As an educator, where do you go for advice on teaching? Perhaps it’s a book. Maybe it’s a social media channel of your choosing. But more often than not, faculty have turned to higher education podcasts as a way of gleaning fresh insights in a captivating, bite-sized format. It’s no secret that educators are stretched between teaching, grading and research commitments. So listening to a reputable guest share their best practices for improving equity, engagement and interaction in the classroom is a valuable faculty development and training exercise in of itself.
If you’re looking for the best higher education podcasts to explore, this post is for you. We’ve rounded up our favorite shows that speak to the good, the bad and the ugly within higher ed in our present moment. We also capture podcasts hosted by leaders who bring deep, discipline-specific expertise to their field. Most importantly, we’ve summarized shows that not only cover the latest trends but offer practical advice in an educational and entertaining way. So grab your earbuds and let’s dive into the top higher education podcasts of the year.
Ok, call us biased, but we think Higher Listenings from Top Hat is well worth a listen. Higher Listenings aims to engage and entertain educators with a look at the latest trends shaping the future of teaching and learning. In our first season, we offer practical advice to leave you feeling equipped and confident to tackle your next teaching challenge—whether boosting reading completion rates or embracing AI-powered learning. The first season offers an all star line up featuring some of the leading change makers in higher ed including Jesse Stommel (author of Ungrading: Why We Grade and How to Stop), José Antonio Bowen (author of Teaching with AI) and Terrell Strayhorn (leading expert on student belonging). Stay tuned for season two releasing in January 2025! In the meantime, catch up on our inaugural season by listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
2. Teaching in Higher Ed by Bonni Stachowiak
As the most effective educators know, good teaching is both an art and a science. Dr. Bonni Stachowiak is a professor and Dean of Teaching and Learning at Vanguard University. As the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Stachowiak serves up best practices across four key categories including: digital pedagogy, student life, work-life balance and teaching. Notable guests include Joshua Eyler (Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi) and Jenae Cohen (Executive Director at the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of California, Berkeley). Whether you’re looking for strategies to grade more productively or need guidance on ed tech integration in higher education, Stachowiak’s impressive lineup will leave you feeling inspired. Listen to the latest episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
3. Intentional Teaching by Derek Bruff
Do you want to take your knowledge of foundational teaching practices to the next level? Dr. Derek Bruff will help you do just that. Bruff, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia and author of Intentional Tech, hosts the Intentional Teaching podcast geared towards college and university faculty. His goal is to leave listeners with actionable techniques to make their classrooms more inclusive, responsive to an AI-saturated world and ultimately, more engaging for every learner. Esteemed guests on his podcast include Thomas J. Tobin (Senior Teaching and Learning Developer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Viji Sathy (Associate Dean for Evaluation and Assessment at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). Check out Bruff’s star-studded episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
4. Tea for Teaching by John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare
If you’re looking for faculty development and training paired with emerging research in pedagogy, this higher education podcast will surely be your cup of tea. The Tea for Teaching show is produced by John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare, who run the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. The producers wrestle with hot-button topics from upskilling in the age of AI to reducing bias in course evaluations. High-impact guests, who include Michelle Miller (Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Northern Arizona University) and Anthony Abraham Jack (Faculty Director of the Boston University Newbury Center), are featured in weekly episodes. Grab your favorite warm beverage and a notebook and tune into this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
5. Teach and Learn by D2L
Unsure about the direction that education is heading in? Then you’ll want to take note of D2L’s Teach & Learn podcast. Geared towards K-12 and higher ed faculty, the show is hosted by Dr. Christi Ford (Vice President of Academic Affairs at D2L) and Dr. Emma Zone (Senior Director of Academic Affairs at D2L). In candid discussions with educational experts, the hosts dive into issues affecting higher education institutions today. This timely higher education podcast offers practical advice such as how to put diversity, equity and inclusion at the forefront of your course and how to harness AI to improve student learning. Recent guests include Thomas Cavanagh (Vice Provost for Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida) and Karen Costa (Faculty Development Facilitator for the Online Learning Consortium). Leave with practical tips for your own course by listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Do you need more school advertising ideas? Today, we’re providing you with the inspiration you need. As a marketing agency with over 15 years of experience in educational marketing, we at HEM understand that school administrators and marketers face unique challenges when promoting their institutions. Traditional advertising methods may no longer yield the same results, and creative approaches are necessary to make a lasting impact.
Before we get the strategy, it’s important to define our goals. Though every institution has different objectives, generally, school advertising serves a unique purpose. What is the role of advertisement in education? Educational advertisements are crucial in creating awareness and attracting prospective students by effectively showcasing your educational institution’s unique features, values, and opportunities.
It helps your school to share your programs, campus life, and success stories, making you more accessible and appealing to a diverse audience. By utilizing targeted advertising strategies, you can reach students who align with your offerings, thus enhancing enrollment rates and fostering a more engaged student body. Additionally, advertising builds a school’s brand and reputation, helping to differentiate it from competitors in an increasingly crowded educational market. In this guide, we’ll walk you through five school advertising ideas, focusing on what works—and what to avoid—so that your marketing efforts are as effective as possible.
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Idea 1: Virtual Campus Tours and Interactive Content
With the increasing reliance on online learning, offering prospective students a virtual tour of your campus has become a highly effective school advertising tactic. This strategy enables you to create an engaging experience that leaves a lasting impression. A static, pre-recorded tour might offer a different personal touch than students are looking for, so consider an interactive experience that allows them to explore your campus on their own terms.
Do make your virtual tour dynamic and customizable. It lets users choose their path, allowing them to click on different areas of the campus to explore further. This gives prospective students a sense of control and personalization, which is especially important if they cannot visit in person. You should also include interactive elements, like videos that feature current students or faculty members describing life on campus.
Example: Here, John Cabot University in Rome showcases its unique location and stunning campus in a virtual tour. Visitors can click on different parts of the campus, zoom in for a closer look, and zoom out for a view of the Eternal City.
