title: Consumerism and consumer complexity: implications for university teaching and teaching evaluation.
abstract: A contemporary issue is the effects of a corporate production metaphor and consumerism on university education. Efforts by universities to attract students and teaching strategies aimed at 'adult learners' tend to treat student consumers as a homogeneous group with similar expectations. In this paper, I argue that consumer groups are not uniform. I use Dagevos' theoretical approach to categorize consumers as calculating, traditional, unique, and responsible. Based on the characteristics of consumers occupying these categories, I describe the implications of the varying consumer expectations for teaching. I also consider the implications for evaluation of teaching and call for research taking consumer types into account when evaluating teaching.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, and Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of British Columbia, T. 201 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 2B5. Wendy.hall@ubc.ca
authors.forename: Wendy A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000592:standards*; D014495:Universities
keywords: Consumerism; Education; Postgraduate; University