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Running Head: INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 1
Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing Course:
The Effect of Learning Style on Student Responses
INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 2
Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing Course:
The Effect of Learning Style on Student Responses
Abstract
In recent years, responding to growing uses of marketing technologies, marketing scholars have
suggested incorporating third-party certifications in interactive/digital marketing into their
courses. The present study reports a case of an undergraduate interactive marketing course that
incorporated marketing certifications (i.e., HubSpot certification program) as a course
requirement, and compare student responses using the Felder-Silverman Index of Learning
Styles. The study found that, in general, students responded positively to the requirement of the
certifications. In specific, sensing and sequential learners showed more positive responses on the
certifications than intuitive and global learners. Pedagogical implications and the agenda for
future research are discussed.
Keywords: certification, certificate, learning style, self-directed learning
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The growing nexus between marketing, information technology, and management information
systems has created an explosion of third-party certification and training programs that target
practitioners seeking to refine and expand job-related skills. Many digital marketing platforms,
in particular, offer extensive tutorials and mini-courses that aim for mastery of theoretical topics
and application of platform tools (Zahay-Blatz 2016). Accessible online and on-demand, third-
party certification and training programs offer flexible self-directed learning opportunities that
lead to new skills and credentials (Rob 2014).
For marketing educators, there are several compelling reasons to incorporate certification
programing into a course of study or curriculum (Staton 2016). As a supplemental component of a
course, it can re-enforce content presented in a core knowledge area, supporting learning outcomes
in the fundamentals of the marketing discipline, as well as provide context to introduce new
techniques and problem-solving tools (Granitz and Koernig 2011). Furthermore, by introducing
and contextualizing the different types of credentials available to practitioners, educators can
encourage student self-efficacy and autonomy as it relates to professional development and the
commitment for lifetime learning (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis, and Fleming, 2014).
The online delivery-method and asynchronous nature of instruction typical of so many
certification programs also raise questions about the role of student learning styles for
certification-completion and certification-course-interest. Does, for example, the format of
certification programs appeal principally to some learning modalities and not others? And
further, how might the format of a certification program, and its inclusion into a traditional
marketing course, impact students’ overall assessment of their educational experience?
This paper aims to assess how learning styles relate to attitudes about embedding a
required certification program as a self-directed learning activity within a traditional face-to-face
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marketing class. In our empirical study, the authors surveyed 65 enrolled students (junior
marketing majors) on items related to certificate programs (both general and specific), learning
style preferences, and overall educational experience/satisfaction. Results indicate that inclusion
of the HubSpot certificate program positively influenced and enhanced the enrolled marketing
course. Statistically significant results were found with students who perceive certifications as
‘highly relevant’ also found inclusion of the certification program in the course to be a ‘positive
experience.’ Significant differences among learning styles on the Felder Learning Style Index
[LSI] were also noted with two groups (the ‘Sensing-Intuitive’ and ‘Sequential-Global’ learning
modalities) who both reported positive experiences and who reported experienced enhanced
course learning (Felder and Solomon 2017).
Overview of Marketing Certifications
Certification and professional training programs are certainly not new to business professional
curriculums. Voluntary certification programs are well established and prevalent in IT and MIS
area. These programs also occupy the fields of operations management (with APIC for careers in
purchasing and inventory), human resources (e.g., HRCI, PHR and SPHR), health care (with
CALA, CNHA, and ACHCA), and finance (e.g., Bloomberg, the Claritas Investment
Certification) to name just a few (Lester and Dwyer 2012; Rob 2014).
