Integrating & Innovating: the MS-Digital Innovation in Marketing Degree

In the Fall of 2015, the MS-Digital Innovation in Marketing Program was launched at Temple University. This innovative new program is grounded in the MIS department in partnership with the Marketing department – integrating the expertise of both areas to provide a well-rounded technical and marketing education in an industry that is growing at lightning speed. While there are Masters degrees to be found in Digital Marketing, this is the first degree with a core in Management Information Systems. From an MIS perspective, students learn Systems Thinking, Business Intelligence and Process Improvement. These classes are combined with courses focusing on Mobile, Social and Digital Fundamentals to provide one cohesive student experience that will enable the students to act as leaders in the digital space. In the capstone experience, students leverage their breadth of coursework to solve a real world problem occurring within the industry or propose an idea that the industry lacks. Our students complete two courses a semester which enables them to finish their coursework in just 16 months. Courses have been selected to complement each other and are interwoven to maximize the time spent on course work and minimize the overhead. Students are able to capitalize on the shared course space to really hone the skills that they develop in each course. The coursework is offered 100% online and requires no residency, enabling students to participate from anywhere in the world. Students, and faculty meet in a virtual space and interact through lecture, discussion, in class activities and guest speaking engagements. Weekly in class activities, conducted through breakout session help to reinforce the topics covered in class. On Sunday evenings, we regularly host industry experts to provide insider insights on current trends and opportunities. Our digitalmarketing.edu community provides a virtual network where students develop their digital portfolios to showcase their course work and topics of interest in the digital space. The community platform also provides a digital area that allows for networking between the students, faculty and industry experts. The community platform serves as the Learning Management System, the electronic portfolio and social networking site that enables our entire digital community to interact with each other and maintain a professional front facing persona. Lastly, our program touts an Advisory Council comprised of digital marketing leaders who are focused on the success of the program and our students. The members of the advisory council provide guidance on program specifics and also provide access to the marketplace for our students. The focus of this talk will be to determine what other content should be included in the degree, discuss other like degrees and solicit feedback and ideas for generating new and interesting coursework.