately through email or phone.

At the “Start Here”! Area of the Blackboard course site, there is an acknowledgment of the syllabus, policies, and responsibilities containing these statements. The acknowledgment represents a contract between you and me. You must agree and sign the contract to be able to continue this class. Otherwise, you will not be able to see the first three weeks’ course content.

If you believe that this course plan is incompatible with your abilities, job schedule, and life priority or lifestyle, do something about it NOW!  For example, take another instructor’s class, or consider taking another course.

Procotoring Policies

Students are required to pay a $15 annual fee for Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor. For online testing, students must have either an external webcam or a standing mirror placed on the desk (not on the floor). External Webcam (preferred option): Provides greater comfort and convenience. Students may borrow one from OIT e-Learning or purchase one for about $7.00 at Walmart. Standing Mirror (alternative option): Must be placed on the desk during testing. Mirrors can also be purchased for about $7.00 at Walmart. Only one option (webcam or mirror) is required to meet the proctoring requirement.

Guidelines for Using AI in This Course

Students are encouraged to use generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, DALL·E) responsibly by following the rules below:

✅ Acceptable Uses

You may use AI tools for: Brainstorming and refining ideas; Finding information related to course topics; Drafting outlines to organize your thoughts; Checking grammar, style, or clarity, etc.

❌ Unacceptable Uses

You may not use AI tools for: Impersonating you in class activities (e.g., generating responses to discussion board posts or prompts); Completing work that your group has assigned specifically to you; Writing drafts of essays, reports, or other written assignments; Producing entire sentences, paragraphs, or papers to submit as your own work.

⚖️ Responsibilities and Academic Integrity

• You are fully responsible for the accuracy, legality, and ethical use of any AI-generated content.

• All use of AI must be acknowledged and cited in accordance with university policies on academic honesty. Example citation:

  OpenAI. ChatGPT. January 9 version. Accessed January 9, 2025. https://openai.com.

• Unauthorized or undisclosed use of AI will result in a 50% grade deduction for the assignment, with a required resubmission including proper acknowledgment.

• If you are unsure whether a use of AI is allowed, you must ask for clarification in advance.

Upon completion of this class, you will be able to:

1. Describe and recall the basic "language of marketing,” which includes terms, concepts, and frameworks used by marketing managers and professionals.
2. Identify and apply the steps and concepts in the marketing strategy planning process to a business setting.
3. Design product strategy, price strategy, promotion strategy, and place strategy (i.e., the marketing mix) for the selected target market to meet their needs and wants. 

All the questions for quizzes, tests, and exams are selected from the national test bank. You may assume approximately 90% of the total (A: more than 900 Points), 80% (B: more than 800 Points), 70% (C: more than 700 Points), 60% (D: more than 600 Points), less than 60% (F: less than 600 Points) cut off for final grades.  However, your final grades will be curved based on overall class performance. Your grade is available in Blackboard’s grade book.