Source: John Cabot University
However, pay attention to the importance of high-quality production. A virtual tour riddled with poor-quality video, muffled sound, or outdated visuals will do more harm than good. Investing in professional video production ensures the user experience is smooth and engaging. Also, make the tour shorter. Prospective students, especially younger ones, often have shorter attention spans, so aim to keep the tour concise but informative.
If you could use more school advertising ideas, contact HEM here!
Idea 2: Personalized Email Campaigns
Email marketing has long been a reliable channel for reaching potential students, but its effectiveness hinges on personalization. A well-crafted email that speaks directly to students’ interests can do wonders for engagement rates. The key is to use your collected data wisely and create highly targeted email campaigns that resonate with specific student personas.
Personalize your emails based on the prospective student’s interests, location, and stage in the admissions funnel. Use their first names, reference the programs they have shown interest in, and offer tailored information about how your school can meet their needs. You could include information about extracurricular activities, scholarships, or campus events that align with their interests. Personalization can also extend to automated follow-up emails, keeping your school top-of-mind for students who may not have decided.
Example: Here, MIT targets a warm lead – someone already interested in a specific program. It uses the prospect’s name, states their program of interest, and provides an attractive but time-sensitive call to action at the end. When creating personalized email campaigns, use segmentation to ensure each email goes to the right individual. Email segmentation is the process of dividing an email list into smaller, targeted groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, behavior, or interests. This allows for more personalized and relevant email marketing, improving engagement and overall campaign effectiveness.
Source: MIT | Gmail
On the other hand, don’t rely on generic, one-size-fits-all emails. Mass emailing without personalization is an outdated approach that can turn off prospective students, making them feel like just another number. Additionally, avoid sending too many emails too frequently.
Bombarding your prospects with irrelevant or repetitive content could cause them to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam. Finding the right balance between engagement and oversaturation is key.
Idea 3: Social Media Takeovers and Student-Generated Content
Social media remains one of the most powerful platforms for schools to engage with prospective students, especially when using platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn for graduate programs. One creative way to leverage social media is through student takeovers. Handing over your social media channels to current students for a day or even a week can offer an authentic look at what life is like at your school. Prospective students are more likely to trust the words and experiences of their peers than a polished marketing message.
Encourage students to share genuine, unfiltered content that represents their daily lives, whether that’s a behind-the-scenes look at classes, clubs, or dorm life. User-generated content can also effectively highlight diverse voices and experiences, allowing prospective students from all walks of life to see themselves reflected in your school’s culture. User-generated content showing real students living out their passions and making the most of their education can be a powerful marketing tool.
Example: This student takeover by Oxford University showcases a unique aspect of the school’s culture – formals! Student takeovers are an excellent school advertisement tactic for targeting students who view their learning experience as an opportunity to earn new certifications and make memories.
Source: Oxford University English Faculty | Instagram
However, don’t lose control over your brand’s messaging. While student-generated content should be authentic, it’s important to provide guidelines so that the content stays in line with your school’s values and branding. Avoid situations where inappropriate or irrelevant content is on your official platforms. Striking the right balance between authenticity and professionalism is crucial for this strategy’s success.
Idea 4: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) with a Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
Search engine marketing (SEM) is another essential strategy when advertising for schools. While general keywords like “best universities” or “top colleges” are incredibly competitive and expensive, long-tail keywords can help your school reach a more specific audience. For example, keywords like “best nursing programs in Ontario” or “liberal arts colleges with study abroad options” are more likely to attract students who are already well-informed in their decision-making process.
Do optimize your campaigns by focusing on long-tail keywords that match the unique aspects of your school’s programs. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify phrases that align with what makes your institution special. Additionally, ensure that your ads lead to well-designed landing pages relevant to the search query. If prospective students click on an ad about your nursing program, for example, they should be taken directly to a page with information on that program, not a generic landing page.
Example: In the metadata of Randolph-Macon Academy’s blog, the title and meta description have been optimized using the long-tail keyword ‘military boarding school’. Be sure to use specific and relevant keywords that fit your target audience.
Source: Randolph-Macon Academy
But don’t overspend on highly competitive keywords unlikely to yield significant results. Budgeting for SEM can be tricky, especially for schools with limited resources, so avoid the temptation to compete with bigger institutions on broad, expensive terms. Also, don’t neglect mobile optimization. Many students will be researching schools on their phones, so your SEM efforts should consider mobile-friendly landing pages and a seamless user experience across devices.
Idea 5: Influencer Partnerships and Micro-Influencers
The rise of influencer marketing has opened up new opportunities for schools to reach younger audiences, particularly through platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. While partnering with mega-influencers can be costly and may not yield the desired results, working with micro-influencers—those with a smaller but highly engaged following—can be an excellent way to build trust with prospective students. These influencers, often niche content creators or even current students, can offer authentic endorsements of your school.
Do choose micro-influencers who align closely with your school’s values and the interests of your target audience. For instance, if you’re promoting a nursing program, you might partner with a healthcare-related influencer who can speak authentically to the value of your school’s education. Establish clear objectives for the partnership, whether increasing applications, building brand awareness, or driving traffic to your website.
Example: This is an excellent example of influencer content your school can use to reach prospects organically. Particularly when it comes to colleges and universities, students worldwide use the experiences of creators like Lydia, who are both relatable and aspirational, providing honest, helpful information about academics and student life. A small audience like Lydia’s is more likely to be trusting and have a very specific or niche interest in various subjects related to your school. Lydia’s YouTube channel posts authentic vlogs of her experience at Yale University, making her content perfect for any student considering enrollment there. You can launch an organic, effective, and cost-efficient school advertising campaign by partnering up with an influencer like her.
Source: Lydia Choi | Youtube
However, don’t choose influencers solely based on follower count. Engagement rates and the influencer’s connection to your target audience matter much more. Also, avoid overly scripted partnerships that come off as inauthentic. The power of influencer marketing lies in its relatability, so the content produced should feel organic and aligned with the influencer’s usual style.
