Field Trip Learning: Measuring Effectiveness, Transfer, &

Metacognition in the World of Walt Disney

RJ Podeschi, Assistant Professor of Information SystemsCarrie S. Trimble, Assistant Professor of Marketing

2015 Marketing Management Association Fall Educators’ ConferenceSan Juan, Puerto Rico

September 15 - 19, 2015

MK365: Brand Loyalty through Digital Media

MyMagic+ Technology

• Bring customers closer to the Disney brand• Trip planning

• Data-driven guest targeting• Cross sell additional products

• Crowd control• Transportation planning

thedisneyblog.com

MyMagic+ Applications

Consumer Decision Journey

Court, Elzinga, Mulder, & Vetvik

McKinsey & Co. 2009

Pre-trip Planning

On-ground Experience--Park Objectives & App Usage

On-ground Experience--Scavenger Hunt

Methods• Post-trip Survey• Reflection Paper• Comparison to work by Karns - 1993, 2005

Survey Questions

1. Which elements of the trip would you change? Please explain how and why you would change them.

2. Which elements of the trip would you recommend that be repeated in future versions of the course?

3. What assignments would you recommend be repeated for future versions of the class?

4. What assignments would you recommend be changed? Why and how would you change them?

5. What technology topics would you recommend be repeated for future versions of the class?

6. What technology topics would you recommend be changed? Why and how would you change them? Would you add any specific technology-related topics to the course?

Reflection Paper

1. Which part of the process for planning the trip (and your team’s objectives) did you put the most effort into?

2. What was the most difficult part of meeting your objectives? 3. Customer satisfaction is the difference between expected performance

and perceived performance. Describe in detail at least one specific revision you made to your expectations once the class arrived at Walt Disney World and explain how it affected your objectives. effective.

4. What was the biggest problem you encountered with the MyMagic+ program (the mobile app, the mydisneyexperience.com site, the Magic Band, FP+, etc.) and how successful were you in solving that problem?

5. When you spoke to other park guests, did they mention similar problems? Compare & contrast.

6. What new behavior or strategy for trip planning do you feel you’ve developed that you intend to use in the future?

7. What did you learn about yourself as a traveler in the process of completing this course?

Survey Results

Survey Topic N Real

World

Abstract Neither Enjoy-

able

Un-

enjoyable

Neither Easy Chal-

lenging

Neither

Trip Related 22 0.00% 4.55% 95.45% 77.27% 0.00% 22.73% 0.00% 13.64% 86.36%

Assignment Related 22 36.36% 4.55% 59.09% 31.82% 18.18% 50.00% 4.55% 45.45% 50.00%

Technology Topics Related

22 22.73% 4.55% 72.73% 9.09% 0.00% 90.91% 0.00% 0.00% 100.00%

Reflection Essay Results

N Real

World

Abstract Neither Enjoyable Unenjoyable Neither Easy Challenging Neither

20 65.00% 10.00% 25.00% 85.00% 0.00% 15.00% 0.00% 90.00% 10.00%

Student Responses

Enjoyable

“I thought everything we covered was fairly cool and fun to learn.”

“I definitely recommend doing a similar group again because I feel like (by the end of the trip) everyone really was close.”

Challenging

“I thought creating park objectives for everyday was extremely helpful for going in with a plan. Even though some were difficult to accomplish, it really helped give us some sort of plan to be able to know what we wanted to do with our day.”

“ I think these were very difficult to complete because I was unaware of the time commitment…”

Future Plans

• Yes, we’re going back!• Match teams with local families to set park

objectives• Remind students that this is a college course• Replicating this study with MBA international

immersion

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What questions do you have?

podeschi.com/courses/mk365