BA Advertising Validation

While I think about it I should make some notes about my involvement in the BA validation last week as it's part of our quality assurance.

I wasn't involved in the whole event, but was called in with some of my colleagues part way through to defend both the inclusion of two of my research modules as compulsory elements in the BA Advertising course. I am also potentially part of the team teaching on the new 40 credit modules which will provide 3 hour teaching blocks. These will give greater opportunities and also challenges in terms of teaching content.

In the end the panel had no questions about the necessity of including my module, nor about the differentiation between the first and second years which I had prepared for.

There were two main ways in which I contributed; we provided each member of the panel with a sample graze box at the start of the day (providing an element of intrigue - they had been anticipating us talking about it the whole time I gather). I described how we deconstructed the boxes using the theories the students had studied, and went on to look at the viral and online content and the entrepreneurial story. I also talked about how the sessions were videoed and fed back to the industry contact with a view to further entanglement. This was an example of what a 3 hour teaching block could accomplish in the new module (we had to do it over two weeks).

The second thing I talked about was in the area of employability - talking about the MKT2020 work we did over a period of weeks with Gratterpalm (see earlier posts). This was a bit controversial as one of the panel members was from Leeds Met, and Gratterpalm are based in Leeds and some of her students are currently there on placement.... I also spoke about the adoption of visual cvs - and one of the panel members who teaches Law asked to meet with me to discuss the concept for application in her school which was gratifying.

I was interested to observe that one of the main areas for debate while I was in the room was about the assessment methods. In particular the use of group assessment, and the near absence of examinations. It seems that exams are still seen as desirable and more rigorous in some areas - although I had always seen the opinion from colleagues that we should strive to be more inventive and inclusive in our assessment methods. Maybe we are more progressive than we realise...

On the whole it was a very positive experience, the panel were very supportive and complimentary about the plans, and the degree got it's validation with only a minor recommendation about clarity on the use of the word 'creative' which it was felt was being used too liberally in the course materials when in the advertising industry it has a very narrow meaning.