Effective school advertising is about blending traditional marketing methods with creative, student-focused approaches such as the digital marketing tactics we’ve explored. You may have heard plenty of buzz around digital marketing, but you may still wonder: Do schools need digital marketers? Schools benefit from digital marketers to effectively reach and engage prospective students online, leveraging platforms like social media, search engines, and email to attract the right audience. Digital marketers use targeted campaigns and data-driven strategies to boost enrollment, enhance the institution’s visibility, and build a positive brand image in an increasingly competitive education landscape.
Idea 6: Video Advertising for Maximum Engagement
Video content is one of the most powerful tools in advertising. When it comes to promoting educational institutions, it offers an engaging way to communicate your school’s values, culture, and opportunities. Platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok provide an ideal space for reaching prospective students, allowing you to tell compelling stories that resonate emotionally. A well-crafted video can showcase your school’s strengths, provide testimonials from current students, and highlight campus life in a way that static images simply cannot.
Do make use of authentic storytelling in your video ads. Feature real students and staff sharing their experiences, whether about academic achievements, extracurricular activities, or campus culture. A relatable story goes a long way in building a genuine connection with your audience. It’s also important to tailor the content to the platform—short, catchy videos work great on TikTok, while longer, more in-depth content can thrive on YouTube. Keep your audience engaged by adding subtitles since many users watch videos on mute.
Don’t create overly promotional or staged content. Today’s students can easily spot a scripted advertisement that lacks authenticity. Avoid focusing only on flashy visuals without providing meaningful information; remember, the goal is to attract students genuinely interested in what your school offers. Monitoring your campaigns and understanding which video styles or narratives resonate with your audience is also essential.
Source: Collège Villa Maria High School | Instagram
Example: Villa Maria High School uses an engaging video ad to share useful information regarding an open house. Use your advertising to guide prospects to the next desired outcome.
To help schools navigate the intricacies of video advertising and other digital campaigns, Higher Education Marketing offers specialized paid advertising services. Our team can help improve your school’s reach in crucial regions, target specific audiences effectively, and strategically remarket to existing leads. With a free consultation, we analyze your paid advertising strategy and identify areas for improvement, ensuring that you get the best return on your investment.
Whether you’re exploring virtual campus tours or into influencer partnerships, the key to success is connecting with your audience. Your school can stand out in a competitive market by focusing on high-quality, personalized, engaging content. Avoid pitfalls like impersonal messaging, poor production value, or misaligned partnerships. With these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to capturing the attention and interest of prospective students.
Looking to increase student enrollment?
Our inbound marketing services can help your school attract and enroll more students!
FAQs
What is the role of advertisement in education?
Educational advertisements are crucial in creating awareness and attracting prospective students by effectively showcasing your educational institution’s unique features, values, and opportunities.
Do schools need digital marketers?
Schools benefit from digital marketers to effectively reach and engage prospective students online, leveraging platforms like social media, search engines, and email to attract the right audience.
Course withdrawals carry significant academic and financial consequences for students and universities. Studies consistently demonstrate that withdrawing from first-year courses can greatly increase a student’s risk of discontinuing their studies, reducing their likelihood of completing a degree (Akos & James, 2020).
TORONTO – October 22, 2024 – Top Hat, a leading provider of student engagement solutions for higher education, has released the first significant finding in an ongoing research initiative with Indiana University exploring the impact of student engagement leveraging Top Hat on retention and academic outcomes. The study, involving an analysis of hundreds of courses from the Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters of 2023, observed that the use of Top Hat by instructors resulted in an 11.5 percent decrease in the mean student withdrawal rate compared to similar course types without using the platform. In absolute numbers, this would equate to approximately 289 of the sampled Indiana University students continuing their course work during the 2023 academic year. The findings highlight the positive impact of integrating Top Hat into course delivery on student retention, particularly in introductory courses that often have higher drop-out rates.
The Top Hat platform empowers educators to use frequent low stakes assessments to increase student engagement during lectures through interactive polls, quizzes, and discussions. The use of frequent low stakes assessments have been shown to improve student confidence, academic outcomes and retention (Meer & Chapman, 2014). The principles of active learning can also be extended outside of class through Top Hat Pages, a content editing and personalization tool that enables instructors to create or customize their own interactive learning materials. Every interaction is captured by the platform, providing students with real-time feedback, while empowering faculty with data-driven insights they can use to identify struggling students and improve the impact of their instruction.
“Indiana University is deeply committed to the success of our students, and the findings from this research demonstrate how the thoughtful integration of instructional technologies has contributed to strengthening our undergraduate retention,” said Gina Londino-Smolar, Ed.D., Teaching Professor at IU Indianapolis. “Implementing active learning and frequent assessment, which have been shown to improve student outcomes, has been an important focus for us and our partnership with Top Hat has been instrumental in enabling us to scale these practices across our institution, ensuring a consistent, high quality learning experience for our students.”
The study’s primary objective is to evaluate the influence of Top Hat on various student outcomes, with an initial focus on withdrawal rates—a key indicator of student success. The collaborative research project, approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), involved analyzing data from thousands of individual courses. From the original large dataset, similar courses based on discipline and level were identified in order to equalize the sample size and undertake a more accurate analysis. After filtering the dataset, 235 unique Top Hat courses were compared against a similar set of 235 unique courses that did not use Top Hat.
Indiana University began working with Top Hat in 2017 and, based on high rates of faculty adoption, made the decision to offer the platform free of charge to all students by entering into an enterprise license agreement the following year. By addressing concerns around equity, student affordability and ensuring compliance with respect to data privacy and standards for web accessibility, adoption has increased substantially. For the 2023/2024 academic year 1,022 faculty and 51,679 students across more than 1,900 individual courses from all nine IU campuses used Top Hat to enhance learning.
“This study reinforces the importance of providing faculty with tools that make evidence-based practices, like active learning, easier to adopt,” said Maggie Leen, CEO of Top Hat. “The data speaks for itself—when instructors have access to the tools to support effective teaching methods, it can lead to stronger student engagement and higher persistence. We’re proud to be part of Indiana University’s efforts to increase on-time graduation rates for their students.”
