INBOUND 2019 All-Access Pass Giveaway for Education Partners

[#1]

HubSpot's Education Partner Program (EPP) is hosting a giveaway for two 4-day all-Access passes to our INBOUND event. To enter, apply here. 

More information on INBOUND, including dates, location, and events, is here. More information on what you'll get as part of the All-Access Pass is here. 

The terms and conditions for this giveaway are here. 

The question to answer as a reply to this post is:

If you had a magic wand, what would you add to the Education Partner Program to help you "grow better"?

What does it mean to grow better? Take a look. 

The best submissions will be 

• a NEW idea that that we haven't previously explored. For an idea of what we currently offer, visit us here.
• Can be completed within one academic year and can be realistically implemented. 
• At least 100 to 300 words, with details on how this would effect students in the long- and short- term. 
• Solves specific student issue(s). For example, how does this idea allow students to develop personally? How does it facilitate an applied learning experience? How does it give students the tools to succeed in the workplace?
• Feel free to submit at least 3 ideas to this post, though you only need to fill out the form once. 

For any questions, please contact Julia Gueron at jgueron@hubspot.com

[#2]

When I think back on the most impactful improvements we've made to the Education Partner Program - almost all of them came about because of faculty recommendations, suggestions, and, well...  very candid feedback!

We've said it from the beginning: EPP isn't HubSpot's declaration that "This is how business should be taught." Instead, we want to build a place where faculty have all of the software, resources, community and support they need to build amazing educational experiences.

So, how can we help? Wave those magic wands - I can't wait to read all of the suggestions on how HubSpot can better serve institutions, faculty and students through our Education Partner Program. 

[#3]

Hello from Texas!

If I had a magic wand, as Harry Potter and friends did, I would create how to sheets to offer more experiential learning in the classroom that makes the class more relevant and interesting. These sheets are software process sheeets that teach students how to do something in Hubpsot's software. For example, a sheet on "how to create a workflow process," one for "creating a landing page," "creating a thank you page," or "crafting emails." The sheets would be stand alone documents, using screen shots, that list the steps to accomplish the task. These sheets can be assigned to be read before or during class time as we complete the exercise during such class time. They could also be assigned as part of a homework. The sheets support exercises ased on the industry selected by the professor or student. One can be a workflow for a small business, such as a spa who follows up after a visit asking for a review. Another can be a workflow for the travel industry where emails are sent based on downloading a piece of content. So many options! 

Professors would benefit as they can focus more on discussion of relevant practices, creatings best practices, judging good or bad design witht their students at the end of the exercise. All higher order critical thinking skillls. 

pick me! pick me! 

Laura 

[#4]

Dear Laura,

Thank you for such a thorough yet simple response to this prompt. We're so happy that we have engaged faculty like you in our program that put their students first

Experiential learning always seems to be a struggle for professors in the classroom. It agree that it can be a challenge to provide opportunities that mimic the "real world" while also making sure that students don't feel like they're thrown out into the Wild West. There is definitely a reason why almost every response to this prompt has to do with making sure students feel prepared to jump both feet in to a workplace with real data and real consequence to their work.

I'm happy to report that we currenlty have published 4 one-pagers that you allude to in your reponse. They are here, under Assignments :https://help.hubspotedu.com/sample-syllabi

The sheets are a bit like stand-alone documents that you refer to, and I liken them to recipes. We tell professors and students what they need to have before they start, how long it will take, give them instructions, and let them know the onbective and goal of the exercise. They can be assigned as homework or in class.

We hope that this takes us a step closer in the right direction of creating project-based classroom work that professors and students could both benefit from. 

[#5]

If I had a magic wand, I would add “Analytics Training” to the Education Partner Program. 

With the tremendous volume of data businesses are inundated with and the requirement to use this data to gain competitive advantage, I would use my magic wand to create an analytics course designed to address the current business analytic skills gap by providing context-relevant learning experiences for students.  85% of Fortune 500 firms are unable to effectively utilize their data repositories to gain competitive advantage because they lack employees skilled in business analytics techniques.(1&2)  Addressing this shortage would require that this course focus students on developing their analytics competences using the HubSpot tools to generate actionable insights.  

The course content and projects would use the HubSpot CRM tools.  Students would work in teams to improve the design, operation, online presence, and digital marketing of a fictitious firm using business intelligence and analytics information from the HubSpot pre-populated CRM database.  The HubSpot’s CRM platform would provide detailed digital marketing intelligence and analytics reports regarding online and digital marketing activities as well as user behavior information.  The generated charts and tables in the HubSpot CRM system would highlight various market and consumer dimensions.  The course would provide students access to and learning about the HubSpot suite which are the most widely used marketing automation software tools.(3)  The instructor could tailor the course discussion using the available analytic features in the HubSpot CRM to focus on the key analytic challenges of generating insights, aggregating data, and developing analytic competencies.(4) 

The importance of this course is highlighted in the AACSB Standard #9 which asks for evidence-based decision-making that integrates current and emerging technologies, including the application of tools and techniques, data management, data analytics and information technology throughout the curriculum.(5)  

This course would provide students with practical applications to highlight in their resumes and use as conversations in future interviews.  Also, this course would permit schools to highlight meaningful accomplishments in their curriculum for their AACSB accreditation reports. 