Within the field of marketing, several influential trade organizations have developed
certification and training programs, designed to meet the changing and innovative nature of the
industry. The Data and Marketing Association offers the ‘DMA Certified Marketing
Professional’ program (both online and on-demand as well as in-person courses); the American
Marketing Association offers the ‘Professional Certified Marketer Program’ for digital and for
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marketing management (fees apply for a certificate exam and study materials); and the Word of
Mouth Marketing Association (with its WOMMA University) offers fee based courses in social
media marketing. Whereas trade group certification programs may play an obvious role for
practitioners who seek professional development and a commitment to currency, given the
included fees, they are not likely candidates for marketing educators to include with coursework
or a formal curriculum. One exception, perhaps, is that through collegiate-chapter trade group
membership, there may be opportunities for discounted certificate programs, where marketing
educators could then explore the role of certifications for students as an extra-curricular activity.
Another emerging type of marketing certification program is one that is separate from
formal coursework and a degree but still resides within a university or institution of higher
learning. Here, there are two basic models at work: (1) the ‘free and open’ model and (2) ‘paid
with access’ model. Examples of the ‘free and open’ model include programs at The University
of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), Emory University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and
Florida State University (Arguello 2013). In each case, certifications in either marketing or
business more generally are offered through the institution’s library. In some cases, it is a series
of online modules, and in others, it is a handful of 50-minute hands-on sessions that leads to an
informal certificate but proof of completion does not appear on the student’s diploma or
transcript (Arguello 2013).
The alternative institutional model, ‘paid with access’ is similar to the ‘free and open’
model in that it leads to informal recognition of training received but it is fee based and carries
with it an opportunity to interact with featured (industry) experts. In traditional parlance, these
programs are sometimes referred to as executive and professional education (EPE) programs
(Daniels 2011). In more recent years, as the reach of EPE programs have extended to online and
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partially on-demand formats several high-quality (content rich) university certification programs
have emerged to service the growing market (e.g., eCornell and NYU Stern’s ‘Advanced
Professional Certificate’ in marketing, both considered for-profit entities). (eCornel 2017 &
Stern NYU 2017).
Another category or type of certification program relevant for marketing educators is
offered by for-profit providers, such as Lynda.com (recently purchased by LinkedIn) and
Coursera (originally started by a pair of Stanford University professors). Whereas Lynda.com
utilizes a subscription based fee structure, it offers users unlimited access to a library of
thousands of on-demand courses that span twelve broad topic categories: 3D+animation; audio +
music; business; CAD; design; developer; education + learning; IT; marketing; photography;
video; and web (Lynda 2017). While there is some overlap of content courses in each category,
each course is regularly audited for accuracy and relevance. In fact, many universities and
business programs and departments have invested in Lynda.com by purchasing institutional
subscriptions to support program goals and its staff. Coursera, in contrast, is a for-profit
company that offers courses and content from top Global Universities, such as Penn, Duke and
the University of Virginia. Its business model relies on providing access and high-quality
content to end-users while charging a fee for a non-credit certificate after successful online
completion of specified content areas. Benefits of completion include increased knowledge of a
specialized area, a sense of personal accomplishment, and proof of self-directed learning. In one
relevant sense, the information/knowledge sharing model of Coursera and Lynda pose a
challenge, if not a threat, to traditional vocational training (prevalent in an associate degree
program or community college).
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The last type of certification program to mention for marketing educators is the platform
and services category. This is a group of third-party companies and organizations that typically
offer free and low-cost training of a branded platform or technology. For marketing educators
looking to integrate a tools-based experiential module into formal course work, this category of
programs has a lot to offer. (See Table 1). Providers such as Google, Hootsuite, HubSpot, Code
Academy, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter provide training on highly relevant and useful
platforms that prove to be valuable across a myriad of industries. In addition, at least for the
short-term, as marketing practitioners are forced to ‘learn on the job’ while adapting to new
social platform platforms, vocational practice-based outcomes appear to place seasoned-veterans
in direct competition with recent and soon-to-graduate college students.
