Fit for Purpose? @ #PLE_SOU

Fit for Purpose: placing the PLE at the centre of marketing education
Lisa Harris and Paul Harrigan
University of Southampton
Presentation for 2nd International PLE Conference, Southampton, July 2011

Author Information
Paul Harrigan @drpaulharrigan
Lisa Harris @lisaharris
Lecturer in Marketing
Programme Director for the BSc in International Marketing
Research on impact of technology on marketing curriculum
Current research project investigating use of Web 2.0 (e.g. social networks, blogs, web analytics) technologies on customer relationships in marketing
Teaches Digital Marketing at the University of Southampton
Programme Director for the MSc in Digital Marketing.
Qualified e-tutor for the University of Liverpool online MBA.
Currently developing workshops encouraging the growth of digital presence for career or business development.

Background
At Southampton our research focuses on:
how developments in technology are driving new marketing theory and practice
how marketing education should respond to these changes
This paper evaluates how marketing education should develop both appropriate curriculum content and the supportive personal learning environments (PLEs) made possible by developments in technology.

21st Century Careers (JISC, 2009)
Competition for employment in a global knowledge economy
Increased levels of self-employment and portfolio working
Growth of multi-disciplinary teams focused on specific tasks whose members might be physically located anywhere in the world
Life within a networked society
Blurring of boundaries between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’, public and private
Increasingly ubiquitous use of digital technologies.

The big picture
the digital sector directly employs 2.5 million people in the UK
the vast majority of graduate jobs require effective use of ICT as an integral aspect of professionalism and performance.
The UK Government has indicated that student satisfaction will be taken as a critical measure of how higher education is performing.
learners have high expectations and their experiences of technology-supported learning are largely determined by the level of staff e-learning skills.

Digital Literacy
“Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand, evaluate, and analyse information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current tools and an understanding of how they can be used”
“The active management of online activities such as collaboration, networking , reviewing, content creation and curation in order to “stand out from the crowd” in today’s job market”
“an ability to respond positively to change”
www.lisaharrismarketing.com
www.delicious.com/lisaharris1
www.twitter.com/lisaharris
www.slideshare.net/lisaharris
www.uk.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris

Classmates
Friends
Family
Teachers
Experts
Coworkers
Contacts
Video Conferencing
Evaluating Resources
Locating Experts
Microbloging
Scholarly Works
“Life-wide” and “life-long” learning
Synchronous Communication
Information Management
Library/Texts
Instant Messaging
Mobile Texting
Open CourseWare
Subscriptions readers
RSS
Social Networks
Blogs
Wikis
Social Bookmarking
Podcasts
Wendy Drexler (2008)

The PLE Spectrum
PLEs can be conceptualised in terms of:
1) the technology choices available to individuals to help them manage their learning
2) the features of the study programme which help to formalise this approach
3) the technological infrastructure provided by the university as a whole (ie providing adequate wifi, secure web access etc)
4) the culture changes that are required for staff to operate effectively within this environment

Potential scope of the PLE

Southampton PLE Initiatives
Undergraduate Digital Marketing module – development of online communities by student groups using blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook (from 2008, assessed by oral presentation)
Digital Presence Workshops for staff and students from 2009
Student blogs to support personal tutor/tutee relationship from 2009
Integration of PLE into Introduction to Marketing and Digital Marketing Communications modules from Sept 2010
Blog, Delicious, Netvibes

The PLE for marketing students
Assessed blog posts: reflections on the learning process, reinforced with face to face meetings
Continual assessment and feedback throughout module (online and offline)
Students encouraged to find relevant online materials and report back to the group
Live tweeting in class, with remote participants
Encouragement to use online bookmarking and sharing tools

Challenges
*Very* variable levels of digital skills amongst students
Variable levels of staff ‘buy in’
Entrenched expectations of a ‘traditional’ learning experience. They were not used to:
reading or critiquing each others’ work
making their work publically available online
‘thinking across’ modules
building up assignment work from the start of a module rather than at last minute.com

PLE Success stories
Some students volunteered to present their work to the whole group
For examples of students who have really embraced the approach, see Natasha’s blog and Maria’s blog.
Summary video of student experiences through the whole programme: Http://www.tinyurl.com/mastervideo2

Thank you for participating!
Any questions, comments, suggestions???

http://www.lisaharrismarketing.com	694
http://www.scoop.it	33
url_unknown	4
http://paper.li	1

Fit for Purpose? @ #PLE_SOU

by lisa harris on Jul 06, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

4 Embeds 732

Statistics

Fit for Purpose? @ #PLE_SOU — Presentation Transcript