Summer Session: May 15 - August 15, 2025

My Revisited Online Teaching Manifesto (Updated Aug 2025)

Who I Am: Personal and Professional Context

My name is Minghao Wang, a first-year PhD student (started in Fall 2024) in Marketing at Michigan State University. My educational journey spans multiple institutions and countries, giving me diverse perspectives on learning and teaching. I earned two Bachelor’s degrees from MSU - one in Supply Chain Management and in Psychology. I also hold two Master’s degrees: an M.S. in Marketing Research from MSU and an M.S. in Management Business Analytics and Intelligence from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU).

My international experience includes studying abroad at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom (Canterbury) for one semester during my psychology studies. As someone originally from China now studying in the United States, I bring multicultural perspectives to my teaching. This diverse background helps me understand how students from different cultures and educational systems approach learning.

These varied educational experiences have given me multiple angles of understanding what students like and dislike. I have been an undergraduate student at MSU, experienced different teaching styles at CWRU, and adapted to British educational approaches during my semester abroad. I understand the challenges of navigating different academic systems and cultural expectations around learning.

Before entering my doctoral program, I worked in procurement and data analysis at CWRU, where I learned how to solve complex problems and communicate findings clearly. My background in marketing research has taught me the importance of understanding your audience. Just as successful marketing campaigns require deep knowledge of consumer behavior, effective teaching requires understanding how students learn.

This summer, I taught MKT 327 (Introduction to Marketing) for the first time. My class was completely asynchronous (July 1 - Aug 15, 2025), serving third-year college students who juggle coursework with jobs and other responsibilities. This teaching opportunity represented a new chapter in my professional development, and taking CEP 820 alongside teaching helped me apply what I was learning immediately.

My Course Design: Guided by Evidence and Student Voices

My manifesto guides how I approach online course design and student interaction. Drawing from my experiences at MSU, CWRU, and the University of Kent(UK), I understand that different educational environments create different learning experiences. I am committed to continuous improvement through evidence-based teaching practices. Just as I use data to understand market trends, I use student feedback and learning analytics to refine my teaching methods.

Through CEP 820, I learned about frameworks that helped me understand why this approach works. The TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) showed me that effective online teaching requires thoughtful integration of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge within specific contexts. I can’t just pick cool tech tools without considering whether they actually help students learn marketing concepts.

The Design Justice principles also changed how I think about course design. Particularly powerful was the idea that “everyone is an expert based on their own lived experience” and that we should “center the voices of those who are directly impacted by the outcomes of the design process.” Instead of just asking students about their tech skills, my surveys now ask questions like “What worries you most about taking this course?” and “What are your aspirations in life?” These aren’t just feel-good questions—they give me actionable data.

When my MKT 327 students told me through surveys that they were managing internships, part-time jobs, full-time jobs, and some even had three jobs, I didn’t just acknowledge these constraints—I redesigned around them. I restructured from individual assignments analyzing 12 companies to collaborative group work where each student analyzes approximately 2-3 companies total. This significantly reduced workload while maintaining learning objectives. I’m glad I made this change because it turned out most of my students were working while taking summer classes.

My multicultural background helps me recognize that students come from diverse educational and cultural experiences. Some may be more comfortable with direct questioning, while others prefer written reflection. Some may expect highly structured guidance, while others thrive with independence. My course design tries to accommodate these differences through multiple format options for assignments—students can submit traditional written responses (200-300 words per company), create 3-4 minute video explanations, or design infographics with explanations—and flexible communication structures.

My Beliefs About Learning and Online Learning

Learning in General

I believe learning is most effective when it connects to students’ existing knowledge and future goals. My experience studying psychology, supply chain management, marketing research, and business analytics has shown me that knowledge builds on previous understanding.

My Chinese background, studying in the US, and also a semester in the UK taught me that different cultures approach learning differently. Some emphasize individual achievement, while others value collaborative knowledge building. Some prioritize theoretical understanding, while others focus on practical application. Effective teaching must recognize and accommodate these differences.

Students need opportunities to practice skills, receive feedback, and improve their work. As my CEP 820 instructor (Dr. Anne Heintz) mentioned, learning is iterative - we get better through repeated attempts and reflection. This is why I give students a full week for open exams and allow them to drop their lowest exam score.

Online Learning Specifically

Online learning has unique challenges and opportunities. Bayne et al.’s (2020) “The Manifesto for Teaching Online” helped me understand that online education can be more human than many face-to-face experiences when designed thoughtfully. Their assertion that we should embrace the digital rather than see it as a poor substitute for in-person teaching resonated with my experience as an international student who often felt more comfortable participating in online discussions.

Through CEP 820, I learned about different types of communication that need to happen in online courses: content-related, planning of tasks, and social support (Haythornthwaite, 2008). In MKT 327, I design for all three through reflection prompts that help students process content (“Which company’s marketing strategy is most sustainable?”), coordinate with peers (“How did working with your group help you understand these cases differently?”), and connect personally (“How will you use what you’ve learned in your future career?”).

What I’ve Learned from Teaching and CEP 820

Mistakes I Made and How to Avoid Them

Confusing Activity with Engagement: Early in my course planning, I thought elaborate online tools would make me a better teacher. CEP 820 taught me that the most powerful online learning experiences often use simple technologies in sophisticated ways. My students needed clear group coordination systems and straightforward collaboration tools, not complex platforms they had to learn on top of learning marketing.

Overlooking Context: Despite my multicultural background, I initially designed like everyone had perfect internet and quiet study spaces. The Design Justice principles made me actually build flexibility into my course structure, not just talk about it. This means multiple assignment formats, flexible deadlines when appropriate, and clear communication about requirements.

Treating Assessment as Measurement Rather Than Learning: My quantitative background led me to focus on measurable outcomes without considering the learning process. Now I design assessments that help students learn while they’re completing them. My reflection prompts ask students to connect marketing concepts to their professional goals, serving both formative and summative purposes.

Key Insights

I now understand that effective online instruction requires the same systematic approach I bring to my marketing research. I collect data about student needs through surveys, analyze what’s working through feedback, and iterate based on evidence. This empirical approach helps me understand which strategies work for which students under what conditions.

My goal is to create online learning experiences that draw from student diversity while serving their specific needs. My multicultural perspective reminds me that my students may come from backgrounds very different from my own. Some may be first-generation college students, others may be international students like I was, and still others may be returning to school after time in the workforce. Online learning should accommodate all of these paths.

My Commitment Moving Forward

I commit to using technology to enhance rather than replace human connection in learning. This means designing opportunities for meaningful interaction, creating space for student voice and choice, and never losing sight of the individual learners behind the screens. In practice, this translates to responsive email communication, flexible office hours that accommodate different schedules, and group work structures that build community while respecting individual circumstances.

I will continue to approach teaching with the same rigor I bring to my research, but always remembering that my students are people with complex lives, valuable experiences, and important goals. My job is to create learning experiences that fit into those lives and help students achieve those goals.

As a first-time instructor who has now experienced both taking CEP 820 and teaching my first course simultaneously, I am committed to learning alongside my students and using that learning to create better educational experiences for everyone. The frameworks and principles I’ve learned will continue to guide my practice, but they will always be applied through the lens of my students’ actual needs and contexts.

References

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P., & Sinclair, C. (2020). The manifesto for teaching online. MIT Press.

Design Justice Network. (2020). Design justice principles. https://designjustice.org/

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.