Message in (online) Bottle

Due to my extensive professional experience in marketing communications throughout the past 20 years, and my passion to share this knowledge along with my industry contacts with my students, I am frequently asked by my students ‘what can I do to get ahead in the industry?’

My goal is to guide students so they can achieve and be successful creative leaders in the industry, not as Harley (1993) suggests how ‘in many university courses, the teacher’s role is a didactic one, “telling” students what they need to know rather than a coaching role.’

I have the strong belief that if we learn and inquire about others and everything we are in a better position to understand each other, demonstrate respect and be willing to share ideas. I aim to lead by example and encourage my students to be a sponge: to question, consider and create ideas through their learning (as supported by Light and Cox, 2005).

I also reflect on my teaching and consider a range of approaches that will assist me to be an effective teacher who engages with students and peers. I support the leading academic writer and critical thinker, Stephen Brookfield’s concepts of the four ‘lenses’ (1995). These being: theoretical, student, peer, and autobiographical lenses.

In one of the subjects that I convene at University of Canberra, Client Relationship Management 8137, I use as a textbook, ‘The Art of Client Service’ by Robert Solomon (2008). This ‘text’ is symbolic of the way I teach as it is the furthest thing from a text book. It is an advertising industry professional’s honest and at times brutal account of the industry. It achieves what Herrington and Herrington (2006) explain provides a ‘multitude of perspectives to enable students to examine problems from the point of view of a variety of stakeholders (and this) is more conducive to sustained and deep exploration of any issue or problems’ (page 6).

Last year I contacted Solomon in an effort to establish a relationship between this leading industry professional and my students. Even though he is based in New York, Solomon has demonstrated tireless ongoing support and encouragement to my students. He wrote to them suggesting one thing that they could do to get ahead in the industry is to ‘be voracious consumers of everything, and I mean everything, in both old and new media. Ideas can come from anywhere, and you will find inspiration in the most unlikely of connections. Be open to this, and pursue this, with passion and dedication.’ (personal communication, 2010).

At the beginning of each semester I provide students with an information sheet on ‘Useful Advertising-Marketing Communications Resources and Websites’. I do this as I encourage and support my students to be ‘sponges’. Included on this list is the Australian industry’s e:bulletins Mumbrella http://mumbrella.com.au/ and AdNews http://www.adnews.com.au/ These online resources offer free daily e:bulletins that can be delivered direct to an email in-box featuring up-to-date information and news on the advertising-marketing communications industry. Anyone and everyone in the industry subscribe to these bulletins, and industry also makes itself available to be interviewed or showcased – as it is acknowledged that both these online resources are influential and can influence.

I know my teaching challenges students as I place high demands and expectations on them, including being aware of industry trends and current affairs issues, but I want them to be the future leaders of our industry. Students appear to respect this approach and applaud it. This is demonstrated through the strong results I receive in the University’s Unit Satisfaction Surveys on which academics performances are measured. Comments from my Advertising Strategy 6809 2011 anonymous student survey include:

‘Sally Webster has so far made Advertising Strategy a good experience. Her strengths include knowing exactly what she expects of herself and her students. for example, she often critiques professionals in the field of advertising and explains why she does this. I appreciate that she emphasises the fact that advertising is constantly changing, that the consumer and customer will not respond positively to the same tactics they were exposed to years ago.’

‘I have never had a tutor who knew so much about everything, Sally seems to be one of those people that is always on the ball - something extremely rare to find these days, she is the best tutor I've ever had.’

‘Sally is very informed about the material and tries to get us as the students involved and uses a lot of examples to show us and link that to the \"theory\"’

‘Sally is very enthusiastic and passionate about advertising. She's concise and clear in the strategies and theories she teaches us and provides examples we can relate to which makes it fun and easy to pay attention.’

As Race and Pickford (2007) explain: ‘Possibly the most pleasant feedback that any teacher can be given is that their enthusiasm was inspirational to students’ (p15).

Race and Pickford highlight how satisfying this is, however they do not focus on how students and peers can inspire and motivate teachers, which also relates to the Brookfield ‘Student and Peer Lenses’(1995). For me, this inspiration from my students and my peers supports and motivates me to be an even more informed, effective and innovative teacher.

