Managing Programmatic Trade-offs for Centers of Teaching and Learning: Applying a Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Approach to Pedagogical Offerings

Authors

Christopher Vicente Hsin-Hung S. Chen, Columbia UniversityFollow
Ian G. Althouse, Columbia University
Caitlin P. DeClercq, Columbia University
Mark L. Phillipson, Columbia University

ORCID IDs

Chen 0000-0002-1477-6024

Althouse 0000-0002-8238-2086

Phillipson 0000-0003-1136-8751

Date of this Version

Spring 2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development (2023) 42(1): 6

doi: 10.3998/tia.690

Comments

License: CC BY-NC-ND

Abstract

The demands of current instructional realities for moving to completely online formats have led to dramatic changes in the ways that centers for teaching and learning serve their communities. Pedagogical programs have been adapted, invented, and reimagined for online modalities. In this article, we share an approach borrowed from marketing—segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP)—and describe three cases showing the application of STP in our center’s work with instructors. This approach has helped us clarify and target our pedagogical priorities, allowing us to make appropriate trade-offs to produce more focused educational development programming that better meets our audience’s needs, constraints, and contexts.