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Journal of Technology and Science Education SALES EDUCATION BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: BUILDING PARTICIPATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN SALES MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE CMGS METHOD (CASE METHOD WITH GUEST SPEAKERS) José Luis Ruizalba Robledo1, Estefanía Almenta López2, María Vallespín Arán3 Department of Business, Management and Marketng. The Claude Litner Business School. University of West London 1 Department of School Management and Pedagogy, University of Málaga 2 3 Department of Economics and Business Administraton, University of Málaga United Kingdom, Spain jose.ruizalba@uwl.ac.uk, almenta@uma.es, mvallespin@uma.es Received April 2014 Accepted June 2014 Abstract The overarching goal of working through the CMGS Method (Case Method with Guest Speakers) in Sales Management courses is to provide Business and marketng learners with practcal knowledge about how a sales manager can deal with a wide variety of possible professional scenarios. Even when the case method itself is an excellent way to equip students for their prospectve employment, the potental of this method can be enhanced with innovatve pedagogical tools such as informaton and communicaton technologies. Firstly, eight sales managers were invited to the Sales Management Course as guest speakers. Students were required to prepare for these sessions using informaton and communicaton technologies, gathering informaton about the speaker’s sector and identfying areas of special interest. Each speaker shared their hands-on experience and ofered an overview of their feld in a workshop, while answering the students’ questons. These sessions increased the interacton of students with sales professionals, who presented their insights into a career in sales management. The learning experiences built through these workshops were narrated by the students in the course blog. Secondly, students were asked to present a scientfc paper with the aim of bridging the gap between higher educaton and cutng-edge research. This artcle portrays the reasoning behind the course as well as the diferent steps followed during the process. The course fnished with encouraging results, suggestng the desirability of incorporatng PL (partcipatve learning) experiences into any marketng course. Keywords – Teaching-learning, Informaton and communicaton technologies, Higher educaton, Innovatve teaching, Partcipatve learning, Case method, Sales educaton. ---------- 1 INTRODUCTION Higher educaton has traditonally been very dependent on lecturing (Barnes, Christensen & Hansen, 1994) and both users (students) and producers (teachers) are demanding a greater use of actve, student-involved teaching methods (Astv, 1985). The idea that students have to be responsible for their own learning constructon is becoming more accepted everyday (Bretón, 1999; Ruiz-Gallardo, Castaño, Gómez-Alday & Valdés, 2011). It is clear that the demand for Sales professionals is immense and consequently, high quality Sales educaton will be essental to enhance the employability of Sales students, as well as to create a great advantage for companies. In this regard, higher educaton insttutons can play an important role and using case study as a Journal of Technology and Science Educaton. Vol 4(3), 2014, pp 138 On-line ISSN 2013-6374 – Print-ISSN 2014-5349 DL: B-2000-2012 – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 teaching method has proven to be exceptonally efectve (Kreber, 2001). Advantages of case study include student and faculty greater interest and interactvity, vicarious learning, and increased refecton (Mark & Mary, 1996). In real life most of the tme it is not necessary to only recall certain informaton. As a mater of fact, knowledge has to be applied and executed in order to fnd creatve solutons (Vaziri, 2010). In that sense, experience is a crucial element in all types of learning, but especially in an applied science such as Marketng. In practce, marketng decisions routnely require the applicaton, analysis, evaluaton, synthesis, and creaton of informaton, a process that is consistent with critcal thinking and educatonal learning hierarchies (Krathwohl, 2002; Klebba & Hamilton, 2007). Most investgatons have focused their atenton on text based online discussion forums, whereas the uses of online discussion forums that combine text and video in the same place have received litle atenton (Fernández, Simó, Castllo-Merino & Sallán, 2014). A variety of studies atest to the positve impact of critcal thinking methods in Sales Educaton. Therefore, beyond theoretcal knowledge, it is important to build on professional experience in order to improve Sales educaton approaches. Undoubtedly learning from the expertse of others has its limitatons and the complexity of practcal implementaton, but if this experiental learning is aligned with theoretcal learning and a balance is achieved, the result can be highly satsfactory. This is precisely what we have tried to pursue with our Sales educaton project. The aim of this paper is to present a pilot project which has been carried out at the University of Málaga (Spain) with undergraduate students of the discipline of Sales Management. This project contributes directly to the improvement of Sales Management educaton, since it provides Pedagogical Tools - such as integratng informaton and communicaton technologies in the teaching and learning process- as well as research with a Sales student Populaton. