Title: 'Eating your own dog food': applying course concepts in your teaching

Authors: Robert L. Bregman

Addresses: Department of Decision and Information Sciences, C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, 334 Melcher Hall, Houston, TX 77204-6021, USA

Abstract: The phrase 'eating your own dog food', which relates to the internal use of products for sale to customers, is common in the software industry. The phrase and the general approach provide an interesting way to promote the use of course concepts to students. In short, the 'eating your own dog food' approach requires an instructor to use course concepts in the design and management of a class, and convey those linkages to students during the class. This article introduces the approach in general and describes how it was used to improve an online graduate core class in operations management.

Keywords: eating your own dog food; dogfooding; teaching methods; student motivation; course concepts; teaching; concept application; internal usage; product use; customers; software industry; instructors; class management; linkages; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning; internet; world wide web; operations management; higher education; universities; graduate students; University of Houston; United States; USA; MBA programmes; master's degrees; business administration; innovation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2012.048812

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2012 Vol.12 No.3, pp.319 - 331

Published online: 28 Aug 2014 *

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