The 2030 IU Strategic Plan has one pillar dedicated to Student Success and Opportunity with a commitment to student affordability and experience throughout their educational journey to have success in the workplace and beyond. The incorporation of Top Hat to engage students with the course content, reducing withdrawal rates, can be seen as a direct contribution to the pillar for student success.
Since its founding in 2009, Top Hat has continued to introduce new features to make proven teaching methods more accessible to instructors. Most recently, Top Hat announced the release of Ace, an AI-powered teaching and learning assistant that enables instructors to generate assessment questions and discussion prompts based on their lecture slides and course materials. As a personalized study assistant, Ace allows students to break down challenging concepts, find guidance tackling difficult homework assignments, and create on-demand practice questions they can use to prepare for high stakes assessments.
The initial findings will inform both Indiana University and Top Hat’s future strategies for enhancing student outcomes. The research initiative is currently focused on identifying patterns of usage by instructors across disciplines and their impact on student engagement and academic performance. Ongoing analysis is exploring the impact of Top Hat on the academic experience of various student populations, including historically underrepresented groups with a focus on how the platform supports equitable access to learning, improves engagement, and contributes to closing achievement gaps.
About Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is one of the nation’s leading public research universities, with 90,000 students across 930+ academic programs, seven campuses, two regional academic centers and nine School of Medicine campuses. Since 1820, Indiana University has helped students create brighter futures while also driving innovation, from breakthroughs in DNA technology to cancer research to trailblazing cultural programs and resources. IU is home to world-class academics with the country’s largest medical school, the world’s first school of philanthropy, the top-ranked Kelley School of Business and O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, the nation’s first school of informatics. The university’s campuses are united by IU 2030, an aspirational vision for a bold and ambitious future focused on student success and opportunity, transformative research and creativity, and service to the state of Indiana and beyond. Learn more at iu.edu.
About Top Hat
As the leader in student engagement solutions for higher education, Top Hat enables educators to employ proven student-centered teaching practices through interactive content and tools enhanced by AI, and activities in in-person, online and hybrid classroom environments. To accelerate student impact and return on investment, the company provides a range of change management services, including faculty training and instructional design support, integration and data management services, and digital content customization. Thousands of faculty at 750 leading North American colleges and universities use Top Hat to create meaningful, engaging and accessible learning experiences for students before, during, and after class.
Principals are facing challenges each day toward improving student achievement on campus. Every principal face some of the biggest frustrations to control student behavior, recruiting teachers and staff, promoting personalized learning, improving teaching effectiveness, student retention, parent support, and more.
Technology integration translates into enhanced student achievement
21st-century classrooms strengthen tech-savvy teachers with the most advanced cloud, mobile, and digital technologies to teach and interact with students using videos, chat, notifications, social media, and email messaging. Creating future-ready classrooms and higher education institutions with the use of cutting-edge augmented reality systems in the classroom can enrich the learning process and improve student achievement.
Principals are faced with complex and difficult challenges to turn around the campus with academic underperformance. Here is a list of the top 10 challenges and successful strategies to promote student growth and success.
1. Paperwork
Paperwork and forms are one of the biggest frustrations of principals. Eliminate paperwork and automate data collection processes through online forms and applications for admission, course evaluations, and more to reach out to more students in a positive manner.
2. Decision-making
Principals’ decisions and strategies are critically important to institutional performance. They are accountable for high levels of student achievement. In order to accomplish the high expectations, administrators have to analyze data through dashboards and reports to identify factors related to student enrollment, retention, and success. There is clear evidence through insightful reports that the attributes of the institution such as admission, enrollment, attendance, discipline, grades, fee collections, etc. determined those outcomes.
3. Scheduling
Classroom teachers, staff, and students report scheduling problems with principals. Cognitive reframing of scheduling with an automated timetable system enables instructors to manage class schedules across multiple courses, faculty and rooms for different time periods. Innovative scheduling can help alleviate conflicts in manual scheduling and place substitutes for teachers in order to maintain continuity of instruction.
4. Recruitment
Recruiting competent teachers who are capable of teaching all student populations is at the core of the problem. In successful institutions creating an advanced student admission system with real-time application tracking, online assessments, and an automated ranking system always identified the talented and sensitive teachers who demonstrated competency, will, and commitment to implement innovative and high-quality education programs and deliver excellence for all learners.
5. Faculty Evaluation
Teachers are vulnerable individuals who are struggling to align instruction and assessments to the learning context of a diverse student population. Creating instructions in innovative ways and building flexibility in the curriculum will be easier for students to rest with the teacher. Using a faculty evaluation system, creating faculty peer evaluation reviews through online surveys will benchmark teaching effectiveness. Based on the evaluation feedback score, training and improvement action plan for the benefit of faculty can be chalked out to improve teaching performance and cohesiveness.
6. Attendance & Discipline
Principals perceive student absenteeism and misconduct are a major concern. Educational institutions can improve class attendance and improve students’ poor academic records using RFID and Biometric based attendance tracking systems to monitor student movements in real-time. Maintaining order and discipline and controlling violence, vandalism, bullying, racism, etc. in the campus using sophisticated discipline trackers that will capture incidents from mobile devices and notify authorities in real-time and ensure student safety.
7. Curriculum Design
Principals are faced with the critical task of teaching a curriculum that is comprehensive and more encompassing. Curriculum mapping software provides the technology tools for executing changes in the curriculum design and syllabus. Principals and teachers can create customized outcome-based education that will map competencies, graduate attributes, and standards to improve learning outcomes. Students can develop skills and competencies that is aligned with course outcomes.
8. Student outcomes
One of the biggest factors that stood out is related to student achievement. Principals want to promote learning and see better student outcomes. With cutting-edge academic planning tools, administrators can create a personalized learning plan with goals and tasks linked to lessons to meet the precise requirement of students, which can improve learning outcomes and ensure student success. Using online assessments including assignments, tests, quizzes, and surveys will be of great help to students and teachers alike. Using online and mobile devices, teachers can measure students’ progress in real-time and share the results with parents through instant notifications via email and SMS alerts.