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Sales is the most common career entry point for marketng graduates, and a very popular choice for business, economics, internatonal afairs and management students. In spite of this popularity, there is a shortage of talented salespeople, as companies cannot cover their need for competent sales professionals. As a consequence, higher educaton insttutons are ofering new undergraduate and graduate programs in order to atend the demand. Sales educaton is gradually becoming a widely spread feld of study, and sales educators are examining the possibilites of innovatve teaching methods to improve sales learning. Unfortunately, sales educaton and research are stll at an embryonic stage and there is litle empirical evidence of how to enrich its development (Cummins, Pelter, Erfmeyer & Whalen, 2013). Despite being scarce, the available literature explores the potental of implementng partcipatve learning approaches to Sales educaton. According to Inks and Avila (2008), experiental learning enhances students’ skill development signifcantly over traditonal approaches. In regards to the case method, it creates a unique setng to acquire real-life competences (Fletcher, Helms & Willis, 2007). As a mater of fact, learning from experience is one of the most elementary and natural ways of learning, and in the majority of cases it does not require any expensive resources. Experiental learning demands an opportunity to refect and think, both as an individual and as a group member, and its main strength is its ability to present knowledge in an integrated, contextualized and applicable way (Beard & Wilson, 2004). Classroom instructon enhances learning when it provides meaningful experiences for students. The methodology (CMGS) that we are developing fts with the concept of communites of practce (Wenger, 1998) and integrates the diferent elements of the social theory of learning. This is why Sales educaton should carefully select its pedagogical tools, taking into consideraton their capability to support student learning while bridging the gap between academic educaton and the professional world through a variety of tasks (Li, Greenberg & Nicholls, 2007). When using the experiental learning approach, Sales students are not only expected to build knowledge, but also encouraged to apply that knowledge and to analyze and create meaning from the knowledge they are acquiring (Chavan, 2011). In additon to this, the support of informaton and communicaton technologies must be at the core of any course according to recent studies (Livingstone, 2012). A more profound use of informaton and communicaton technologies is needed to improve the efectveness of learning and to create a learning system adapted to our current society (Canaleta, Vernet, Vicent & Montero, 2014). For undergraduate students, the two most tmeconsuming tasks of their daily lives are studying and media use. According to Erstad (2012), research tends to Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 139 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 contemplate these two elements as separate worlds, but if we manage to interconnect them we will be situatng educaton closer to what this author calls the ‘learning lives approach’, in which studying and using media are part of the same integrated context. 3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The frst objectve of this study is to share with the academic community an experience of educatonal innovaton through partcipatory learning and interacton with business professionals. It was carried out in the subject of Sales Management for undergraduate students in their third year of the Bachelor of Marketng and Market Research, at the University of Malaga (Spain). To develop this frst goal, the pedagogical objectves, planning and development of the experience are detailed below. The second objectve is to empirically analyze the impact of this method on student learning. For this purpose, a survey was conducted and its results were analyzed. The third objectve is to evaluate the outcome of the actvity from the point of view of guest speakers. In this regard, guest speakers completed a questonnaire and its outcomes are shown. The fourth objectve is to analyze the result of this experience from the point of view of the lecturer. The lecturer was interviewed and his impressions were later examined. As ffh objectve is to make improvement proposals for future acton. 4 METHODOLOGY 4.1 Pilot project: collaboratve learning through case studies and scientfc artcles with guest speakers A pilot project with undergraduate students from the University of Malaga (Spain) was implemented during the academic year 2012-2013. This project has been conceived to have an important component of informaton and communicaton technologies (video resources, LMS, etc.) and also the use of blogs and social media such as Twiter. The third-year students were divided into four groups. Group D was chosen because it was the smallest (52 students), while the other groups had around 80 students each. A special feature of group D was that its classes were delivered in the afernoon shif. This confguraton of the group had two advantages: frstly, being smaller; secondly, experience shows that in afernoon groups the student average age is ofen higher than in morning shif groups, and students are usually professionals or have some professional experience and generally show a more responsible attude towards their studies. It was considered that these two factors made group D the most appropriate to conduct a pilot project. If the project was to be implemented in one of the morning groups, unfairness to the other groups could have been created, and it was not feasible to implement the project in all groups at once because of tme and space constraints. The project academic objectves are shown in the table 1. Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 140 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 Academic Objectves Objectve 1: Encourage students to read scientfc artcles Objectve 2: Develop in students scientfc artcle oral presentaton skills. Actvity Implementaton Scientfc papers were A total of 10 scientfc made available in the papers were presented. virtual campus (LMS – Each presentaton lasted for Learning Management 15 minutes. Then the System) and volunteers papers were discussed in were sought to present plenary for about 15 them in class. It was minutes. Afer that, the suggested that everyone lecturer contnued with the else read the paper before normal routne of the the class presentaton. sessions. The same than for objectve 1. The same than for objectve 1. Results Five papers were presented in English and fve in Spanish. Three of them were presented individually and the rest in teams. The presentaton of all items produced a lively discussion and basic learning points were extracted. The same than for objectve 1. Ten forum threads were created in the virtual campus (LMS). These forums dealt with the qualites of a sales All forums were highly manager, with nonpartcipatve and some of scientfc artcle topics and them were mentoned in with some other issues class suggested by the lecturer Objectve 4: To provide a practcal approach and a real and close view of business reality Sessions with guest speakers and use of the case method Eight professionals from various sectors were invited Three of the speakers as guest speakers. The day intervened by video before the session, students conference and the rest prepared questons for the were present in the class. speakers, also leaving much The sessions were very room for spontaneity during partcipatory the session. Objectve 5: Develop the ability to write about sales management related topics A public blog was created enttled “To be always closing” Every tme a topic of interest arouse in class, a The blog “To be always volunteer or a rapporteur closing” had 24 posts assigned by the lecturer and 2,264 visits in total. wrote a blogpost. Objectve 3: Encourage students to prepare in advance topics discussed in class Table 1. Academic objectves of the pilot project 4.2 The case method in higher educaton Since the introducton of the case method at Harvard University Law School and its adopton by the Harvard Businesss School and other training centers, it is commonly used in future professionals training (Berné, Lozono & Marzo, 2011).This pedagogical tool is of special interest in the felds which require theoretcal-practcal training of the students in queston (Pedraza, Bravo & Amante, 2012). Marketng students should acquire practcal knowledge about how a sales manager can deal with a wide variety of possible professional scenarios. In that sense, case studies can evaluate the applicaton of concepts to real life situatons, building analytc skills which can distnguish high priority from low priority elements (Ruggiero, 2002). Even when the case method itself is an excellent way to equip students for their prospectve employment, the potental of this method can be enhanced with innovatve pedagogical tools. Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 141 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 According to Barnes et al. (1994), one of the missions of Business Schools is training students not only to know, but to act. Business educaton is known for its commitment to an actve, discussion-oriented learning mode, disciplined by case problems drawn from complexity or real life (Barnes et al., 1994); a commitment to linking knowledge and applicaton. The case method enables students to discover and develop their own unique framework for approaching, understanding, and dealing with business problems (Pearson, 1951). They deal with real-life business problems confrontng business managers and researchers at a partcular situaton. Management teaching using an experiental educatonal approach is extremely important and efectve. When educatonal objectves focus on mind qualites (curiosity, judgment, wisdom), personal qualites (character, sensitvity, integrity, responsibility), and the ability to apply general concepts and knowledge to specifc situatons, discussion pedagogy may well be very efectve (Barnes et al., 1994). This project has used the case method as the primary teaching tool, but with the peculiarity that the cases have been elaborated with the partcipaton of students. On the one hand, abundant informaton about sectors and companies under review was provided; on the other hand, students worked on a number of issues raised by the sales managers of these companies, both individually – in advance - and then in plenary in the presence of a guest speaker and under the chairing of the lecturer. Subsequently, a new updated version of the case with the result of the discussion was built. This approach can be called the CMGS Method (Case Method with Guest Speakers). 4.3 Presentaton of scientfc papers by students In order to meet the academic objectves 1 and 2 (encourage students to read scientfc papers in class and present them), a total of 10 scientfc artcles were provided. Most of them were writen in English and the rest in Spanish. Volunteers were asked to present them in class. Whenever possible, these papers were coordinated with the syllabus development, although this was not always the case. However this did not consttute a pedagogical drawback. These students, once ready, informed the lecturer to arrange a date for presentaton of the paper in class. The rest of the students were encouraged to read the paper before the presentaton day, with the purpose of getng the most out of the class discussion. Students’ presentatons would last for about 15 minutes. A plenary discussion with the rest of the class followed the presentaton, emphasizing the learning points that could be extracted from the artcle and its presentaton. Finally key learning aspects were related to the theoretcal content of the subject syllabus. It is important to consider the emulaton factor. When the frst students presented papers in class, many others publicly acknowledged that they felt more motvated to present papers as well. This part of the project also contributed to the academic objectve 3 (prior preparaton to class sessions). The presentaton of papers in class by students was not assessed, i.e., it was not taken into consideraton for the fnal grades. This was a volunteering actvity within the framework of partcipatory learning, in order to contribute selfessly to raise the academic level of the sessions. 