Active Learning in New Product Development Courses Turns Students into Entrepreneurs

Elliott Manzon, assistant professor of marketing, designed his New Product Development course to focus on Kickstarter campaigns after past students suggested putting their product designs on the crowdfunding website. The current course format now requires each student to come up with and design a new product, create a Kickstarter campaign for their invention and develop a marketing strategy for it.

In addition to Kickstarter, students also use CAD software to create prototypes for their products. They also use PowerPoint, Photoshop, or video tools to create advertisements for their products.

“Students are quick to pick up any technology used in their classes,” Manzon said. “With technology we can have students apply their knowledge immediately.”

While this active learning model has made the course more fun and engaging for the students, it has also helped them learn the course material better and driven them find more success. 

Most students only remember a small fraction of what they read or is told to them, but students tend to remember more of what they take part in. This type of participation also allows students to learn more because they are seeing the direct application of course material. 

“That’s the outlook of education is to make things very real and apply it for students so that they can see the purpose of it,” Manzon said. “When they can see the purpose of what they’re learning, they get more out of that and they are able to take that into their career.”

Manzon also said the teaching strategy has a greatly improved student success.

“I’ve been blown away by the quality of student work,” he said. “The quality has definitely improved and they have gotten more involved in the class as it has become more hands-on.”

Students can go on to show off their products in a campus-wide competition. A few of the students projects from the New Product Development class have placed in the competition since Manzon implemented the Kickstarter campaigns. Some of the students’ product ideas have even raised money on the website.

“For students who create their own Kickstarter campaigns, it becomes very real to them and helps motivate them because it is no longer just learning because I told them so,” Manzon said. “They’re actually learning because they want to create something great.”

Some of the students’ innovative new product ideas include a grocery bag holder for carrying groceries, a portable drip coffee maker in the form of a thermos mug, and a stylish yet functional lunch box that can fit inside a briefcase.