9. Parental Involvement
One of the biggest frustration faced by principals is that parental involvement is lacking to support the institution’s effort toward improving student achievement. Parents also have to take joint responsibility for the poor grade of their children. Using real-time status notifications for events, meetings, grades, fee collection, attendance, and discipline via web and mobile devices can improve interactions between teachers and parents and close the achievement gap.
10. Communication & Collaboration
Principals and staff spend so much energy on building relationships with students, teachers, and staff. Powerful communication tools like discussion forums, chat, messaging and social media will have a positive impact on the institute community and promote collaborative learning.
Selecting an interesting project topic is the key to success in commerce studies. The topics given above are not only the current trends, but they also have in them much scope for extensive research and practical application. Certainly, as far as the topic is concerned, one could develop his knowledge in commerce and finally come up with an impactful final year project for MBA , BBA , MCOM , BCOM exams conducting viva or its other related performances based on the same project like in job interviews to academic presentation skills.
With these creative ideas in your hands, you’re going to start a very interesting academic journey that will not only meet the requirements but also satisfy and prepare you for future careers in any sector related to commerce. From studying digital payment systems to investigating trends in consumer behavior, every project brings deep, industry-relevant learning—and perhaps you will discover something truly new along the way.
TORONTO – September 25, 2024 – Leading provider of higher education engagement solutions Top Hat announced today three new innovative additions to its platform’s growing AI capabilities that further the company’s mission of empowering evidence-based learning.
The new optional features are an extension of Ace, Top Hat’s AI-powered assistant launched in fall 2023, which has already been embraced by more than 40,000 educators and students to foster more impactful learning experiences. On top of helping educators quickly adopt proven teaching strategies and scaling personal support for students, Ace now provides new tools to help foster discussion and practice.
“Top Hat was founded as a technology company in 2009 with one mission: reimagine the lecture experience. Today, we are rethinking how AI can change the entire higher education experience,” said Maggie Leen, CEO of Top Hat. “Ace wasn’t designed to replace anyone or anything—it was designed to enhance connections between educators and students by facilitating the kinds of evidence-based learning that we know leads to improved outcomes. These new innovations further that capability, while continuing to give educators and institutions complete control over how Ace is used.”
AI-Generated Discussion Questions
First among the new features is the ability to use Ace’s AI-powered lecture enhancer to generate discussion questions in a few clicks, allowing educators to encourage more student interactions in classroom sessions. Ace generates the questions from educators’ own lecture slides, making it easy to use the proven strategy of low stakes, frequent assessments to drive student participation.
The discussion question generation option is available now to all Top Hat users.
Expanded Study Assistant Access
The availability of Ace’s study assistant feature has been expanded to all Top Hat users on desktop and in the mobile app. This gives all students access to the kind of personalized study support normally only available through a tutor, whenever and wherever they need it. Students are already using Ace to break down concepts, find guidance through difficult homework questions, and test their knowledge anytime and anywhere.
AI-Powered On Demand Practice Sessions
Ace’s new practice tool lets students independently test their knowledge, when they want and as often as they choose. Students simply start a quick practice session on the Top Hat mobile app, and Ace generates multiple choice questions based on the content in their assignment. They then get instant feedback so they can review their learnings and score in each session, helping build confidence in their understanding of the material.
Students can now generate practice sessions in Top Hat Interactive eTexts as well as additional content their instructor assigns.
What do students think of learning with Ace? They love it. As Arielle Bennett, student at the University of Pennsylvania puts it, “Ace is AMAZING!! It answered all of my questions in a timely, detailed manner and provides the best summaries of the chapter. With Ace, I have taken more precise and in-depth notes and have better understood the course content as well.”
As the leader in student engagement solutions for higher education, Top Hat enables educators to employ proven student-centered teaching practices through interactive content and tools enhanced by AI, and activities in in-person, online and hybrid classroom environments. To accelerate student impact and return on investment, the company provides a range of change management services, including faculty training and instructional design support, integration and data management services, and digital content customization. Thousands of faculty at 750 leading North American colleges and universities use Top Hat to create meaningful, engaging and accessible learning experiences for students before, during, and after class.
It’s that time: the days are becoming shorter, temperatures are beginning to dip and more importantly, educators and students have returned to the classroom. At Top Hat, we recognize the value of ensuring every student comes to class prepared and excited to learn. We recently surveyed more than 21,000 students who used Top Hat in the Spring 2024 term about the impact our engagement platform and content solutions had on their academic journey. From interactive readings to in-the-moment study support, here’s how Top Hat made a tangible difference in their studies.
Greater preparedness = better retention
When students arrive to class feeling prepared, they’re more likely to persist. Data from the American Council on Education and the School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles backs this up. The report finds that three out of five students surveyed state academic underperformance drove their decision to leave college for more than one term.
Faculty have made tremendous strides in providing opportunities for frequent, low-stakes knowledge checks during the term. The emphasis on bite-sized assessments hasn’t gone unnoticed among students. “Real-time quizzes and polls not only helped reinforce key concepts but also encouraged active participation among students. Top Hat has truly enhanced our classroom interaction and made learning more enjoyable,” says Muhammad Ali Gajani at Indiana University Bloomington.
Students bring an array of opinions and interests to your course. It’s why they value the opportunity to be active participants in the classroom. Research also shows that students who learn using active learning methods perform better on tests than those who sit in long-form lectures. Students echoed the impact Top Hat’s interactive polls, quizzes and discussions had when applying their knowledge. “Top Hat helped me perform better in my class as well as apply my understanding to my homework and exams,” shares Jacob Purcell at West Texas A&M University. An anonymous student from Texas State University at San Marcos chimes in. “It helped me to pay attention and stay engaged, getting me a better grade.”
