Raising Critical Consciousness

Kathryn Mercurio: Marketing

Successes and Challenges

What resources, policies, and co-conspirators do you believe are already available to support your plan?

The Office of Faculty Development, Chiara, Paul, and the other faculty who engaged in the FLC are all a resource and co-conspirators for me as I change my classroom content. I continually believe in small changes. Therefore, sharing faculty experiences, making them go through workshops, talking with students about their positive and negative experiences in the classroom – all of these exposures will make it easier for the faculty as a whole to adapt and change over time.

What challenges do you anticipate?

I suspect some students will not understand what cultural appropriation is. I suspect some students will not understand that some consumers are engaging in cultural appreciation and will see anything they do as appropriation. In essence, I see two very different passionate viewpoints clashing with each other in one class period. However, it will potentially lead to better lessons learned in a variety of different consumer contexts and allow students to see nuance/gray where they previously saw only their own worldview. In addition, I suspect that there will be students who are tired and exhausted and do not care about school or my class. I hope that this case and the discussion will get them excited about brand strategy and how it fits with a larger cultural discussion.

SETTING & IMPLEMENTATION

The class where I plan to implement the equitable learning strategies learned in the Critical Consciousness Learning Community will be MKTG 485 – Brand Strategy, in spring 2022.

Describe the equity strategy that you plan to implement into your course. What is it? How is it intended to work?

Two of the areas that I wanted to address the most in my classroom were my reflections on my own privilege and lack of diversity in what I teach. To address this, the critical actions I want to take on are equity and inclusion. Particularly, I want to make space for difficult conversations in the classroom. In addition, I want to be as open as possible to new ideas and contradictory information. As a result, I am going to choose Harvard Business Review cases that purposely address these needs. The very first case of class, in Week 3, will be about Branding Yoga, a case where students assess 2 different models of yoga studios and make recommendations for opening a new yoga studio in Chico. In the case, they will need to address cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation and address their own privilege when making recommendations.

What is needed in terms of planning and resources?

The main thing that was needed was for me to search out Harvard Business Review cases in the field of brand strategy that addressed these subjects. In addition, I need to adopt that mindset where I am open to new ideas, opinions, and solutions from the students. In addition, I need to learn a deft classroom management style so I create a learning environment where students can have difficult conversations and leave feeling safe.

What is your rationale for choosing and implementing this strategy?

I use Harvard Business Review cases in my class already so finding relevant cases is an easier task than taking a new strategy. One thing we learned in the FLC is that making small and gradual changes in the classroom is easier to implement.

References/Resources

I think it would be helpful for CSU Chico to create a resource, entitled, Having Difficult Conversations in the Classroom. In the resource, we could give specific examples and tips at how to diffuse situations where students may get upset. In addition, I think making faculty engage in an acting workshop where faculty are put into difficult situations would be incredibly helpful. We can see how we reacted, discuss with other faculty, and learn from our actions. That way, when difficult situations do arise, we can fall back onto the scripts we have learned and react positively.

NEXT STEPS

During the case presentations, I will assess the feedback the students give to the presenting students, in particular, the question and answer portion of the case presentations. In addition, every week, the students engage in a weekly discussion board where they reflect on their learning from the previous week. That board will allow me to monitor whether I have achieved the learning objectives of the branding Yoga case.

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