What comes after the web for the students? Few things keep on coming and going. Few things remain. by Khandker Tarek Ravensbourne, London, 7 Nov 2016 Just a side thought: Once upon a time, we had typewriters. And, once upon a time we had copywriters. What’s the difference?

Point of views For the given brief of ensuring skills for the students to take advantage of what comes after web, I think of two POVs: ‘Technical/schematic/for-the-time-being’ ‘Universal/thematic/long-term’ Teaching students = Creating future leaders Has to be the right blend of both.

Technical/for-the-time-being What comes after the web? The question is asked today – 7th Nov 2016 Say for example, the exciting answer is Apps. Then, say, on 7th Nov 2018, the question will be – what comes after the apps? There will be some other exciting answer then. Then, again, on 7th Nov 2020, the question again will be, what comes after that? There will be, once again, another exciting answer. Technical aspects change fast – making students too much focused on a single technology won’t make them future proof. Possible to give plenty of ideas on getting advantages out of apps. But the thematic foundation matters most.

Things change Tools change, platforms change - fast. E-mails, messaging, VoIP The revolutionary web Websites, forums, blogs, social networks, e-commerce, social-commerce Then, another revolution – apps. And, then there will be something else. Old things are forgotten. Remember, once upon a time we had typewriters.

And, things also remain… And, once upon a time we had creative copywriters. We still have them – changing the world through creativity. Typewriters came and gone. But copywriters remain. Telegraphs are forgotten, but the thought of a creative message is forever. Tools can afford to be obsolete, students cannot be.

The long-term elements For the students – instead of jumping into teaching how to develop apps, let’s start by teaching: Creative understanding of the business problem/creative brief Creative ways of using the consumer/user insights Creative design and development Creative extendibility Creative monitoring Such methodological teaching will make the students change-proof. That’s the advantage.

The long-term elements These exercises can incorporate understanding and analysis from a broad range of topics – media/comm, sociology, culture, anthropology, history, technology and so on. Also, students should know the use of Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and Emotional Selling Proposition (ESP) of the brief to develop apps or the next big thing. I explain with my own examples – USP/ESP.

The technical aspects Then we can move to teach them the technical aspects – Unique and appealing design Platform knowledge – Apple/Android/Amazon Ease of use, affordability We can focus on other technical aspects – Programing – Java/C+/Delphi, Android and other platforms etc. And, collaboration, participation in the digital platform. NetSmart concepts. Media theories. (I can analysis these from strategy, research and teaching aspects. And, creative sides - I use Graphic Software suite all through my life. Coding/programming – will need your guidance, if required – it is a teamwork.)

May be a simple edu-model Proposed educational model for students – learning apps or other new developments. Summarising the previous slides. User insights Brief Blend of USP/ESP And tools/platforms Vast knowledge bases – media/comm, sociology, culture, anthro, history, technology… Review/Monitoring Output

The holistic approach Why the holistic approach is important? Because technology is fast becoming do-it-yourself. There are plenty of online initiatives - MOOC courses (Coursera/Udemy/Udacity). Other open source materials. Udacity’s Google approved Android Development courses, for example. What requires complicated coding today, will be simply drag-and-drop tomorrow So, when the mass users can develop their own web tools/items like apps, sites – where is the competitive advantage of the students when they join the industry? Students must be able to offer a holistic solution, must show the clients that they have a much broader understanding which cannot be replaced by DIY solutions.

The holistic approach moves on From my end, mind blowing creative ads and mind blowing creative apps – same thought-process and mechanism can be applied. That’s what I would like to offer – to do some best-practice projects with the students – ads/apps/anything-creative! To leave behind something meaningful for the next generations. moves on

Note My professional background is creative advertising My academic/research background is media On-going PhD is broadly on digital media / advertising So, the focus here is more on teaching strategy, curriculum, change management, research – as explained rather than technical details of tools/platforms. Would like to transfer my on-going research knowledge to the classroom.

Thank you! Questions/comment? Discussions? tarek.researcher@gmail.com +44 7448523561