Team Learning in a Marketing Principles Course: Cooperative Structures That Facilitate Active Learning and Higher Level Thinking

Abstract

This article examines team learning as a comprehensive pedagogy designed to facilitate active learning and higher level thinking. The key features of team learning and traditional learning are compared to provide a rationale for change for both marketing faculty and students. A detailed description of the new pedagogy and the steps necessary for its implementation are presented. The instructional activity sequence and other aspects of the team learning course design are discussed, as well as their role in creating effective cooperative structures. Students from a day section and from an evening section of a marketing principles course reported favorable attitudes toward team learning. Suggestions on how to get started are offered for marketing faculty members who might be interested in the adoption of this new pedagogy. Future research is needed for comparing the effectiveness of team learning to traditional learning in the marketing classroom.