1. Asamoah, D. A., Sharda, R., Zadeh, A. H., & Kalgotra, P. (2017). Preparing a data scientist: A pedagogic experience in designing a big data analytics course. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 15(2), 161-190.
2. Harris, J. (2012). Data is useless without the skills to analyze it. Harvard Business Review, September 13, 2012.
3. Platt, G. (2019). HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot account for 50% of marketing automation sales: A comparison of each. ClickZ: Marketing Technology Transformation, https://www.clickz.com/hubspot-marketo-pardot-account-for-50%25-marketing-automation-sales-compariso...
4. Ransbotham, S., Kiron, D., & Prentice, P.K. (2015). Minding the analytics gap. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(3), Spring, 63-68.
5. AACSB, (2019) Business School Overview Report, https://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/aacsb/publications/data-reports/bsq%20data/2017-18-bsq-executive-summa...

[#6]

Thank you for your response here, John. I think you are spot on with the value for students being able to comprehend data and make decisions based their findings. These critical thinking skills are so important for anyone working in digital marketing today. Now that it's accessible for companies to collect this data, we need more education that highlights the right way to interpret it.

Like you outlined in your response, we'd need to create pre-populated databases as the first step for this, which we've explored in the past. The technology and developer resources required to create this has been the limiting factor, but it's always in the back of our mind. Your response helps to reinforces the importance of this type of project for students. Thank you for sharing

[#7]

If I had a magic wand, I would enhance the “Delivery Strategy” of course materials to the Education Partner Program. 

Consider implementing an iPad mobile learning platform philosophy to the current online and face-to-face education delivery methods used by the HubSpot Academy.  The addition of the mobile learning platform could enhance the Education Partner Program by providing Universities with an additional course-content delivery method. 

AACSB and Apple have partnered with various business schools on an initiative to develop and evaluate new exercises, materials, and case studies.  The initiative focuses on the critical learning skills of problem solving and critical thinking using various methods to scaffold learning.  They are using platforms that utilize Apple’s playground books for the iPad.  AACSB is encouraging business schools to have a high level of interaction across disciplines and offer this as part of the core business curriculum.  If HubSpot courses were delivered in this mobile learning method, they could be easily integrated into the school’s curriculum.  Ohio State University has started to see the benefits of their program of providing all students with iPads.  These benefits include improvements in grades, higher campus engagement, and the savings of millions of dollars for students using different textbook delivery methods.(1) 

An experiential, hands-on course of this type could be a significant resume-builder for students.  Vee argues that this literacy skill could provide new ways of thinking about technology’s role in society.(3)  With that in mind, the goal of this delivery method would be to help students become more effective participants as well as better consumers and creators of digital content. 

Additionally, HubSpot EPP could share the Playground Books course development process with HUGs, universities, businesses, and students as it provides the opportunity for those groups to customize the HubSpot Academy training to specific organizational needs.  Businesses would have the opportunity to insert their unique data into the liveview’s simulation component thus taking full advantage of the Apple Playground Books tools/capabilities for customizing HubSpot training.  

The goal of this unique educational delivery method is to provide students with leading-edge, in-demand skills that match the demands of businesses demand for various forms of technology competency.  Hiring managers are seeking workers with new skills to create and retain a competitive edge.(2)   

1. O’Hara, Andrew (2018) “Massive iPad deployment at OSU paying long-term dividends in higher education”, https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/25/massive-ipad-deployment-at-osu-paying-long-term-dividends...
2. ___, The Future of Jobs Report (2018), http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf
3. Vee, Annette (2017), “Coding Literacy: How Computer Programming Is Changing Writing”, ISBN:9780262036245 https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/coding-literacy

[#8]

With my magic wand I'd implement three ideas where Hubspot Education Partners could further help develop student successes in digital marketing. 

Apply the Theories to Actual Clients 

There are many supplier-based courses, certifications, and conferences.  More progressive educational institutions have academic certifications, and degree programs focused on digital and social marketing.  Having students go through certifications as part of their academic career is GREAT.  What would solidify that learning would be getting actual experience working for clients. 

I'd love to see a program where small/medium businesses could apply to have a virtual digital 'agency' run by students work on their business.  The agency would be managed (CTO, CMO) by Hubspot staff.  Students would be 'hired' (course credit) to implement strategies to meet client objectives.  This would be equal to an internship - one semester.  It would need a FAST onboarding of the students so that within the first couple of weeks, they are actually working on the client business.  With a fast start, students could see KPI results within the semester.  Successes become part of the student resume/portfolio AND more importantly give them some real world experience and results.  