-----Insert Table 1 about here-----
Finding a balance between theory and practice based outcomes is deemed essential for success in
a knowledge based economy (Petkus 2007). Over attention or too much focused attention in a
course on one platform or IT service will likely be a disservice to students after graduation. A
broad exposure to a variety of tools and trending platforms will likely better prepare the next
generation of marketing practitioners for active learning and intellectual resilience. Moreover, a
blended (theory + practice) outcomes approach that emphasizes professional development
alongside abstract problem solving and critical thinking is needed to fully prepare students for
dynamic and quickly changing business environments (Schibrowsky, Peltier, and Boyt 2002;
Petkus 2007). The commitment to exploring third party certifications, therefore, should be
aligned with the exposure to new content and techniques, contextual learning opportunities that
emphasize problem solving and creative application, as well as a commitment to professional
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development. Insofar the integration of certification programs within marketing courses can
accommodate both theory and practice based learning outcomes, the structure and presentation
of external third party content will likely be best positioned, if farmed in the context of a self-
directed learning opportunity (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis, and Fleming, 2014).
Learning Styles
In an effort to access the instrumentality of a learning goal, many researchers have turned to
learning styles to profit context for presentation and format. One learning style inventories
widely adopted in pedagogical research is the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) (Kolb, 1984).
Drawn upon experiential learning theory, Kolb’s LSI consists of twelve rank-order items that
measure two bipolar continuums of Concrete Experience/Reflective Observation and Abstract
Conceptualization/Active Experimentation. Then, the combination of scores from the two
continuums provides scores of four learning characteristics: Diverger, Assimilator, Converger,
and Accommodator (Kolb, 2005). The other measure used frequently in learning style studies is
the Felder Index of Learning Styles (ILS) (Felder and Silverman, 1988). Felder’s ILS asks 44
dichotomous questions related to four learning dimensions: active-reflective, sensing-intuitive,
visual-verbal, and sequential-global. In a study of marketing education, Karns (2006) measured
both LSI and ILS to assess effectiveness of diverse learning activities. Hawk and Shah (2007)
reviewed several prominent learning style indexes including LSI and ILS and emphasized the
right selections of learning style measures that reflect the characteristics of the course activities.
Following Carver, However and Lane (1999) who analyze student learning in the context
of hypermedia (multimedia and hyperlinks), we employ the Felder -Silverman Index of Learning
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Styles (ILS) to assess student learning preferences and modalities. This index is well suited for
online marketing certification platforms because each certification program has its own
particular learning module, it is mostly online and asynchronous, and the environment has the
potential to affect to students with different learning styles (Canzer, 1997; Morrison and
Heffernan, 2003). The Felder ILS is also convenient because it offers users/learners the
opportunity to complete (fill in the blank) form to assess learning preferences (Felder and
Sliverman 2017).
In active/reflective dimension, according to Felder and Silverman (1988), an active
learner is the one who prefers and performs better at active experimentation than reflective
observation. Conversely, a reflective learner feels more comfortable with reflective observation
over active experimentation. Most of the current certification programs require students to watch
series of video clips and follow instructions rather than active experimentation of different
questions and ideas. Thus, we can expect that reflective learners will reveal more positive
responses to the certifications required in a marketing class.
H1: Reflective learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing
certifications more positively than will active learners
ILS distinguishes sensing/intuitive dimension based on the ways that people perceive the world
(Felder and Silverman, 1988). Sensing learners prefer to use direct senses to observe and gather
information to perceive the world. However, in the case of intuitive learners, they tend to
perceive the world through speculation, imagination, and hunches. The topics of many marketing
certification deal with marketing technologies such for search engine optimization, tools for e-
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mail and social media management, and keyword marketing. Rather than providing chances for
speculation and imagination, the certification programs in the current time mostly present
information and method to operate the technical tools. Therefore, it is logical to expect that
sensing learners will show more positive responses to the certification program than intuitive
learners will.
H2: Sensing learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing
certifications more positively than will intuitive learners
As in many other learning style inventories (e.g., Dunn and Dunn, 1989; Fleming, 2001),
visual/verbal consists of one of four ILS dimensions. As labeled, visual learners learn best
through seeing pictures, figures, diagrams, and other graphical images (Felder and Spurlin, 2005).
