27 Feb 2013

Coventry University Blog Project 2013

I started teaching the E-Marketing postgraduate module this semester. At Coventry University Business School, this is a core option module for the MSc Strategic Marketing Management, MA Marketing Management, MA Sport Marketing, MSc International Marketing, MSc Event Management, MA Sport Business Management and MA Advertising and Marketing course. I have a few MBA students as well.


Part of the assessment of this module is via a group coursework and as I was preparing for this module right before this semester, I had several fantastic ideas. However, in the end I decided to go with something which was based on my area of expertise and with the objective to equip the students with hands-on experience of using relevant social media platforms and tools and teaching them how to practically apply the e-marketing theories learnt in class. Thus was born the Coventry University Blog Project 2013.


The students were required to work in groups with each group creating a blog based on their areas of interest. They were then given a series of tasks to complete. Besides creating compelling content, the students had to promote their blogs - both offline and online, with special emphasis on social networks.   They were also required to keep track of their visitor statistics and post them weekly on a forum on the module Moodle page  (the  e-learning software platform used by Coventry University Business School). In the end, they will be required to hand in a 8000 word long report based on the project.


Several of the groups have done exceedingly well and I am quite proud of what we have achieved.

Given below is a list of the blogs which the students have created :
  1. Inspiration for Travellers
  2. Extravagant Globers
  3. Take A Trip
  4. Movie Mania M21
  5. Cookery Budgetary
  6. Everyday Solutions
  7. Offers, Deals and Sales in Coventry
  8. Facts About Marketing
  9. Student-Assist
  10. Beer Oh Beer
  11. Conquering Coventry
  12. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service
  13. GLO Sensational Music
  14. West Midland sport
  15. Sports Light

26 Feb 2013

From SWOT to TOWS


Michael Watkins writes in the HBR blog that we should focus on threats and opportunities first and then strengths and weaknesses next.

Read his post here: From SWOT to TOWS: Answering a Reader's Strategy Question

Also read: The TOWS Matrix --- A Tool for Situational Analysis by Heinz Weihrich, Professor of Management, University of San Francisco.

21 Feb 2013

2nd Wednesday at the SGI Coventry

I have always wanted to attend the 2nd Wednesday events organised by the Serious Games Institute,  Coventry University Technology Park, every month but could not because of one reason or the other. However, I  made sure that I was free for the event on the 13th of February 2013.

This time the focus was on the future of learning including new approaches to learning such as: MOOCs, technology enhanced learning, game based approaches and social interactive learning. Among the speakers were Prof Paul Frere (Open University),  Dr Alastair Cameron (ITS Learning), Dr Mark Gaved (Open University), Dr Ian Dunwell (SGI) and Kathleen Stokes (Nesta). However, I was specially interested on the presentation by Dr Kaska Porayska-Pomsta from the Institute of Education on The ECHOES project on games to help children with autism. The children can explore and improve social and communicative skills through interacting and collaborating with virtual characters (agents) and digital objects controlled by an AI and tracking devices. Apparently there are some fantastic results with some children showing development after using this game. The presentation did not disappoint and I was excited when I found out that they are working on an app for the iPad.


There were other really interesting and thought provoking presentations and discussions. It was really nice to meet up with Jay (who used to work in our department) and Prof Sara de Freitas. I am definitely looking forward to attending the next event.

9 Feb 2013

Values of the Marketing courses offered by Coventry University

As part of the PG courses restructuring process at Coventry University, we as PG tutors are working to ensuring that we are complying with the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The PG team - Four lecturers including 2 of my room mates, are supposed to demonstrate how our courses and modules achieve 6 principles, viz.

1 Purpose
2 Values
3 Method
4 Research
5 Partnership
6 Dialogue

I was responsible for looking at the Values. I did not realise how difficult it would be to come up with 300 words describing the values delivered by the 4 courses/ modules offered by our Marketing and Advertising Department, viz.,

MSc Strategic Marketing
MSc International Marketing
MA Marketing Management
MA Advertising & Marketing

This was the first time I actually thought about what we are actually teaching our PG students and how this would help them in the future in their work place and as a member of society.

I will be posting the values here once they are approved.

Paper on digital government service quality published in the Journal of Service Theory and Practice

Our paper, " Occupational stress as a mediator between organisational intelligence traits and digital government service quality: a tri...