Turning static readings into an interactive experience
We hear from educators that students don’t always complete their reading assignments before class. Over the years, students have tried to take shortcuts to their readings by searching for online summaries. How have educators responded? For starters, they’ve chosen to create ‘snackable’ content with media and real-world case studies that reflect an ever-changing world. Faculty have also relied on Top Hat’s personalized and interactive content solutions to ensure students have opportunities to read and then apply their understanding of concepts in the form of embedded polls and discussions.
No matter discipline, students have responded favorably to using Top Hat titles in their course. “I loved the interactive aspect of my Top Hat textbook. Engaging with models, watching videos, and answering questions in chapters was really interesting and valuable to my learning experience,” shares an anonymous student at the University of South Dakota. Learners also appreciate the digestible nature of Top Hat Interactive eTexts. “With Top Hat, I felt that I could easily understand the information and stayed focused throughout my reading for the first time,” shares an anonymous student at Northern Virginia Community College.
Making participation less intimidating
Raising your hand in a large class can come with a good deal of intimidation. Students place increased importance on asking questions anonymously and without fear of judgment. It’s why millions of students have flocked to Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT for instant study guidance. Educators have tapped into the heightened interest in AI and have shared ethical use principles with students. Some faculty have even allowed students to build off content generated by a Large Language Model. For instance, English professors may let students use ChatGPT to form a thesis statement for an essay and ask them to critique the strengths and weaknesses of the generated response.
More than 630 of our survey respondents used Top Hat Ace, our AI-powered teaching and learning assistant, in the Spring term. Their comments revealed three primary ways that they relied on Ace through the course of their study.
Provide clarity: Students valued receiving clarification on challenging concepts covered in lecture or while reading their assigned text. “I liked that [Ace] asked a thought-provoking question after answering to promote continuous understanding of the topic, not just giving me the answer,” shares an anonymous student at Oakton Community College.
Personalize study support: Students often relied on Ace for course-specific guidance when completing homework. The best part: since responses are built from the context of the course, students feel like they’re learning along the way versus being handed answers. “I love Ace! I would ask questions and Ace always believed in me that I could answer the question on my own so it would just recommend a section of the module to re-read,” says Nazli Kircicek at McGill University.
Assess knowledge on the fly: Several students highlighted how Ace allows them to reduce their knowledge gaps in advance of tests. Many also used Ace as a tool to apply their understanding of concepts in a low-stakes, low-stress environment. “Ace was able to create sample exam questions relating to the content we were learning in class to prepare for exams during lectures,” shares an anonymous student at Grand Valley State University.
Metacognition plays a critical role in the education process. The concept itself amounts to ‘thinking about thinking.’ When students learn through metacognitive activities before, during and after class, their grades or scores often improve. The reason? Self-awareness, reflection and critical thinking lead to more engagement in the classroom. As such, metacognition is one of the most important strategies that instructors, particularly college-level instructors, can use to help their students succeed.
Metacognition, put plainly, is thinking about one’s thinking. It refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, analyze and assess one’s understanding and performance. In other words, metacognition in the classroom is the act of considering one’s own learning and thought processes to see if those processes produce results. When educators use metacognitive strategies, learning becomes more visible for students. In turn, students gain a better understanding of why a particular strategy will help them solve a problem. Here’s an example: after an assessment, ask your students to reflect on which of the study strategies they used were most effective to plan more strategically for their next assessment to ensure they meet their learning goals on their next assessment.
The word metacognition is an umbrella term: Thinking about and analyzing one’s own thinking and learning processes happen in a number of ways, each contributing to the development of metacognition skills. You could provide students with opportunities for reflection, encourage them to engage critically with course readings or provide real-world case studies to extend learning outside the classroom. Effective educators teach their students how to use a variety of methods to measure and critically reflect on their own learning experiences.
Examples of metacognitive strategies
Practicing metacognition can help students develop the essential skill of self-regulation. In turn, students will have a deeper sense of agency over their learning. Metacognitive strategies are usually categorized into four stages: You, Plan, Do and Review.
The ‘You’ stage is where students reflect on their prior knowledge on a topic
The ‘Plan’ stage is where students develop an action plan for completing a task and determine the metacognitive strategies they’ll use
The ‘Do’ stage is where students carry out a task and monitor their progress along the way
The ‘Review’ stage is where students reflect on their learning paths and identify areas to improve when taking on completing future activities
Dr. Linda Nilson, Director Emeritus of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson University and author of Creating Self-Regulated Learners, highly encourages faculty to tap into metacognitive strategies in the classroom. Dr. Nilson suggests asking students the following questions to help them reflect upon their own learning process. Here’s how she recommends breaking things down:
Planning before a task
Monitoring during a task
Evaluating after a task
What do I already know about the topic?
What material am I having trouble understanding?
Can I see and organize the relationship between topics?
What additional information, if any, will I need before completing this task?
How does what I am learning relate to what I already know?
What can I recall and what do I need to review?
What are my weaknesses and how can I make up for them?
How is my thinking on the topic changing?
What questions do I need to bring to the next class?
The value of metacognition in post-secondary courses
Through metacognitive learning strategies, students don’t just consider how they’re learning—they actually learn to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. This allows them to shore up areas where they feel confident and work more effectively on where they may need to focus future learning efforts.
It is critical for college students to understand how to use metacognitive activities to further their understanding of coursework. Students in higher ed are expected to be able to formulate independent thoughts about the subjects they’re studying. Metacognition is the first step to making this happen. Once students know what they’re thinking about a particular subject, they can make connections between their prior knowledge and the new course concepts they’re learning.
Metacognition also helps students develop a critical eye. According to Vanderbilt University, students who lack metacognition skills may lack the ability to discern the truth of what they see and hear every day—which is crucial as today’s students have more access to information than ever before. As such, the development of metacognitive skills also contributes to the growth of critical judgment skills. For this reason, it’s essential that college instructors give students plenty of opportunities to work on activities to develop metacognitive thinking. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that, for students, learning how to think is just as if not more important than the subjects they’re learning. That’s because developing metacognitive awareness can be useful for students across disciplines and beyond.