A double side benefit:  Hubspot gets more people using their tools - both the student and the small business!

Professional Development for Educators 

I'd love to see a bi-annual roundtable of Hubspot clients discussing higher ed professors about the skills, knowledge, experience that they would like to see in new employees.  Do this as a virtual conference -- not something we have to travel to.  While we all have advisory boards -- the more info we get -- especially from large agencies and brands would be invaluable!  This supports student success in getting the right skills while in college. 

Mentoring Program

I read a recent report from the Assoc of National Advertisers that was highly critical of higher ed. They report we are NOT graduating marketing/advertising/digital students who have CURRENT employable skills.  A partner program with education, client, and Hubspot to develop curriculum as ongoing mentorship relationship will help us develop the right skills.  If I had a Fortune 1000 marcom/ad/digital 'mentor' that mentor could participate directly with my students via video chats, talks, etc.  The more real world needs we can meet the more successful our students will be. 

I'd be happy to help develop any or all of these magic ideas into a test program! 

[#9]

If I had a magic wand, I would enhance the “CMS Developer” course for the Education Partner Program. 

The HubSpot CMS is an outstanding tool to help students learn to develop world-class sites that are ‘smart’, ‘personalized’, and ‘responsive’.  Students have access to the various tools and documentation via the CMS Developer Discovery Kit at https://designers.hubspot.com/.  I would suggest an expansion of the tutorials and examples first, for the evolving HubSpot APIs, second, for the development and use of mobile sites and third, for the expansion of the discussion of the creation and usage of modules.  Specifically, I would enhance the tutorials to help students who have never used the APIs, modules, or coded mobile sites to move them from a novice toward an experienced developer. 

The first enhancement is with API’s.  With the addition of many APIs in the HubSpot ecosystem, the explanation and sample uses would be invaluable.  The second enhancement is with mobile.  Businesses are implementing mobile-first strategies precipitated by the rapid growth in smart phone purchases and mobile web browsing by consumers, by the need to expand the businesses’ digital presence, and by the demand for accessible and interactive mobile browsing.  Research highlights, however, that the U.S. lags the rest of the world in the adoption and use of mobile technology.  Thus, to remain competitive, it is imperative that businesses emphasize a mobile-first strategy.  To achieve that, businesses seek future employees that possess the right mix of technical skills, business acumen, and creativity to create compelling mobile apps.  The third enhancement is with modules in the CMS.  I would ask for additional tutorials and examples to help students see how to incorporate simple JavaScript, CSS and HTML in the modules. 

The enhanced CMS Developer course would also focus on using the marketplace templates.  Many of HubSpot’s partners have created tremendous offerings.  Highlighting the unique capabilities of various templates could expand the student thinking of what is possible.  Student in the business school require development skills to help organizations establish their digital presence. 

[#10]

@DrJohnHeinrichs 

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful and well-researched response to this question! 

Admittedly, our engineering offering has been a bit behind our Sales and Marketing offerings in the Education Partner Program. The Developer offerings, which at one point were aspirational, has grown leaps and bounds since you first posted this. We now have our very first Web-App course , inspired by an initiative of two HubSpotters that noticed a lack of women entering coding positions at HubSpot. The online course is led by HubSpot engineers and is designed to teach aspiring coders how to build a web application from scratch; participants will get familiar with using GitHub, Heroku, and node.js, as well as how to stylize their application and integrate an API.  More information is here.

We are hoping that this will be a first step in developing more offerings for engineering, web apps, and API course offerings, and we'll keep you updated as these offerings come to fruition! 

[#11]

@DrJohnHeinrichs 

Thanks for your comments. You'll be happy to know we have API education in the works right now. For now these lessons will live outside the CMS for developers course since most of our API endpoints can't currently be securely used directly from the CMS, but keep an eye out for that content in the coming months.

Also, I agree additional module examples would be wonderful. Hopefully in the coming year we'll get some bandwidth to produce more of these. I have my own little shortlist of topics I'd love to cover. For now, if you have students or associates that would like a little more guidance building robust modules, we have a number of HubSpot-built free modules in the marketplace. I worked on a few of them myself and we specifically built them with tons of comments to work as instructional tools to see best practices in action.

Thanks again!

[#12]

Three ideas are:

• Provide practical 'case examples' of initiatives that have been undertaken within the Education Partner programme; e.g. live projects that have featured educators and companies.
• Provide a means for companies to provide live feedback during the programme;
• Facilitate international opportunities so students can work on live projects across the globe.

[#13]

Hey Philip! 

