Delivering Quality and Value in the Classroom: The Use of Problem-Based Learning in Retail Merchandising Courses

In today's rapidly changing environment, universities are increasingly being held more accountable for delivering quality and value to their external stakeholders (i.e., students and industry partners). As retail merchandising educators, we face the challenge of delivering state-of-the-art knowledge and capstone experiences to students in order to prepare them for the obstacles they will face upon entering the workforce. While traditional methods of instruction limit our ability to meet this challenge, the problem-based learning method offers educators an opportunity to improve students' skills in many critical areas identified by the industry (i.e., problem solving, critical thinking, research, teamwork, verbal/written communication skills). This paper examines one university's experience designing and conducting a senior-level retail merchandising course using the problem-based learning method. Student and industry partner perceptions and comments are used to advocate implementing the problem-based learning method in retail merchandising courses.