References:
AdNews http://www.adnews.com.au/ accessed 7 May 2011.

Brookefield, S. (1995) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Harley, S. (1993). Situated learning and classroom instruction. Educational Technology, 33(3), 46-51.

Herrington, A. and Herrington, J. (2006) What is an Authentic Learning Environment? Idea Group Inc.

Light, G. & Cox, R. Learning & Teaching in Higher Education: The Reflective Professional. Sage Publications, London, 2005.

Mumbrella http://mumbrella.com.au/ accessed 7 May 2011.

Race, P. & Pickford, R. Making Teaching Work: ‘Teaching Smarter’ in Post-Compulsory Education. Sage Publications, London, 2007.

Solomon, R. (2008), The Art of Client Service, 58 things every advertising & marketing professional should know. New York, NY: Kaplan

You want evidence...you get research...

It is interesting how many incoming students about to embark on their Advertising-Marketing Communications course are surprised by the amount of research and evidence-based material that is used in developing successful creative campaigns.

As a teacher of Advertising-Marketing Communication I have a mantra that I encourage my students to chant back to me.
I ask: “What is advertising all about?”
The correct answer my students are encouraged to enthusiastically shout back is: “research”.
I continue: ‘And, what are you researching…?”
I want my students to bellow out so it can be heard down the corridor: “the target audience and getting as much evidence on our target audience so we can persuade them to buy or change behaviour.”

Those who answer correctly get a Cadbury Freddo. So, when it is the whole class that responds, there’s a lot of Cadbury chocolate going around. But, most importantly the message and importance of research gets through.

Why do I offer Cadbury? One of the most effective evaluation and research briefs of any communications campaign is that of the Cadbury Gorilla (Barreyat-Baron and Barrie, 2008). This case study, which is available on WARC (formerly known as the Worldwide Advertising Research Centre), won an Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Award in 2008. This case study sets out all the elements that need to be considered and undertaken when developing an advertising strategy. It demonstrates the research, evaluation, and strategic analysis required for a successful creative campaign – in the implementation phases, pre-development of the creative and post-campaign evaluation - all critical learning for advertising-marketing communication students. It is an ideal case study to show students and encourage them to analyse, reflect and compare with their own campaign research briefs.

As discussed in the post ‘It’s all about you…YouTube!’ my goal is teach students so they can be creative, job ready graduates that will be leaders in the industry and be recognised for delivering the highest of professional standards. I do this by focusing on Work Integrated Learning and by combining approaches of practice-led and research-led teaching.

Having access to websites and resources such as WARC assist students to achieve and importantly to identify, recognise and understand what cutting-edge, professional industry standards are.

University of Canberra students have the opportunity to access WARC through the public pathway www.warc.com or if they access the website through the UC Library it provides students with member access, which means access to all case studies, industry analysis, forecasting, and other data.

WARC is a London, based marketing trend research and forecasting agency that was established more than 25 years ago (source: WARC, 2011). The agency is recognised globally for its high research standards and influential industry reports. Due to my efforts to encourage students to review and study WARC case studies, many have produced very high professional standard Campaign Research Briefs. Therefore, I contacted WARC to consider accepting some of my students Research Briefs for its website. WARC has considered this favourably and are currently working with some of my students. If accepted, it will be the first time any report prepared by a student has been published by WARC.

The approach I have adopted supports the University of Canberra’s mission to encourage students to develop high level research skills and techniques, and encourage them to engage in broad discussions about research in their field. My teaching approach also advocates the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research ‘Guidelines for the 2011 Higher Education Research Data Collections (2010) that details: ‘Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings.’

By analysing and reviewing award winning case studies that are available on WARC such as the Cadbury Gorilla campaign case study, it assists students to achieve professional standards and develop a greater understanding of the importance of research and evidence-based creative ideas in a global context.

