Marketing professors Nancy Frontczak and Clay Daughtrey have won The Best Paper Award at last month's Marketing Educators' Association conference in California. The paper was titled "An Application of Critical Thinking Principles to Marketing Education: The Student-Driven Syllabus."

The paper is based on Frontczak's experience teaching two sections of Consumer Behavior last year, one using a traditional syllabus she prepared and the other using a syllabus the students created.

"The results were overwhelmingly positive," said Frontczak, who won a similar award from the Marketing Education Association in 1990. "In 54 of 58 measures of the effectiveness of the student-driven syllabus, students rated the student-driven syllabus higher."

The student-driven syllabus was used as a way to encourage critical thinking by challenging student thinking, providing an interactive atmosphere and creating disequilibrium - a lack of stability in the classroom.

Frontczak's students weren't the only ones feeling anxious when she proposed that the students create the syllabus. "It was a little scary, especially listening to some of the ideas the students came up with," she said. To minimize downfalls, students were told they had to stick with the course title and follow the official course objectives.

"The students ended up coming up with a very challenging and creative plan for the semester. They ended up with exams that were more extensive than I would have given," Frontczak said.

"We ended up having more discussion in this class than in the other. The students really got involved," said Frontczak, who plans to use the technique again.

Daughtrey, who hasn't yet used a student-driven syllabus, plans to do so in his Sports Marketing course this fall. "The content will have to be there, but the students will decide how it all comes together," he said.

"This award means a lot to Metro in terms of professional standing," Daughtrey added.