4.4 Creaton of an external blog and internal discussion forums From the beginning of the pilot project design, it was clear that the use of communicaton and informaton technologies had to play an important role in the learning experience. So, with the aim of contributng to the academic objectve 5 (develop the ability to write about sales management related topics), an external blog was created with students. The blog was called "To always be closing" – available online at htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/, so that it could also be visited by a broad number of people even from outside the university environment. This blog holds a total of 24 posts and 2,264 views. The procedure used to be this: when an interestng issue requiring further explanaton but not directly related to the lesson topic was raised, the lecturer asked for a volunteer to investgate on their own and write a blogpost about it. Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 142 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 Several goals were covered at the same tme: • the lesson was not interrupted; • thought-provoking topics were addressed, avoiding the risk of forgetng to deal with them in the future; • ensuring that students worked on some areas independently; • sharing the informaton with all students to facilitate reading and refecton; • all blogposts were public on the web, allowing for the opportunity to interact with the global community and to receive feedback from people outside the classroom; ICT literacy skills were developed, since students learnt how to manage a weblog. • Internal discussion forums within the virtual campus (LMS) of the University of Málaga (Spain) were also created. Students were strongly encouraged to partcipate and discussion threads were varied. A very popular forum, open during the entre course, was enttled ‘What do you think are the qualites a good sales manager should have?' This queston triggered numerous reactons and all guest speakers were asked this same interrogaton. Together with other parts of the project, this element also contributed to the academic objectve number 3 (encourage students to prepare in advance topics discussed in class). 4.5 Role of guest speakers The key element of the academic goal number 4 (to provide a practcal approach and a real and close view of business reality) was to bring guest speakers from the business world and partcularly sales managers. The main requirement was that sales managers were professionally actve at that tme and therefore could speak not only from past experience, but also provide his insight into current issues, challenges and opportunites of the sales market. Eight guests speakers from various sectors partcipated in the course. Speaker: Mr. ARC. General Director. Session ttle: How to conduct an extensive sales network within a vast territory and great proximity to retailers. Afliaton: Industrias Kolmer (Paint) Date: October 2nd, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion (video-conference) Speaker: Mr. OA. Session ttle: Sales techniques in automoton. Special focus on mult-brand showrooms. Afliaton: Grupo Avolo Motor (Jaén). Date: October 15th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion (video-conference) htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/blog-post.html Speaker: Mr.F.R. Sales and Marketng Director. Session ttle: Merging USP and Quirón Hospitals: efects on the sales structure. Analysis of the various business lines of the Group from a commercial point of view. Afliaton: Group USP-Quirón Hospitals Date: November 12th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion Speaker: Mr. RUR Session ttle: Internatonal teams management: USA and Japan. Afliaton: Castllo de Tabernas (Olive oil). Date: November, 13th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/aceites-castllo-de-tabernas.html Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 143 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 Speaker: Mr. IPO. Sales and Marketng Director. Session ttle: Analysis of the pharmaceutcal sector from the perspectve of pharmaceutcal cooperatves and drugstores sales. Afliaton: Farmanova Date: November 27th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/farmanova.html Speaker: Mr. JM. General Director. Session ttle: How to implement a CRM (Customer Relatonship Management) strategy in companies. Afliaton: OMEGA CRM Consultng Date: December 10th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/12/omega-crm-consultng.html Speaker: Mrs. PV. Sales and Marketng Director. Session ttle: How to design a strategic business plan in a hotel chain and how to positon a boutquehotel within an all-inclusive resort. Afliaton: Holiday World Hotels Group Date: December 11th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/12/holiday-world-resort-y-hoteles-todo.html Speaker: Mr. AA. Senior Sales, Marketng & Retail Manager. Session ttle: Recruitment process of Sales and Managements Directors in Spain. Afliaton: Michael Page Date: December 18th, 2012 Session format: Workshop and practcal case discussion htp://tobealwaysclosing.blogspot.com.es/2012/12/michael-page-seleccion-de-directvos.html Table 2. List of guest speakers The course of acton was: • Sales managers were contacted and invited to partcipate as guest speakers • They were asked informaton about their company and sector • Two or three key points were identfed, based on their real agendas at that tme (a problem, challenge or decision to make). • The informaton about the company concerned, sector reports and the two or three key points were made