Unexpected consequences

Five weeks ago the office closed and I travelled home to work there for an unknown period of time.

I'm used to working from home: for much of the last 15 years I have worked at home for 1 day a week so didn't anticipate any problems. I have a desk, screen, keyboard etc and a decent office chair.  My home office is in the spare bedroom so doesn't need to be cleared up every night.  

It's also where I retreat to to study.  And there in lies the unexpected consequences. Because I work permanently from my home office Monday to Friday for fairly long hours - much of which is on video conferencing which I find very intensive (and others do too) the last thing I want to do is spend time in there studying at the weekend. 

Not the best situation at the start of a new module. 

Forums n things

Who would have believed that different forums would be so fundamentally different?  After all, each module has one to support student learning.

BB modules (business school led MBA owned modules) were specific to a tutor group so there were small numbers of students.  Interaction was directed by the tutor who started each thread and my experience was that there was limited interaction from students except where a TMA required you to post and you were marked on that participation.  At one point a student apologised for posting an questions/ comment on a topic which wasn't in direct response to a question set by the course/ tutor.  I also found it frustrating that there was an assumption that everyone on the module was doing an MBA

TU modules (STEM faculty) were messy, gregarious and included all students and tutors from the module.  The content was led by the students and which, for me, gave a depth and richness of content and allowed the content to expend, open new avenues and really helped my learning.  Everyone was engaged and brought thinking from many different modules and courses - I never felt that the forum was focussed on those heading towards the MSc (Systems Thinking in Practice) I felt un-inhibited and able to contribute openly and without feeling I need to use academic language or quote from texts.

And now an M module which has characteristics of both.  The moderator has opened the forum and created many threads.  However, so have students.  Someone has also set up a WhatsApp group - hours of my life may now disappear as I engage in a totally different way with my fellow students.

Reflections on a completed module: Marketing in the 21st century

What was the module? BB844 Marketing in the 21st century

The economic turmoil of the last few years has required organisations to undertake more creative marketing as well as be more responsive to the needs of the market. This online module explores a variety of marketing issues that emerge from marketing planning, such as marketing research, marketing segmentation, targeting and positioning. You will draw upon current theories and examples that illustrate how organisations of all sizes deal with environmental challenges and through this gain a strong appreciation of how marketing principles will not only benefit your organisation, but also how you can use these to improve your own performance.

Module dates:  Nov19-Mar20

Why did I choose it?

As part of a diploma I did some years ago I did an introduction to marketing.  Having worked with professional marketeers I had an awareness of the depth and complexity of the activity in practice so was interested in learning more.  I particularly wanted to learn more about current digital marketing practices ie new techniques needed for current marketing.

Was it what I expected?

We covered what I would describe as traditional marketing in depth.  So I now know much more about eg segmentation than I had before.  I had expected more focus on 'new' techniques/ technology - while this content was in the module it was right at the end and the structure meant that it would be easy to avoid covering this material.

The TMA and the EMA questions directed attention to specific parts of the module.  For example, the TMA focussed tightly on Unit 6 & 7, the EMA on 8 & 9 so it would be easy to miss out other units.  As in some previous assignments I found the assignments pure academic focus challenging when I got interested in trying to solve the real life situation and had to keep reminding myself that I should  'apply the theory to a situation' rather than 'improve a situation using your knowledge'..

What did I think?

I now have a much better understanding of marketing but I had hoped to have more of an opportunity to go into depth about social media, how to understand, use and measure the effectiveness of digital marketing techniques

Not an April fool

My EMA was due today.  But it isn't

Last weekend when I sat down to finish the last third of my EMA, I received an email from the University.  The gist of it was "you will not be required to submit your end of module assessments (EMA) for your module (module BB844)."

In effect, the uncertainties introduced by the coronavirus the university who had already cancelled all face to face exams had decided to cancel my EMA.  The module assessment will be based on the continuous assessment elements of the module - so I should get a pass.

I'm lucky - I'm safe at home and healthy.  But an event such as this does bring closer the reality of living through a pandemic.