#wearesquared

This is a question I get asked often. It’s a good thing because it means that more and more people are looking to learn the the skills required to keep up with the speed at which all things digital are developing. 

Rather than responding individually, I thought I’d post it here so that more recent students or alumni are able to chip in and update bits where the course has inevitably evolved. 

The course by its nature is designed to be adaptable, meaning it is constantly changing based on feedback from current and past students. My comments are based on my experience from the January 2014 cohort, so it’s likely to have changed slightly since then. Anyone who has completed the course more recently is welcome to post any corrections or updates in the comments below.

Content

Course content is engaging and varied with a healthy combination of blog posts, video, lectures, discussions, and images. Lesson slides are available for download and students are provided with ‘further reading’ lists. However, other than the lectures and course slides, there’s little in the way of bespoke, original content – most is delivered through a curation of content readily available on the web.

Teaching style

Classes are mostly delivered via live online lectures and discussions accompanied with a deck of slides. Students are provided with a pre class brief which usually includes the content mentioned above. Live classes include a discussion box where students can chat in real time – a bit like if MSN messenger allowed everyone to chat at once in one conversation. These were eventually deactivated and activated at the discretion of the tutor as some people couldn’t help but discuss their dinner during a class. There’s always one, at least.

In my cohort, lectures were scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 7pm to 8pm GMT. Classes are recorded so you can watch on catch up if you miss a live lecture.

The tutors themselves tend to have impressive credentials and track records, having either been around at the dawn of the digital age, and/or have had a hand in developing a tech start-up or few. Over the course, many students feel like they’ve got to know the tutors, as you would in a real life class, which is testament to their individual personalities and their engagement with students during the online lectures

Coursework/exams

There are no exams as such, but assignments after each module to be completed in groups. These assignments need to be project managed, but groups are left to their own devices to organise themselves. This can be a bit of luck of the draw in terms of who you get to work with. Bear in mind that a number of people have signed up to the course under duress from an employer, as some sort of compulsory training. This can result in significantly varying levels of motivation and engagement across team members.

Whilst assignments were graded between 1-10, you only needed a pass (average of 6) to succeed. There was no merit or distinction available. There is a peer review at the end of each module, and at the end of the course students vote for  their top five most inspirational fellow students (what sort of suck up gets that?!).

General experience

Overall I found the course useful, but I knew what I wanted out of it. It’s not a specialist course in any one particular area of digital – meaning that it won’t teach a person to become an analyst or a strategist, for example, but it will certainly provide the opportunity to understand how each area works, enough to know how and where to explore more if need be. It really is up to the individual how much time they wish to put in. It’s rare that anyone fails, but people who don’t engage are unlikely to gain much out of it.

At a minimum, the course will help someone gain confidence when discussing digital aspects of their work at meetings or when speaking with contracting agencies. The rest is entirely dependent on the individual– you could find your learnings useful in any situation - from conceptualising an idea, putting together a pitch for venture capital, or piecing together a fully integrated cross-channel digital marketing strategy. It simply depends on how much attention you paid to a particular module.

It’s impossible to write about this without mentioning possibly the greatest take-away resource of all – your peer students. Cohorts could include anything between 350-400 students at any one time. This is an incredible resource of knowledge, experience and creativity. The ever growing alumni group on Google+ appears to be alive and kicking with interesting articles and topics for discussion. This is particularly great for keeping up in digital advancements in areas you may not be exposed to on a day to day basis. Having the Squared course in common also means that most posters are approachable and will engage when asked a question.

Time commitment

As mentioned earlier, this is entirely dependent on the individual – how much they already know, how fast they can read and understand, how confident and willing they are to reach out to networks for advice and help when needed. I would say it needs a minimum of 7-10 hours per week in addition to lectures in order to get something worthwhile out of it. This does depend on how organised teams are and how effectively they work together. The groups I worked in agreed to meet regularly in weekly Google Hangouts which meant we could check in and keep our assignments on track.

I did write a couple of short blogs about my learnings – one of which was specifically about my top five tips for working with strangers, which was well received.

Would you talk to your fridge if your friends said it was OK to do so? That's what the academic research into Facebook sharing seems to suggest. 

For my third blog post I’ll briefly consider some of the topics that have caught my attention in the past two Squared Online classes. One thing that I have taken away from it all is that with the progress we’re making in technology, I feel a bit less weird when conversing with inanimate objects.

Beyond the internet of things

In the talk by Andy Sandoz, he mentions the progress that's being made in technology and how these ideas from science fiction are becoming a reality. These ideas fascinate me, and for those interested, Duncan Geere elaborates on some of the technologies being developed in a recent article, where he briefly explains concepts such as ‘Claytronics’ and 'Smart Dust'. Patrick Gos slaps a bit of reality into us in his article pointing out some of the downsides of a fridge that refuses to open because it’s decided you’re too fat.