available to students well in advance. Students worked individually on that material and discussed it in a forum that was created for this purpose in the virtual campus (LMS). • • • • • • The day before the session with the guest speaker, the lecturer helped students prepare a minimum of 10 questons they could ask the sales manager. The questons were built on the basis of the sector or company data, as well as on the key points. During the session, the lecturer chaired and when needed interrupted the speaker to make some remarks, give the foor to a student or connect the discussion with the theoretcal content of the subject. At the beginning of the session the lecturer selected one student to be the rapporteur, who would have to elaborate the session minutes. The lecturer checked the student report, completed it and made it available for all students in the virtual campus (LMS). To close the session, in the following class 10 minutes were dedicated to commentng on the session with the guest speaker, highlightng the learning points which had been covered. Guest speakers were asked what they had learned from the students during the session, and their feedback was also commented. This acted as a motvaton factor for students. Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 144 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 It is important to note that the venia docendi belongs to the lecturer and that guest speakers did not override the lecturer's responsibility at any tme. For this reason and also for the pedagogical efectveness the session was chaired by the lecturer - as explained in paragraph 7 -, who ofen intervened to emphasize some aspects or to redirect the discussion towards the academic goals, as well as to reinforce learning by supportng the inductve method based on the analysis of sales managers testmonies related to theoretcal syllabus concepts. The following graphs show the steps followed throughout the course: TASK TIME Pilot project. Bachelor of Marketng and Market Research. Academic year 2012-2013 Sessions with Forum Scientfc paper guest speakers Blog (studentdiscussions Class discussion presentaton and use of the generated content) (LMS) case method One day before Throughout Throughout the sessions Throughout the Throughout the the course the course with guest course course speakers Figure 1. Steps followed throughout the course 5 RESULTS The main result has been the learning opportunity for undergraduate Sales students to learn from the interacton with experienced professionals with a successful career in Sales Management. They presented ten scientfc papers, run a blog on the subject, partcipated in ten forums on the virtual campus (LMS) to discuss issues related to the course and analyzed eight practcal cases presented by guest speakers from the Sales world. Apart from these results that speak for themselves, a study was conducted in order to assess the impact of this methodology on student learning and to gain insight into their experience. The project was also examined from the point of view of the guest speakers and the lecturer. For this purpose, students were invited to complete an online survey several months afer the fnal grades of the course were published. The questonnaire was delivered at this tme to avoid any bias in this regard. Moreover, the lecturer would not be delivering any more subjects to this group, which prevented any infuence on its evaluaton. The online survey was completely anonymous and respondent answers were treated confdentally. The questonnaire was built with the support of seven Lecturers of the University of Málaga and it was reviewed by the eight guest speakers. Therefore, ffeen experts evaluated it and reformulated some of the questons to facilitate understanding. Afer that, a pilot questonnaire was flled by fve students, who gave Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 145 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 their feedback about the questonnaire itself before it was released in its fnal version. The lecturer partcipated in an in-depth interview, as well as the guest speakers. The analysis of the lecturer, guest speakers and students assessment is provided below. 5.1 Lecturer’s perspectve Some of the fndings that can be drawn from the interview with the lecturer are: • • • • • As for tme, the lecturer estmates he spent an average of 5 extra hours per case. Being 8 cases in total, it represents about 40 extra hours devoted to the subject. That tme includes: calls and e-mails to the speakers to arrange interviews and the session with students; schedule coordinaton with other lecturers; tme spent looking for sector informaton; creaton of discussion forums; interventon in discussion forums; case writng; identfcaton of discussion points; revision of updated cases; etc. In additon to this, tme devoted to scientfc artcles (about 10 hours at a rate of one hour per artcle) should be considered, as well as to moderatng discussion forums (in total about 3 ½ hours at a rate of about 20 minutes per forum, with 10 forums in total). It is estmated that this actvity has consttuted between 50 and 55 additonal hours for the lecturer workload. This tme has not been paid by the University, nor is it recognized in his teaching load. It has been a volunteering actvity, part of his extra role performance. In regards to his learning as a lecturer, he admits the experience has deserved the extra efort because he has been able to learn frst-hand sales management practces from various sectors, which is something he could have never learned from textbooks or artcles. Therefore his knowledge as a teacher has been enhanced because when teaching the subject ‘sales management’ in the future he will be able to base his lessons on real sales managers cases from various sectors, and share insights and details that otherwise would not have learned. From the point of view of his interacton