Verbal learners prefer reading textual information and listening spoken explanation to learn a
subject. Most of the current certification programs require students to watch series of video clips
and listen to verbal explanations regarding the operations of marketing technologies. In spite of
this dual modality (visual and verbal) of the current certification program, we follow the finding
in a previous study (Karns, 2006) that visual learners rated the effectiveness of watching videos
as teaching activities more highly than do verbal learners. In fact, the videos for marketing
certification programs present visual dashboards of marketing tools, showcases of campaign
examples, and conceptual diagrams that may favors visual learning rather than traditional text
based learning. Thus, we hypothesized as follow:
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H3: Visual learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing certifications
more positively than will verbal learners
Lastly, in ILS, sequential learners refer to people who are strong in learning through linear
thinking and systematic process. Contrarily, global learners like to learn through holistic
thinking and intuitive leaps rather than focusing on small pieces of information. Learning
marketing technologies using the current platform of most certification programs is based
primarily on following multi-stage conceptual procedures in sequence and sequential steps of
technical operations. In this reason, we predict more positive responses of sequential learners to
the certification programs than global learners.
H4: Sequential learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing
certifications more positively than will global learners
The following section describes the certification program used in the present study in detail and
the method for testing the proposed hypotheses.
Method
The courses tested in the present study were two sections of a junior-level course on interactive
marketing offered in a business school at a mid-size university in the Southeast, United States.
We required students to complete online programs and take exams for marketing certificates.
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Afterward, the students participated in a survey with questions about their experiences and
perceptions regarding the certification program.
Certification Program
Among several options of marketing certifications (Staton, 2016), the certification incorporated
into the courses of the present study were from the programs offered by HubSpot, which is a
company that sells software products for marketing and sales. At the time of this writing, it offers
10 different certification programs (HubSpot, 2017). Each program consisted of series of the
video clip for 3 to 4 hours long in total. When someone takes an online exam on the topic area of
the certification and answer more than 75 percent of questions correctly, they provide a printable
electronic document of the certificate.
Among many marketing certifications, we chose the HubSpot certifications for several
reasons. The certification programs were relevant to the course topics of interactive marketing
and had 10 different certifications that enabled students to select ones in their interests. Also, its
simple process of certifications composed with watching series of online videos and taking a test
did not impose an extra burden on students (Staton, 2016). Another merit was that seven out of
10 certification programs were free and did not require learning and using a HubSpot software
program, and it increased student accessibility to the program. The course required students to
complete two certification programs among four different options: Inbound Certification, Email
Marketing, Inbound Sales, and Content Marketing. In completing the certifications, students
watched the videos and took the tests at their convenience during the semester, and this
requirement of two certifications substituted the final exam as suggested by Zahay-Blatz (2016).
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Participants
At the end of the semester, 55 students (40 females and 15 males) out of 65 enrolled students
completed the online survey in exchange for extra credits. All respondents were junior majoring
in marketing. Among the survey respondents, thirty-four of them (61.8%) successfully passed
two exams and received two certificates. Eighteen students (32.7%) passed one exam but failed
the other exam, so ended up acquiring one certificate. Three students (5.5%) failed both exams
and did not get any certificate.
Measures
Measures for learning style, we used the Index of Learning Style (ILS) (Felder and Solomon,
2017) to identify and compare students with different learning styles. Participants answered 44
dichotomous (a or b) questions of sentence completions, and each question represents one of
four dimensions of learning styles: sensing-intuitive; visual-verbal; active-reflective; sequential-
global. For example, the question, “I understand something better after I ______,” has two
choices of “a. try it out” that reflects the active learning and “b. think it through” for the
reflective learning. Based on the guide in the previous literature (Felder and Spurlin, 2005;
Morrison et al. 2003), we obtained individual scores of four learning styles with the possible
range of -11 to 11 by subtracting the ‘b’ responses from the ‘a’ responses. Then, we compared
students with a positive score and a negative score for each of four dimensions of ILS in turn.
