Abstract:

In courses dealing with concepts that are quite familiar for students, reduced class attendance and low student motivation are two commonly trends. This is the case of Marketing courses, where topics such as advertising, commercials, promotion, sales, etc. are discussed.
Notwithstanding, the apparent familiarity of these concepts usually lead to excess of self-confidence and bad results in the final test. In particular, a high percentage of students failed the exams of this subject in previous years. It is therefore essential that we understand the task of teaching in these subjects as a guide to properly address the study of this subject, clarifying concepts and making a special emphasis on those issues where misunderstandings may arise.
In order to motivate students of Business Administration to attend Marketing classes as well as to enable them to self-assess their learning process, we have proposed an activity consisting on an in-class test at the end of each topic discussed in class. In this sense, since the Marketing course addresses many concepts and complex ideas, students have the possibility to sit for a test of 10 questions with two alternatives (true/false) for each of the 8 topics in which this course in divided. Although these tests were voluntary and the contribution for the final grade was small, almost half of students took part regularly in this activity. This was also translated into a high and steady course attendance.
Additionally, students’ attitude has been much more active and participatory than in previous courses. In particular, it is remarkable the students' efforts to understand accurately the various concepts discussed during the course and to identify illustrative examples.
Furthermore, high correlations are observed between the number of tests completed by the student and his/her final grade. This positive result may be due to the fact that the realization of these tests has allowed students to realize that the subject is not as easy as they expected. All in all, we value very positively this experience.
In view of the results of this activity, we discuss the convenience of in-class activities versus homework or virtual activities, as well as the benefits of class attendance. Regarding the paradigm shift that represents the adjustment of the Business Administration degree to the European Higher Education Area, we consider that the introduction of self-assessment activities such as in-class tests may have a very positive influence in the teaching-learning process.