Will we fall Prey?

What this all reminded me of was a book I read a while back by author of Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton. The book is titled 'Prey', a horror story about a bunch of nanoparticles that manage to reproduce and escape from their laboratory causing all sorts of havoc. I managed to stumble across this critique from 2003 where the author debunks the science behind Crichton's story. Have we moved on so fast since then that the technology is now actually possible?

Getting social

Monday's class was an insight into the world of social media and a chance to reflect on how and why we use the platforms that we do. One part I found particularly interesting was the discussion around whether we trust customer reviews over adverts. When shopping on Amazon, I’ll usually read a selection of reviews across the various ratings, paying particular attention to the one-star reviews. The reason I do this is to determine whether the fault is in the product, or the user.

People can be fools

Whilst researching the purchase of a coffee machine on Amazon, I noticed it had a relatively high number of one-star reviews. This surprised me as it was a trusted brand. Upon closer inspection, it emerged that the complaints were mostly because people were losing a small widget that was necessary for the machine to work. Most of these people were washing it down their own sink - then giving a one-star review out of frustration at their own incompetence.

Are adverts more accountable?

I am not aware of a case where someone has purchased a product based on a customer review, and later held that customer accountable for a bad purchase. There is a certain amount of legal protection for consumers, and standards that need to be adhered to by organisations when they advertise a product or service. In the UK we have the Advertising Standards Agency who regulate advertising across all media. Would it work if there was a body that held people accountable to their reviews? Probably not. Consider this in light of the discussion about the fading of anonymity on the internet.

Ace of Base engaging fans through social media

Old skool music aficionado and Squared Online tutor, Aiden Caroll challenged me to incorporate some Ace of Base into my next blog post. So here it is, Ace of Base talking social media:

And here's a bonus tune:

Please post below any comments/abuse/words of admiration for Ace of Base/links to a much better blog.

Thanks to our tutors at #Wearesquared I discovered a new hero - Simon Sinek. Just listen to this brief presentation and you will know why :) 

The day has arrived where it is okay to be labelled ‘square’.  I have just embarked on a 5-6 month long journey….. a new challenge to learn digital marketing skills in a virtual classroom environment.  I’m taking part in a new ground-breaking education initiative: Squared Online Certificate in Digital Marketing (http://www.wearesquared.com) a programme developed by Google. The central hub of Squared is the Virtual Learning Centre (VLC) where everything happens lectures, discussions, forums etc.

Squared Online will cover the fundamental skills like Social, Mobile, Search, Data Analytics and Cross Channel Planning.  Most importantly, ‘Squared Online’ is a practical course where I have the opportunity to collaborate with my fellow ‘Squares’ from different backgrounds to work 'hands-on' on different projects… the emphasis clearly on 'learning by doing'.

Why Squared Online?

As a client side marketer trained and established in the traditional marketing communications world, I’m labelled a digital immigrant.  Always eager to at least try to keep abreast of change and embrace new learning I took a course in digital marketing in recent years and applied my new found skills to brands.  This course introduced a whole new world, a world where technology must be embraced as an enabler to communicate and engage with our customers.

Squared Online will, I hope, give me the opportunity to refresh my skills…..to understand the latest technology, the best ways to use it and how to challenge and execute ideas in the most efficient way. The hands-on practical nature of the course will be a challenge: creating blogs, making videos etc.  However, it’s a learning ground where the concept of learning through making mistakes will make me truly 'frawsome'.

The Challenge for Marketers

Technology, its rapid pace of change and proliferation of communications channels are very real issues for marketers.  The upside is the opportunity for personalised one-to-one communications or continued mass communications.  The new challenge is the immediacy of communications and delivering truly engaging creative content as well as data management and privacy issues.

When I first realised that to complete the Squared Online Digital Marketing Course I had to do a blog, I was totally freaked out! Me write something interesting that someone would want to read. What do I write about? How do I articulate what I want to say without rambling and sounding like an idiot? So here I am taking child-like steps. Hence, the title of this post 'The cat sat on the mat'. I thought it was only apt to use a first sentence that a child learns when they start to read to describe my digital journey.

When my two year old daughter first started to talk she always missed of the first phoneme of every word e.g. ‘at could be hat, mat, cat, rat. This did give rise to quite a bit of misunderstanding. One day whilst having a shoulder ride with her dad, she said “Me ‘it ‘air?” To which he replied “Yes.” Wrongly assuming she said “Me, Hit Hair?” So whilst he was waiting for her to gently pat his hair, she spat on his head! Revolting! Spit not hit! She obviously couldn’t understand why he then told her off. After all, she had asked if it was ok and needed to clear her throat? This story represents me in the digital world. I think I understand the language but actually am only getting half of the picture, which as a marketer could have devastating results. I find it all fascinating and intriguing that by marrying technology with psychology and sociology there is huge potential to create a meaningful relationship with customers and add value to their lives. But how does it all fit together?