When students get a grasp on how to use metacognitive processes, they learn how they learn, and that’s a skill that transfers not only to other classes but to life outside of academia. Once students graduate, knowing how to learn is an immensely useful skill to have. This helps students become more effective learners and obtain new skills more easily, which can help meet academic, personal and professional goals.
Such practices can ultimately help students better master their lives. Students who know how to think about their own thoughts can answer questions like: What does my best life look like? Or what makes me feel good about myself?
8 metacognition strategies to use in college classes
The following eight examples offer instructors some teaching strategies and tools for employing metacognitive activities in the classroom. Each exercise is designed to allow students to think about their thinking in some way.
It’s important for instructors to remember that activities designed to promote metacognitive knowledge should be used regularly in the classroom. Sporadic use of these exercises doesn’t promote the intellectual growth that college-level students need in order to succeed in their advanced studies.
1. Let students know the purpose of in-class questions
Part of getting students on board with the process of metacognition is to help them identify when they are thinking about their thinking. If an instructor is using questions designed to elicit specific outcomes, then it’s helpful for that instructor to point out when those types of questions are being used as a form of explicit instruction. One obvious place to point out the possible use of such questions is in the syllabus.
In other words, if questions are designed to encourage students to think about their own thinking and to spark more engaged discussions, then that should be explicitly acknowledged early on.
2. Consider facilitating a diagnostic assessment
This recommendation goes hand-in-hand with point one above. At the outset of a college course, it is often a good idea for the instructor to test students on their knowledge of a given topic.
A set of ten to 20 questions about the subject gives the instructor an at-a-glance look at what students know at the beginning of the semester. The information from these quizzes can later be compared to student answers at the end of the semester. This helps instructors and students measure growth.
It’s important to let students know that this isn’t graded. Its purpose is to give them and the instructor some information about students’ knowledge of the subject at the beginning of the course. This allows everyone to consider their position and to plan their studies accordingly. For some instructors, this method works so well that they regularly incorporate a version of it into their class instruction, even weekly in some cases.
These exercises don’t have to be a point of stress for instructors, however. Platforms like Top Hat have exercises and learning tasks, such as quizzes and polls, to help students think about their thinking and keep them engaged in their classwork. These types of exercises also allow students to test their thinking and review their learning strategies in real-time because these platforms can grade student responses immediately.
3. Get into the habit of thinking out loud
Many instructors forget that there was a time when they sat in their students’ chairs—when they had their own way of processing the information they were learning.
One way teachers can invite their students into the metacognitive mindset is by thinking out loud in class. It may sound simplistic, but when people think out loud, they’re processing their thoughts about a topic. Instructors who do this in front of students demonstrate metacognition in action.
4. Assign a muddiest point essay
Writing is another example of metacognitive abilities in action. It encourages students to think about what they’re learning and how they’re thinking about it.
In this exercise, the instructor asks the students to either write a short essay or come up with a bulleted list of the main points of the lecture. The instructor can assign this at the end of a class period, giving students ten to 15 minutes to write.
The idea behind this exercise is to help teachers know where students are still having trouble with the material. Once this information is gleaned, these weak points can be addressed in the next class period.
Even if the instructor doesn’t have them write about the muddiest point, regular writing exercises teach students to think about what they’re thinking.
5. Leave plenty of time for class discussion
Speaking and listening activities also give students opportunities to think about their thought processes. As a bonus, students get to learn about the thought processes of others. Classroom discussions promote student engagement. This makes learning more interesting. More interesting learning is a recipe for learning that’s also understood and remembered.
Additionally, the instructor can go a step further by asking students to lead the instruction. For example, the professor can break the topic down into smaller subjects and assign each smaller topic to a student in the class. Students can then lead the discussion, either in front of the whole class or in smaller groups.
6. Post-class self-assessments
There is a reason why so many institutions do end-of-year evaluations. They give educators valuable feedback on student learning.
The same principle applies to asking students to create a self-assessment at the end of a course. They can talk about what they thought was true about the subject compared to what they know to be true now. If the instructor has assigned them journal work, then this assessment can go in the journal.
7. Reflective journaling
Reflective journaling exercises provide students with a forum to monitor their own thinking and their own learning processes. Following a challenging lecture, encourage students to consider which course concepts they are comfortable with and where they could benefit from further review. This can help them plan their future studies or prompt them to reach out to an instructor or TA for extra help.
Self-reflection exercises can also be used following a summative assessment, like a test or exam. Prompt students to respond to questions like: “What about my exam preparation worked well that I should remember to do next time?” or “What did not work so well that I should not do next time or that I should change?”
8. Model metacognitive thinking
To develop a classroom environment rooted in metacognition, consider modeling these practices for your students. By being transparent about how you navigate new developments in your field, tackle complex concepts and relate course content to the world outside your classroom, you show students that metacognition is a lifelong process.
Metacognition in the college classroom
Metacognitive activities seem relatively simple in practice. That’s why it may be easy for instructors and students to overlook how powerful they can be. Activities like quizzes, discussions and real-world case studies all help develop metacognitive skills. Essentially, students can use these activities to examine their thinking processes, including how they learn the materials in class.
However, despite being straightforward to use in your course, the application of metacognitive activities has far-reaching implications that go beyond the confines of successful learning in the classroom. They enable students to make the best use of their lives and to develop good judgment. Once students graduate from their studies, the activities that they have done to develop their metacognition skills are useful on the job and off.
Instructors who wish to use metacognitive activities in the classroom have a full toolbox of activities at their disposal. These activities can be as simple as doing frequent quizzes using active learning platforms like Top Hat.
These activities can also be more involved. They can include lively classroom discussions that are designed to get students engaged in their coursework or even regular journaling activities that students can do throughout the semester.
Finally, it is important for instructors to demonstrate to their students what this type of critical thinking and problem-solving looks like. When they do, they model the proper behavior for students. In this way, students learn to identify critical thinking in action and to mimic it until they fully grasp what it means to employ metacognition in the classroom and out.
