A few years ago, I (Joe Cannon) flipped my marketing class. It went well and I began to research active learning and the flipped classroom to learn how to do it better. After doing all that research, I wanted to share my learning and my experience. So I wrote Flip Your Marketing Class. I am making the book available as a free eBook for anyone interested. To give you a better idea of what the book is about, I briefly describe the chapters below. To get your free PDF copy of the book, email Joe Cannon please put “Flip Your Marketing Class” in the subject line.

• Chapter 1: What is this book about? This chapter sets the stage, so an interested reader can determine what value the book might offer them, and how it is organized in case they want to focus on select topics.
• Chapter 2: What is active learning? This chapter provides definitions and explanations of learning, active learning, and passive learning.
• Chapter 3: What is a flipped classroom? This chapter introduces the flipped classroom. It discusses the costs and benefits of flipping your classroom.
• Chapter 4: What educational theories and concepts inform the design of a flipped classroom? This chapter provides a selective review of the academic literature on teaching, learning, active learning, and the flipped classroom. It specifically looks at a few relevant theories including Bloom’s Taxonomy, constructivism, and scaffolding. It also looks at the empirical evidence supporting active learning more generally and the flipped classroom model.
• Chapter 5: How did you flip your classroom? In this chapter, I share my experiences flipping the classroom. I discuss planning for the class and how I implemented the model. I include a variety of tips and tricks that I found helpful. I also offer other options that I considered but did not end up using.
• Appendices: Here, I provide sample syllabi, in-class activities, teaching notes, and sample PowerPoint slides, and more.

We are excited to announce the publication of the 16th edition of Essentials of Marketing. The new edition features extended coverage of marketing analytics, more active learning supplements, and of course many updates for currency. If you want more information, click through to the book’s information page, check out our emag, contact your McGraw-Hill sales rep or drop Joe Cannon an email.

There is growing evidence about the best ways to learn and how to learn more efficiently. In anticipation of the next revision of Essentials of Marketing and tied to my “flipping the classroom” this semester, I have been looking through some of the academic literature in this area. In that search I came upon a review article “Strengthening the Student Toolbox” (American Educator, Fall 2013 – for a more “academic” treatment of the same research, see Dunlosky et al., 2013, “Improving Students’ Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology” Psychological Science in the Public Interest) that summarizes the research in this area. I found the paper very interesting — and a pretty straightforward read. The study reviews 10 prominent learning strategies — and identifies which actually work.

My fascination brought to me a Coursera MOOC “Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects” (taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terence Sejnowski). It was very insightful and gave me ideas about how I could be a better teacher and a better learner — and how I could help my students to be better and more efficient learners.

It came as no surprise to me that practice testing and distributed practice (see the article for a detailed explanation) are clearly the most effective strategies. That adds to growing evidence that tools like McGraw-Hill’s SmartBook and LearnSmart can help students learn better and more efficiently. Full disclosure, my marketing textbooks Basic Marketing and Essentials of Marketing use this adaptive learning technology. The constant testing and adaptive learning help student learn. We have a related post at Learn the 4 Ps which offers some of these tips to students.

Have you utilized any adaptive learning technology? Do you have any tricks to implement distributed practice for your students?