Figuring Out Buying Behavior #1

Segment: for the purposes of this exercise, I am going to focus on the buying behavior of professors. This is because students will most often consume content specified by a professor, so getting professors to utilize my curriculum guides in their classes would effectively expand my market to student users. 

Interviews:

• Dr. Cooke, marketing professor
• Dr. Cooke is current using a combination of his own lecture slides and the McGraw-Hill ebook in order to teach his class. He says he does recognize a need for more engaging content in order to make sure students are really learning, which is why he likes the online features of the ebook. Dr. Cooke assigns activities from the book that function as interactive quizzes. These quizzes can track students' strengths and weaknesses. The book also allows students to focus on specific pieces of text as well as add highlights and comments. I asked Dr. Cooke to elaborate on whether or not he thought this program was completely supplementing his need for engaging content. His response was that right now, he believes this is the best product for his class; however, that doesn't mean it is the best product it could be, or that something better cannot be created. I also learned that his needs awareness most often occurs at the start of each semester, when he is planning out the course. Dr. Cooke hasn't conducted an information search in a while; however, he said that he used to search "best marketing curriculum" or "marketing tools" for potential products. In addition, he often consults other professors to learn about new products. 
• Marty Schaffel, entrepreneurship professor
• Marty doesn't like to take the traditional approach to teaching. He is very much against testing and having students' grades be composed of their ability to take a test. He also comes from a background in the industry, as the founder of AVI-SPL (world's largest audio-visual innovations company). As a result, his lectures often involve personal reflections on his own experiences. Marty is a big supporter of experiential learning, and he does feel that there is a lack of experiential learning and engaging content in classrooms today. This was his first semester teaching a course without a co-professor, and that was the reason he recognized a need for better content in the classroom. Once he recognized this need, he researched entrepreneurship lessons online and used some content created in part by him and in part by other educators. 
• Dr. Morris, entrepreneurship + MSE professor
• Dr. Morris is a strong academic who has experienced the educational side and the real-world side of entrepreneurship through his projects with the university and through many of his own experiences. Like Marty, he is very focused on experiential learning and creates course content that will be interesting and memorable to his students. Dr. Morris develops his own educational content and provides them to students. According to him, these is a need to for better educational curriculum/content, which is why he makes his own. He further explains that if there were something better, he might use it, but he doesn't necessarily need it right now.

I learned that the teaching tools used by professors can vary greatly depending on each professor's personal style of education. Most of them have recognized a need and are aware of the need, but they have found substitute solutions in order to meet their need. However, many of them would agree that these solutions can be better. When they search for information, they often either look online or turn to their colleagues.