What does the future of higher education look like? At Top Hat, we believe engagement, affordability and equity are at the heart of a great classroom experience. That’s why we’re excited to highlight a number of features in our platform and content solutions to empower students and faculty alike. Take a look at these unique capabilities in Top Hat and get ready to level up your lectures, assessments and grading strategy.
Top Hat Ace, our AI-powered assistant, is the latest milestone in our mission to make education more effective, inclusive and accessible. Instructors can use Ace’s Lecture Enhancer to instantly generate assessment questions based on their lecture content. Doing so will spark engagement in class and help educators assess comprehension in the moment. Faculty can even edit generated questions as they see fit, maintaining control over the questions generated. Learn more about our AI-powered Lecture Enhancer here. In addition, educators can save time designing assignments and readings in Top Hat Pages by adding questions automatically generated by Ace.
2. Assign homework to specific students
Shore up learning gaps sooner rather than later. With personalized data delivered to your inbox every week, identify which students didn’t answer discussion or poll questions in your lecture and re-assign your PowerPoint slides to this group as homework. This will give students a chance to refresh themselves on your material, which may prove especially beneficial for those who weren’t able to join your class live. Learn more about assigning homework to specific students here. You can also watch the video below as we explore the difference between homework and review mode.
3. Make your discussion and poll questions media-rich
Give students an interactive assessment experience. You may know how to add videos or simulations to your Pages, but you can also directly embed media into your quiz questions. Not only will students get a more dynamic, immersive learning experience, they’ll get an opportunity to consume your course material in a different medium. Plus, using videos in your quiz questions makes for a more engaging alternative to the static Scantron or multiple-choice test. Learn more about using videos in questions or discussions here.
4. Offer line-by-line feedback on document submissions
Enjoy feedback functionality that will be familiar to those who regularly use Google Docs. Using our file submission question, students are able to upload PDFs, lab templates or spreadsheets to Top Hat. Take your feedback to another level by offering annotated comments at various points in PDF or image submissions. This level of detailed commentary allows students to fully understand their own learning gaps, while giving you an opportunity to flag specific areas for improvement in advance of a high-stakes assessment. Learn more about how to leave detailed feedback in PDF file submissions here.
5. Measure comprehension of the same concept over time
If you’re preparing students for an exam and want to check their understanding of tricky concepts multiple times, this feature is for you. Compare student comprehension over a period of your choosing by keeping a record of responses to the same question asked more than once. After enabling this feature, you’ll be able to compare responses submitted on date X with date Y, seeing what percentage of students answered a particular way and letting you adapt your instruction accordingly. Explore how to create multiple question report sessions for your next quiz here. You can also watch our video below to see how to segment question results over time.
6. Annotate your slideshow with whiteboard sketches
Sometimes, visually explaining a new concept can be easier than describing it in words. Top Hat’s Whiteboard Sketch tool allows you to insert blank slides into your slideshow, which you can then draw on in real time. For instance, complement a presentation on mitosis by drawing out the various stages live, answering student questions along the way. This tool doesn’t just allow for richer, more detailed discussions, it ensures students get a visual depiction of challenging concepts before moving on to your next topic. Learn how to embed interactive elements into your slides here.
7. Embed iFrames to create a truly interactive learning experience
Tailor your learning materials to the needs of Generation Z. When creating assessments, homework or customizing chapter readings in Pages, use iFrames to link to media such as podcasts, websites, simulations and GIFs. Open the interactive toolbar in your page, select the iFrame option and paste your desired link in the field. Learn how to embed iFrames in your course content here. You can also watch our video below for guidance on creating course materials using Pages.
8. Use Presenter View to view personal notes and real-time responses
In a single view, get all the information you need to deliver a high-quality presentation. Use Presenter View to get a second screen that’s only accessible to you. View lecture notes that you added into your slide deck and get a live report of students’ responses as they answer questions live. Plus, preview which slide is next—and shift your conversation with students accordingly. Explore the power of Presenter View in helping you deliver an impactful slideshow here.
9. Keep your course textbook fresh and relevant with in-app content updates
Give students a learning experience that mirrors the world around them. Incorporate the latest content updates without losing any customizations in your interactive Top Hat textbook. You’ll be alerted whenever new author-created content is available for your text and will be given a chance to review all updates before accepting or rejecting them. This functionality ensures that educators have access to the latest content when it becomes available, on their own terms. In-app content updates are currently available in beta format for select Top Hat textbooks. Discover how our content enhancements make it easy to keep any textbook up-to-date here.
10. Provide AI-powered study support
Make sure every student has in-the-moment study support. Students can use our AI-powered study assistant to clarify challenging concepts, generate examples of specific topics and quiz themselves in advance of a test. Ace delivers relevant responses built from the context of your uploaded materials, making it easy for students to review lectures and study notes in one place. Read more about our personalized study assistance here. You can also watch the video below for a closer look at our AI-powered study tools.
What are the benefits of working on MBA marketing projects?
MBA marketing projects let students use their book knowledge in real business situations. They learn skills like market research, data analysis, and strategy making. Plus, they make professional contacts that could help their careers later.
What are some popular topics for MBA marketing projects related to branding and positioning strategies?
Popular topics include checking brand value and making strategies for changing or refreshing a brand. Students also work on creating marketing plans to improve a brand’s image and stand out in the market.
How can MBA marketing projects help students understand consumer behavior and develop effective retention strategies?
These projects look into what makes customers loyal and how they make buying decisions. They focus on managing customer relationships, improving customer happiness, and making a brand stand out from others.
What are some emerging trends and innovative strategies that MBA marketing projects might explore?
Projects might look into digital marketing, using artificial intelligence in marketing, and how social media fits into marketing plans. They also cover using games in marketing and how data changes marketing strategies.
Where can MBA students find inspiration for their marketing project topics?
Students can get ideas by looking at industry trends, studying case studies, and doing market research. Talking to professors, industry experts, or going to marketing events can also give them new ideas and insights.
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