References:
Barreyat-Baron, M. and Barrie, R. (2008). ‘Cadbury – How a drumming gorilla beat a path back to profitable growth: a real-time effectiveness case study’. Advertising Works 17. IPA Effectiveness Awards 2008. London. Retrieved from: http://www.warc.com.ezproxy1.canberra.edu.au/ or http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/file.php/5277/IPA_Case_Study_Cadbury_Gorilla.pdf

‘Cadbury Gorilla’ (2007). Creative Agency: Fallon. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo accessed 25 April 2011.
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research ‘Guidelines for the 2011 Higher Education Research Data Collections (2010). Australian Government.

WARC (formerly Worldwide Advertising Research Centre). www.warc.com accessed: 25 April 2011.

It’s all about You…YouTube!

At the University of Canberra I convene and teach into a range of Advertising-Marketing Communications subjects at both the postgraduate and undergraduate level. The core units that I have designed and convene are Client Relationship Management, Advertising Strategy and Marketing Communication Management.

I am relatively new to academia having joined University of Canberra in August 2009 as Course Convenor and Lecturer of Advertising-Marketing Communication. Prior to this I worked for more than 20 years in marketing communications in the Government sector, in creative agencies, and for multinational organisations.

Coming from a strong vocational background, it was fundamental to me that I develop learning programs that support students in offering them ‘authentic activities (that) have real world relevance’ (Herrington, Oliver and Reeves, 2003). I believe it is critical that students are able to use their time at university to learn and grow in confidence by understanding the theory, how this relates to professional practice, and have every opportunity possible to put this learning into practice so they are delivering the highest of professional standards – and can be job ready graduates. This means supporting Work Integrated Learning (WIL) objectives and incorporating WIL elements, such as ‘Authentic Assessment or Performance Assessment’ (Moss, 1992), as these ‘approaches ‘encourage(s) students to develop professional, industry skills by undertaking assignments that are based on professional practice approaches.’ (Donnan, 2010).

Each semester I teach about 200 students. My goal is to develop curriculum that presents ideas, challenges thinking, and encourages discussion and debate. Therefore my aim is to design learning activities that are informative, interactive, innovative, engaging and creative (as supported by James, McInnis and Devlin, 2002)

By using a blended learning approach that incorporates the online platform Moodle with face to face teaching, it enables me to deliver on my WIL objectives and my personal objectives of challenging students to investigate, share and discuss ideas, and consider strategic options.

While it may appear basic, the key tool that is fundamental to achieving these goals is YouTube. Developed in 2005, YouTube is a global, video sharing network that enables anyone to post a video clip as long as it is no more than 15 minutes in length (source: Wikipedia, 2011). This policy is ideal for teaching as most clips can range from an advertisement of 30 seconds to an industry piece of a few minutes to an interview of a leading industry figure discussing key insights of around 10 minutes. All ideal times to capture a young, energetic audience that can easily be distracted when learning materials are lengthy, non-dimensional or repetitive.

YouTube clips are used in every lecture, in every class and in the majority of student discussion posts. Students will often raise a query in class that relates to something they have seen on YouTube clip which means sourcing and showing the clip impromptu to engender reflection, ideas and debate.

YouTube provides a global information source that can assist and support teaching and learning to be dynamic and engaging. It is an online network where consumers talk to consumers; where ideas and creativity can be shared globally. This demonstrates to students first hand practice of the power of advertising, brand equity and consumer behaviour. Where else could you discover an angry, determined Panda that could successfully persuade consumers to buy Panda Cheese http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21mJh6j9i4&feature=popt17us0e or listen to a song by a disgruntled consumer of United Airlines http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDkR-Z-69Y&feature=related that as a result of the YouTube clip and its viral reach does impact on the airlines’ sales. These clips, along with many more, were all analysed in my Advertising-Marketing Communication units to demonstrate in an interactive and dynamic way a range of issues, concepts and trends that are current within the industry.