The dependent measures included student acceptance, experience, and perceived value of
the certification programs together with the outcomes of the certification tests (see Appendix A
for the questions and measures). The acceptance of the idea to adopt certification as a class
project was assessed using three 7-point items (inappropriate/appropriate;
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unreasonable/reasonable; a bad idea/a good idea) (α = .93). Then, we asked the overall
experience of studying for the certifications by using four 7-point items (negative/positive;
bad/good; unfavorable/favorable; unpleasant/pleasant) (α = .97). To measure the perceived value
of the certification programs in learning the course subject, which was interactive marketing, we
asked another set of four 7-point items (did not enhance at all/significantly enhanced; was not
helpful at all for/was very helpful for; did not added any value at all to/added a lot of value to;
did not complement at all/significantly complemented) (α = .96). Lastly, student performances
were computed based on the test results that each student received. We assigned different values
for each result: 3 for students who passed two tests and received two certificates; 2 for students
who passed one test and failed to pass the other test so received one certificate; 1 for students
who failed both tests and did not receive any certificate.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
In general, positive responses dominated student responses toward adopting the certification
programs into the marketing class. One sample t-tests with the neutral value in the scales (4) as
the test value showed the significantly positive responses in all three dependents measures:
acceptance (M = 6.51, SD = .87, t(1,54) = 21.28, p < .001), experience (M = 5.68, SD = 1.41,
t(1,54) = 8.79, p < .001), and perceived value (M = 5.98, SD = 1.08, t(1,54) = 13.61, p < .001).
There was no gender difference in these results.
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Learning Styles
To test H1 to H4, we conducted t-tests to compare each pair of four ILS dimensions on the
responses to the certifications. As in Table 2, the significant differences in responses toward the
certifications among students with different learning styles occurred only in two dimensions of
Sensing-Intuitive and Sequential-Global. In the other two dimensions of the Active-Reflective
and the Visual-Verbal, there was no significant effect of different learning styles.
Specifically, students with the Sensing learning style (n =40), in other words, who are
concrete thinkers, accepted the certification programs more positively than other students with
Intuitive learning style (n =15) who are abstract thinkers (t(1, 53) = 2.17, p < .05). Also, the
Sensing learners valued the certification programs more highly in enhancing the course learning
than the Intuitive learners (t(1, 53) = 2.01, p < .05). However, the Sensing-Intuitive differences in
the experience and the actual performance were not significant (p > .05).
In the Sequential-Global dimension, the sequential learners (n =34) who prefer linear
thinking process reported more positive experience with the certification program than the global
learners (n = 21) who prefer holistic thinking process (t(1, 53) = 2.87, p < .01). The sequential
learners also responded more positively for the value of the certification programs to enhance the
course learning than the global learners (t(1, 53) = 2.01, p < .05). The acceptance and
performance, however, were not different significantly between the sequential and global
learners (p > .05). It is noteworthy that none of the learning style dimensions affected the actual
performance in the certification tests.
-----Insert Table 2 about here-----
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Additional Analyses
Besides the measurement scales to test the hypotheses, several open-ended questions in the
survey explored student responses for using the certifications in the course. In a question what
the best thing was with completing the HubSpot certification programs, many numbers of
students noted its usefulness for a future career. They liked to gain a tangible certificate to build
their resumes, and expected it made themselves more appealing to future employers. Several
students thought to study the certification program enhanced the learning of the course that they
were taking. In the opposite question regarding the worst thing with completing the certification
programs, the majority pointed out the time taken to watch the videos. Several students noted
specific features of the HubSpot program as the worst thing such as exam questions, the time
delay for retaking the exam, and the certification duration. Table 3 presents examples of the
verbatim comments for the best and worst things to complete the certification program. In sum,
the key benefits of the certification students perceived were related to career development, and
the negative comments were mostly related to the platform and features of the particular
certification program we chose in the present study.