with students, the lecturer acknowledges that using the CMGS method enabled a beter understanding of students’ knowledge, skills and attudes. He is also convinced that the attude of the students towards the subject has been much more positve than towards another subject that he gave them and he considers that the diference is essentally due to the methodology, since the other subject also was interestng to students and both students and the teacher were the same. Considering the experience with the other three groups of the same subject, the lecturer undoubtedly had to do an extra efort to prepare them, given the extra tme consumpton occasioned by the CMGS method. However he afrms that this methodology clearly succeed because he realized that it helped him make the other classes more dynamic since he could ofen refer to specifc details and examples from sessions with guest speakers, facilitatng student knowledge building. The lecturer highlights the relevant diference between the marks of students in the pilot Project group and the other three groups, as well as the diference in the quality of their partcipaton in class. When asked if he would use the same methodology again, he acknowledged that in principle he would be favorable but taking into account two factors: extra workload and students’ attude. Before implementng a similar project, he suggests that the teacher in queston assess in detail the extra work hours needed (about 50 approximately). Regarding the students’ attude, if they are not engaged the most advisable thing to do is using a diferent methodology, since most of its success lays in the involvement of students. As a mater of fact, the lecturer narrates that during the second session of this experience he realized that students had not prepared the session well in advance. He warned them he would change the methodology if they did not commit to the project, and fortunately students’ reacton was very positve. The lecturer makes clear that if he had failed to secure the students’ commitment, he would have stopped the project without any second thoughts. In conclusion, the main motvaton for the lecturer was to equip students with competent sales management qualifcaton and to take the opportunity to improve his professional development as a lecturer. The possible recogniton of his work given by the University of Málaga (Spain) was not a motvaton factor. Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 146 Journal of Technology and Science Educaton – htp://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.125 5.2 Guest speakers’ perspectve An in-depth interview was conducted by the lecturer with each of the guest speakers at the end of their session, following the same scheme for all of them. All the eight guest speakers were interviewed. Regarding their general assessment of this experience using the CMGS method, their mean score was 6.5 (out of 7). In relaton to whether they had learned anything from the students that would be applicable to their dayto-day business, the average score was 4 (out of 7). Yet they all acknowledged that it had been worthwhile from the point of view of learning but were aware that the quality of the fndings had not been partcularly signifcant. Nonetheless, three of them recognized that what had helped them most was to consider issues and approaches which hitherto had not considered due to their lack of tme and that this actvity had somehow served to “force” them to think. In regards to the extent to which this actvity improved their percepton of the University, the average score was 2.5. When asked about their percepton of lecturers, the average was 6 (both scores out of 7). Another queston was about the degree of student partcipaton and to what extent it was important for the session development. For 63% of the speakers, the average level of partcipaton was 5.5 (out of 7), which accounted for almost 79% of total excellence at their discreton. Considering the importance of student involvement in the project, 50 % judged it had an importance of 7 (out of 7). Finally the guest speakers were asked if they would repeat an experience like this and 90% responded favorably. 5.3 Students’ perspectve In order to assess the students’ experience, they were subjected to a voluntary and anonymous survey several months afer fnishing the course. The total number of students was 52. Valid responses were 35, representng a response rate of 67.30 %. The survey items can be seen in Table 3, as well as a link to the original online questonnaire used - in Spanish (htps://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mOk4SfguxYJuT3EXoa5yjFokXRLc4Fbdbr_06RIaRhA/viewform) Indicate your gender: I have had a similar experience in another subject: (yes / no) LIKERT SCALE FROM 1 TO 7 (1=STRONGLY DISAGREE; 7=STRONGLY AGREE) I think this approach has been useful for the subject learning This methodology has helped me to beter understand the business reality This methodology has helped me to be more partcipatve in class This method will help me to beter retain learning in memory for my professional life This methodology has helped me strengthen my entrepreneurship spirit The fact that the lecturer chaired sessions was useful to connect them to the course content The fact that the lecturer chaired sessions was useful to build my knowledge I wish that this methodology was used in other subjects This methodology has made me devote more tme to the subject This methodology has enabled me to like more the subject I value positvely having a class blog This same lecturer gave me another subject and I am more satsfed with this one precisely because of its innovatve methodology Such initatves improve my percepton of the University Such initatves improve my percepton of lecturers Thanks to this methodology I have spent more tme studying this subject Indicate your overall satsfacton with this methodology Vol. 4(3), 2014, pp 147