Source: Gregweed http://goo.gl/ubH0P

In the old traditional marketing days, I would happily put my GRPs from my well thought-out TV spot campaign into an econometric model to tell me how many hits my website would receive. But you can’t do that with the new digital landscape, right? Isn’t that just for paid media that attracts volumes of strangers, whilst earned media attracts fans. How do you measure fans? Surely a fan is more likely to convince you to be a customer to push them to your owned properties? Or are they? Are less strangers and more fans better? Am I seeing the full picture?  What is it all about? Is my head about to explode just with this question alone? This is where I turned to Squared to get, according to quote Chris Perks, Lead Tutor “A deep understanding of how the digital disciplines integrate together”.

Where does technology really fit in the world of education?

'Our top priority was, is and always will be education, education, education'. That was part of the opening statement for Tony Blair, launching the Labour parties education manifesto back in May 2001.  I don’t want to start or enter into a political debate but this line taken in context of the digital age in which we live becomes arguably equally as powerful. 

Before writing this blog I decided to ask a group within my circle of family and friends the following question:  What do you think about Education and Technology?  The answer was almost unanimous from those with kids in school or college to those without any kids at all:  We are not sure whether enough technology is being used in education in the right manner.  There are two key movements where technology and our digital worlds are impacting education:  Inside the classroom and most recently the re-invention of mass learning from college and universities – physical hubs of students to online.  Welcome to MOOC.

It’s not about stuffing education with devices and social media learning experiences, it’s about taking the potential this digital world presents and enhancing education.   A great visual representation of how technology can enhance the world of learning has been created by Atomiclearning.com.  This is really powerful – and a hint at one of the key beliefs I have in regard to Education and Technology; that now more than ever before the statement Education is for Everyone has never been so true. Atomic 

The teaching fraternity needs to be supported in this changing world too, as Infographic by Mencoplatform shows teachers are really interested in what the digital world has to offer – we need to find ways of ensuring they get the opportunity to explore the opportunities technology has to offer themselves and their students.

Furthermore, the old Chalk and Talk of my school days was tantamount to one size fits all, leaving many kids without a bright future for no other reason than this method not suiting their personalities or learning speed.  Technology allows diversity in education that goes beyond the classroom too.  You only have to look at organisations like The Amazings to see how technology is allowing two things to happen with regard to the older generations: 

1) Given access to education to the older generation

2) Allowing those with experience and knowledge to share to do just that through this technology platform.

There is a digital revolution happening within the world of education, and that’s a world from toddler all the way up to our older generations.  None is more topical than the current explosion and much debated promise of MOOC platforms.  For those who believe that MOOCs are doomed because there is no substitute to physical student teacher interaction be warned.  In the context of how technology is evolving in other areas of our personal and professional lives virtual interactions are becoming more effective, more acceptable by the day.  Furthermore, it is the mindset and the commitment of both the student and teacher that will make this work, finding new ways of connecting and new methods of inspiring interaction with digital!  MOOCs have not been around that long and if applied to the Gartner Hype Cycle adoption curve might need to go through pain before becoming accepted as a mainstream education option as presented by Jonathan Tapson in his article, or not when you consider how much serious attention and investment is being made in this area of technology, for example the recent opening of registrations for the UK’s first MOOC platform from Futurelearn owned by none other than The Open University.

The key warning to anyone entering into the world of Tech Ed is ensuring there is real engagement with the students.  Making engagement part of the assessment criteria, educating the teachers in the differences between teaching in front of a physical class versus a virtual class.  You can see this time and time again where teachers and lecturers alike simply mimic their exact teaching methods when they move to an online world – and it simply doesn’t work. Homelearning's Squared Online Certificate in Digital Marketing is a great example of a course aiming to maximise engagement levels. I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m not saying you are alone, but implore educational institutions and organisations to think first about the differences between Online Learning and Classroom learning before blindly copying one into the other.

The other side of the education revolution is happening inside the classroom and how technology is being used to create more immersive learning experiences for students. The recognition that digital is native to kids of all ages now and teacher student interaction must take this into account.

So, yes, our priority and focus should be education, education, education but by recognizing that what’s really happening is a paradigm shift not a slow evolution over many years.  We need to step back, review, rethink and embrace.  That’s what I think the promise of the digital world brings to education.  What promise do you think it will bring?

Mel Ross

walkdigital.com

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