References:
Advantage Advertising and Marketing for Arab Dairy / Alibaba Foods. Panda Cheese. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21mJh6j9i4&feature=popt17us0e accessed: 5 February 2011.
Donnan, P. (2010) Assessment and Evaluation in Tertiary Teaching. Teaching and Learning Centre. University of Canberra.Herrington, J. Oliver, R. and Reeves, T C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19 (10), p 59-71 http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/herrington.html as sourced from: Tertiary Teaching and Learning 8191 (2010) Session 8: Professional Education: Integrating Work and Learning. Unit Convenor Peter Donnan, University of Canberra.
James, R. McInnis, C, & Devlin, M. Assessing Learning in Australian Universities. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, Melbourne University & The Australian Universities Teaching Committee, Canberra, 2002.
Moss, P. A. (1992). Shifting conceptions of validity in educational measurement: implications for performance assessment. Review of Educational Research. 62: pp229-58.
United Breaks Guitar. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDkR-Z-69Y&feature=related accessed: 12 March 2011.
Wikipedia (2011). Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Tube accessed: 22 April 2011.
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/

I have set up a very simple blog using Google www.blogger.com I deliberately chose the bookish template as I liked the juxtaposition of the traditional bookshelf / library look with the blog's title of Sally's Education Technology.

I have also activated the settings so it is private and not for public access. I couldn't find where I could change the settings so it is displayed in chronological order...but I'm unsure that this is important for me to view the original post first. I'm so used to email where the most recent hits the top of the screen and when the messages fall off the screen - well, they do just that!

I've wondered how I could integrate Blogging into my classes. The units I have developed have a strong blended learning focus - and sometimes I wonder how far to go...and is it possible to go 'too far', especially in the learners mind. I am very mindful that students are trying to learn and at times just comprehend - everything can be fresh and new...perhaps if we keep adding in new social media tools it could just be a bit too much for some?

Before I answer this I believe it's best to explain about my teaching style.

I know I now spend a substantial amount of time educating my students on my teaching and learning approaches (I have units / subjects of about 150 students). I didn't when I first started at UC and many students struggled, because they were used to a more traditional approach to learning: the lecture and the tute - and going page by page in a text book (often a dull text book!).

My approach is more dynamic, very much focused on blended learning and Work Integrated Learning. It is formative in style and has that great buzz / jargon of 'constructive alignment'. I believe by not trusting my students and explaining my teaching style meant that many students struggled because it seemed they were just trying to coping with the learning of new material in a university context - then I was expecting them to understand and adjust to vastly different teaching styles in their new learning environment. They weren't used to the freedom, flexibility and some appeared not to want to be independent learners. I came to this conclusion as the more senior students (those in 3rd and 4th years) and mature age students coped so much better with my style.

I didn't give up though...what I did in my second semester of teaching was to trust the student more, respect them and tell them my approach. I walked and talked them through this. By giving them this respect they accepted it more, even though they said it was challenging, but they embraced it and the majority loved it. The results in my Unit Satisfaction Survey were dramatically different. In my first semester they were mid-50's and mid-60's, in my second semester they were all mid-90's. For one unit (admittedly a small unit) I got 100s! Pretty fantastic. Of course it wasn't just about explaining this teaching and learning approach to the students - I got these USS results for a range of reasons. However, I really believe this approach of discussing my style with them helped them and supported them as they had a better understanding of why I was doing something and how this assisted them.

For information, Unit Satisfaction Survey (USS) is the University of Canberra's student survey that is used to measure our teaching performance and the results provided to DEEWR).

So, would I use blogging in my teaching. One area that I could integrate it is on the Unit Moodle site and replace the announcements. This way students could respond. But then they do have this opportunity in other Forums. Interestingly, I set up a Wiki on my Moodle site and my postgraduate students asked me to convert it to a Forum. They much preferred this style...why? because...drum roll! they could see the unread posts - whereas they couldn't with a Wiki. To them it was more important to manage their time and know they had to go to a forum to read a post, than to dip in and out...with Wiki's there is an assumption that you have the time to do this. I suspect it could be the same with blogs. If the majority of online material was published via Moodle, then I couldn't imagine students would be overjoyed having to log on to another site / network to get more information, that could easily be placed on the Moodle site.

At UC we have a Yammer blog for all staff....perhaps my reaction, reflection and thoughts on this would be worth holding off for another post...it's a hmmm....reaction!

Overall, I support blended learning and believe it is useful for us as educators to explore different tools and options. But, I also believe it's important to only use them if they will add value - and not just for the sake of it. The critical thing is that students learn, are motivated and achieve against the desired learning outcomes.

Sally