Providing practical 'case examples' of initiatives that have been undertaken within the Education Partner Program is a great idea. We currently have testimonials from Bentley University and Emerson that serve somewhat as "highlight films" for how we've partnered with them, but I agree that it would be valuable to provide a more comprehensive overview. One thing that we're hoping to roll out is more information on our website of how you can partner with us and start to document more projects we've facilitated with educators and companies. I will make sure to let you know when we launch this. 

The other suggestion that really resonated with me is connecting students internationally with live projects. I'm familiar with the Google marketing challenge, where students had an allocated Ad spend to use with non-profits, which was eventually discontinued. Google was able to give out $10,000/mo in Ad spend for non-profits and students to use. The value of free ads is pretty clear for businesses, but it seems like it might have not been sustainable for Google to give that much away for free. I do think there will be a day where we can roll something like this out for professors, but we'll need to find a project that provides enough value for students, professors, and businesses to participate in. 

The exciting thing is that we’re building a community here of like-minded people that I’m sure would be interested in this idea as well. Would make for an interesting community post to start the conversation about how to build something like this. Thanks for sharing Philip!

[#14]

If I had a magic wand....

• Case studies: to provide examples and opportunities for students to apply knowledge. Learners really need to learn how to apply the theory to real-world situations. The application is key.
  • Use examples, case studies, exercises, and scenarios to relate the content to the learners’ future job.
  • Consider a "red-thread" exercise that can be built on and accompanies the instruction throughout the program.
• Practice templates: students can practice before turning final assignments.
• Provide ways to build community. Make interaction and engagement part of the blended approach. Social learning is powerful. 
• Liked a reply that suggested international opportunities, maybe this can give you somr ideas: http://coil.suny.edu/page/examples-coil-supported-courses

[#15]

Dear @IlianaBallester 

Thank you so much for your contribution to this giveaway, and for your thoughtful response. 

We've often heard of a lack of case-studies cited as a real obstacle in getting students to understand how to apply theory to practice. We have some case studies here that might help you out, but there are geared more towards our Sales departments. My colleague Jordan is also working on a great Brand Engagement Project that will also introduce case studies in the classroom. We'll announce that once it's ready! 

I'd be curious to know what you mean by Practice templates. We have some opportunities for students to practice (see here and scroll down to Assignments). I'd love to hear more about this. 

In building community, I'd love to hear more. We're hoping to use this community as our community for instructors. Do you mean community of students? Job-seekers? Employers to offer jobs to students? 

I love the idea of COIL, and in fact, my previous workplace used a heavily COIL-inspired technique to advance global education. One key example of cross-college learning is between @MrsPTMorris and @RandyEmerson at Salisbury College in MD and Emerson College in Boston, MA, respectively. But we'd love to have some more international interaction. Please let me know what you have in mind - maybe I can connect you with someone! 

[#16]

My biggest challenge is providing students with hands on activities that help them to fully understand Marketing Automation and the Workflow that goes on behind that process. At the same time helping them to adjust to different SASS offerings is also a challenge.

In a perfect world what would help me help my students would be if they had access to a simulated hubspot account where they would have several paths -- one that is focused on setting up the workflow, one that is focused on developing content, and one that is focused on analytics data. 

I already have students get several certifications in my Advanced Digital Marketing class. In my Intro class students are working in a simulation on B2C focusing on adwords, landing pages, and email marketing.

Having an option where they can actually run scenarios and manage them would truly help them to not only "get" the work that it takes to set up this type of workflow and build relevant content but give them experience in HubSpot so they are more familiar with this type of softward.

And please note, I want them to do more than set up a few dummy pages and build a little content. They really need to run through a full process.

Elaine

[#17]

Dear Elaine,

Thank you so much for your entry! We appreciate the time and energy you put into such a thoughtful response. 

We hear often that it is a challenge to provide students with controlled and applied learning experience that mimic real-life situations. We currently use a fake business (biglytics) in our sales arm to demonstrate the horsepower behind HubSpot. We would like to develop something similar for the Education Partner Program to showcase how the software can be leveraged during onboarding, and eventually a dummy account where educators such as yourself can provide students with a controlled "sandbox" to play in. This is something we've had on our minds for a while, and it's certainly validating that this would be useful to you, too. When we create something like this, you'll be the first to know! 
 

I'd love to see the projects that your students in your Advanced Marketing Class come up with. Please feel free to share that with us! 

[#18]

@lauramunozUD 

@DrElaineY 

@IlianaBallester 

@philipalford 

@DrJohnHeinrichs 

@DianneMcDermott 

Thank you so, so much for your entries to this give-away. 

We are closing the giveaway on August 9 (Friday) and meeting next week to dicuss the entries (including those that may come in by the end of the week). We expect winners to be announced next week as well. 

Thank you all for your patience! We're excited to come together as a group to see what ideas you've come up with.