Dr. Ashish Sood , assistant professor of marketing, was awarded $110,000 from the University of California Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI), to enhance the learning and engagement experience of students at UCR School of Business.

Dr. Sood received the funds to carry out his innovative proposal for the development and enhancement of the Pricing Strategy and Management course which he teaches. The course of pricing management is an applied course that draws from many fields (e.g., consumer psychology, sociology, behavioral economics, and econometrics).

He plans to use the funds to convert his course into a hybrid class that maximizes instructional time and cuts down the cost of higher education through a two-fold strategy: creating online courses and using interactive programs that reinforce online teachings.

“Online education has tremendous potential to transform the quality of student learning and engagement,” Dr. Sood explains. “The recent strategic initiative by the UCR School of Business identified engagement as one of our key strategic goals, and pairs nicely with the vision of the ILTI. The School of Business is working towards deepening student engagement by creating a challenging learning environment. I saw an opportunity to contribute to these goals with the resources made available by the Innovative Learning Technology Initiative.”

The University of California Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) was established in 2013, to meet the UC campus educational need for high quality online courses that will help UC undergraduates get the courses they need, satisfy degree requirements, and graduate on time.

Dr. Ashish Sood is an assistant professor of marketing. Dr. Sood earned his Ph.D. from UCLA, and MBA from Nanyang Technological U., and B.E. from Delhi College of Engineering.