-----Insert Table 3 about here-----
Lastly, each student wrote three words that each completed the sentences of "Studying for the
certificates was ____________." Figure 1 presents the word cloud of the terms that student used
to complete the sentence. There was a mixed valence of positive and negative words. The most
frequent word was “time-consuming, ” which described the nature of merely watching series of
videos, which was already pointed out as the worst part of the certification program. Also time-
consuming. Other words appeared frequently were helpful (19), interesting (11), long (10), worth
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(8), challenging (6), relevant (6), tedious (6), beneficial (5), easy (5), informative (5), and
rewarding (5).
-----Insert Figure 1 about here-----
Discussion
To the extent of the knowledge of the authors, the present paper is the first empirical study that
examines student responses on incorporating certifications into a marketing class. Overall, it
turned out students appreciated using certification programs in the marketing course. Especially,
when they think the certification is relevant to their future job, student responses are significantly
more positive.
We observed several effects of the learning style in the sensing-intuitive and the
sequential-global dimensions but not in the active-reflective and the visual-verbal dimensions. In
specific, sensing and sequential learners revealed more positive responses over each counterpart.
These results are logically sound when we consider the modalities of many marketing
certification programs. Including the HubSpot certification programs used in the present study,
most of the certification programs provide online training and courses for the certificate that
mostly asked learners to watch series of short video clips sequentially. The examples include
Google Analytics Academy courses for Google Analytics Individual Qualification test and
Hootsuite’s online Social Marketing Training course for the test of HootSuite Certified
Professional. This nature of the certification programs maps nicely with the type of information
that the sensing learners prefer and the understanding process that the sequential learners feel
comfortable (Felder and Silverman, 1988). Otherwise, at the time of writing, these certification
programs including the HubSpot seems not to provide many features that favored the intuitive
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learners who cared more about symbols and imaginations. Likewise, even though the global
learners incline to interpret and solve problems in their own way, the current programs may be
limited to serve this approach. This result is consistent with a finding in a study of distance
education that revealed the outperformance of sequential learners over global learners in an
online course with a similar setting to the online certification program (Battalio, 2009).
Therefore, the formats of many current marketing certifications based on online courses favor to
the sensing and sequential learners over the intuitive and global learners. Another interesting
aspect is that these significant findings in these two dimensions of sensing-intuitive and
sequential-global may not be an accidental result. A factor analysis in a prior study showed that
the factor loadings of the measurement items in the sequential/global dimension overlapped with
the sensing/intuitive items, and the sensing/intuitive factor was significantly correlated with the
sequential/global factor (Zywno, 2003).
Characteristics mentioned above of the online certification programs also can explain the
lack of significant difference in the active-reflective dimension. It is presumable that the passive
watching videos may not appeal to both active and reflective learners. For the visual-verbal
dimension, besides of non-existing difference in any of student responses, another incidental
finding was that the majority of marketing students in the present classes were visual learners
(91%) and only five students (9%) in the samples were verbal learners. This insufficient number
of the verbal learners hindered the adequate statistical analysis and result interpretations, so we
inevitably leave the effects of the visual-verbal learning on the responses to the certifications
unanswered. In fact, this unbalanced number between visual and verbal learners has been
reported in many other studies. For instance, Felder and Spurlin (2005) analyzed 29 studies using
ILS, and found that, in average, only 22% of students were verbal learners. In a sampling of a
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marketing study, there were 95 visual learners compared to only 16 verbal learners (Morrison et
al., 2003). This implies that marketing certification programs can be benefited by producing
features and content oriented toward visual learners.
Another interesting finding of the present study was that none of the learning style
differences affected to the student performance on the certification tests. In describing the
learning style, Felder and Spurlin (2005) noted that the learning style is not a one’s capability of
learning only with a particular style but just a personal preference of a learning modality. Thus,
the scores of any learning style dimension should not be considered as the indicators of one’s
learning strengths and weaknesses for the task with a certain learning modality. In particular,
even though the certification program was not matched with one’s preferred learning modality,
students can success in earning the certificate through putting their endeavors dealing with the
less preferred way of the learning. In addition, even though the present study tested the
hypothesis through labeling individuals with a particular learning style (e.g., sensing learners),
the actual measures of the learning style is the continuum rather than the discrete categorizations.
Therefore, a learner classified with a particular learning style can possess considerable or similar
levels of preference for the opposite learning style. These reasons may explain our finding that
the learning style did not affect the performance in the certification test.
Pedagogical Implications
As an early study regarding incorporating marketing certifications into the classroom, the present
study brings many significant implications to marketing professors, especially who are teaching
the area of interactive marketing and thinking about bringing practical values in their classes.
First, based on the empirical findings, we can conclude that undergraduate marketing students
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are positive for incorporating a marketing certification in their marketing classes. As Staton
(2016) provided several anecdotal cases, many students were also expecting that the certificate
could help them to find and get competent job positions in marketing fields.
Second, the certification program used in the present study, which asked learners to
watch series of video clips, was especially preferred by students with the sensing and sequential
learning styles over the intuitive and global learning styles. Therefore, this type of the
certification programs will be an appropriate addition particularly for classes with many students
with the sensing and sequential learning styles. Interestingly, a study applying ILS to
undergraduate business students in a British university (Vita, 2001) found that 86% of the
students in its survey were the sensing learners and 76% were the sequential learners. Therefore,
the current formats of many certifications for interactive/digital marketing seem to be appropriate
to bring into the marketing courses.
Third, the current paradigm of learning style research in marketing recommends
marketing professors providing diverse modalities of the learning experience rather than chasing
a particular student learning style with tools limited to a particular modality of learning (Karns,
2006; Morrison, Sweeney, & Heffernan, 2006). This is not just because to be fair to students
with different learning styles but also because to stimulate students to experience different
learning modalities and foster their capabilities to learn successfully through both their preferred
and less preferred methods. In this sense, marketing academics can expose students to multiple
certification programs with methods appealing to different learning styles (see, for example,
Staton, 2016 ; Tuten and Spiller, 2016 for reviews of marketing certifications).
INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 21
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Studies
One limitation of the present study is that we only used one program (HubSpot) to understand
student responses toward marketing certifications. In truth, marketing certifications are different
in their topic area, a required level of expertise, exam price for certificate, industry recognition,
and many other aspects. Hence, we cannot generalize the findings from the present study to
student responses toward all kinds of marketing certifications. Future studies can compare
responses toward different marketing certificate and investigate factors that affect to possible
differences in student responses.
The small sample size of the present study is also a limitation. Not only it might fail to
detect other potential significant results (e.g. the effect of the sensing/intuitive style on the
experience where the p-value was .07), but also it limited the applications of statistical methods
that investigate relations among variables. Future studies with an appropriate sample size can
conduct a path analysis or structural equation modeling to examine relationships and the
direction of the effect among the dependent variables of the present study. For example, we may
study the path from the certification acceptance to the perceived value and performance.
Lastly, the ultimate goal of adopting marketing certification in the class should be to
prepare students to be competent as marketing job candidates and critically thinking marketing
professionals who are adaptive to an innovative industry. The present study cannot answer the
question of how this certification program affects to the actual job placements of students with
the certificates and performances at work, however. A follow-up study with the students in the
present study after their graduation will be highly valuable to confirm the actual benefits of the
certification to the student life and career.
INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 22
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INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 25
Table 1 Digital Certification Programs (Sample)
Brand of Digital Certification Type of Certification Offered
American Marketing Association (AMA) Professional Certified Marketer Digital Marketing Certification
Bing Bing Ads Accredited Professional
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization
Data & Marketing Association (DMA) DMA Certified Marketing Professional
Data & Marketing Association (DMA) Search Engine Marketing Certification
Digital Marketer Multiple (not comprehensive certificate)
Google Google Adwords Certificate
Google Google Analytics
Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification
Hootsuite Hootsuite Platform Certification
HubSpot Inbound Certification
IAB IAB Professional Certifications (3 variants)
Market Motive Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA)
Mediabistro Courses (no comprehensive certificate)
Online Marketing Institute Multiple (no comprehensive certificate)
Splash Media U. Social Media Marketing Master Certification
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization
Table 2
The Effects of Learning Styles on Student Responses
Acceptance Experience Value Performance
Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig.
Learning Styles
Active-Reflective Active learners (n = 43) Reflective learners (n = 12)
6.45 6.72
.95
.34
5.61 5.92
.66
.51
6.02 5.85
.46
.65
2.56 2.58
.13
.90
Sensing-Intuitive Sensing learners (n = 40) Intuitive learners (n = 15)
6.72 5.96
2.17
.05*
5.93 5.00
1.92
.07
6.16
5.52
2.01
.05*
2.55 2.60
.27
.79
Visual-Verbal Visual learners (n = 50) Verbal learners (n = 5)
6.48 6.80
.78
.44
5.72 5.30
.62
.54
5.96 6.20
.47
.64
2.60 2.20
1.43
.16
Sequential-Global Sequential learners (n = 34) Global learners (n = 21)
6.68 6.24
1.58
.13
6.08
5.02
2.87
.01
6.21
5.62
2.01
.05*
2.53 2.62
.53
.60
* The p-values rounded to two decimal places were smaller than .05.
INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 26
Table 3
Students’ Comments on the Certification Program
Best things Worst things
Being able to add the certification to my LinkedIn profile
Being able to connect what we learned in class with pretty cool.
It provided many resources to help you learn.
I think it will look great on a resume!
It will help set me aside from other job candidates.
It furthered my knowledge of the topics of direct/indirect marketing
Having something tangible to put on my resume
Having something to put on my resume in order to show employers I have more than just classroom experience in the field of marketing.
Gaining knowledge and relating it back to the coursework.
It forced me to study for something other than the class.
Feel that i gained relevant experience that will help me greatly in the future (even now!!!)
We were able to complete the certifications when our schedules allowed the time.
Having to watch all the videos was very time consuming.
The videos were redundant, and took a long time
The fact that some people didn't watch the videos at all and took the test and still passed
Things being repeated.
The tests had hard questions.
They were quite extensive and I think having the due dates split up between the semester would be better than having them both due at the end.
The only thing I found to be frustrating was if you did not pass, it would block you from retaking the test for 24 hours.
The people talking were very boring and didn't do much more than repeat what was on the PowerPoint slides.
You had to be very careful about how you budgeted your time throughout the semester
They were sometimes not as relevant to class topics and too focused on hubspot.
It will not help in future job seeking due to the certification expiring in a year
Figure 1
Word cloud on the completions of “Studying for the certificates was ______.”
INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 27
APPENDIX A
Measurement Items and Scales
Acceptance
Requiring a certificate as a mandatory item in a marketing class is ____________.
a bad idea: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :a good idea
unreasonable: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :reasonable
inappropriate: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :appropriate
Experience
Please indicate your overall experience of studying for the certifications.
negative: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :positive
bad: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :good
unfavorable: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :favorable
unpleasant: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :pleasant
Value
Studying for the certifications ____________ my learning of the course subjects in
interactive marketing.
did not enhance at all: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :significantly enhanced
was not helpful at all for: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :was very helpful for
did not add any value at all to: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :added a lot of value to
did not complement at all: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 : significantly complemented
Performance
What was the result of the two certification exams that you took?
a. I passed both exams (3)
b. I passed one exam (2)
c. I didn’t pass either exam (1)