How I mixed up education with marketing (and other unbelievable facts) ....

or, about an error of judgement.

When I was more idealistic, better looking and wearing my ‘twenties goggles’ (not googles)… full of the joys of the ethical and the just, embellished by a touch of the creative, I was drawn to the giddy sparkly world of marketing. 

While drawn to the creativity, it seemed marketing was a space driven by co-ercion - a seedy space dependent on the identification of people’s weak spots….. Marketing was hard nosed, cynical and vaguely dirty - a space where multi-national conglomerates made decisions about the products I needed, the way I should live, and the things I would aspire to!

As a result I took my multimedia skills and altruism and worked with the evolving online education space.  I saw a utopian world focussed on the evolution of the creative mind, and ready to harness the emerging collaborative ecosystem that would be future education. A world where the user (aka learner) would drive the use of multimedia,

Fast forward a)some b)a few c) enough years...

..add some google, and a touch of experience, an explosion in connectivity  and a mobile device or two to discover...

A world of connected education, supportive of individual learning styles.

A global knowledge bank of subject matter experts from a global knowledge bank?

A wonderful user utopia supported by choice and the skills to evaluate knowledge

A creative collaborative world engaging and enabling.

 

None of this...I was wrong – not just a tiny bit wrong, but drastically, ninnynitted, 180 degrees wrong! 

Yes, all that potential exists, with my twenties goggles on, I can see that space.  However, the risks required to encourage this space as ubiquitous learning environment have not been taken.  It turns out that educational bureaucracies are hamstrung by the need for consensus.  Where the constant need to make sure everything is uniform has led to an educational system driven by coercion. 

Where the institution knows best and makes decisions about what the learner wants and then serves up an interpretation. 

Education makes decisions about what you want and then makes you conform to the constraints, marketing works out how you work, and then makes something appeal.

Marketing asks the question “what is new” how can we use it, Education works on measuring what has been and ensuring that all that is new conforms to all that has already been.

I am not here talking about those wonderful educational pioneers who are creating collaborative, connected learning spaces but about the structures at a government level which ensure a system that works on coercion and compliance that constrains.

One that still, at an institutional level puts the user last. 

What do I feel…bemused, but also driven - by an excitement and need to find ways to add the sparkle and pzazzz of the marketing and design world to the potential of the education world – a place where ‘blended learning’ has a whole new meaning, learning from the diaspora of creative arts and not just from a self perpetuating circle which constrains itself.

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/553598867/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonkcooper/2948717977/
• http://www.gerryriskin.com/Question%20Mark.jpg
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeymagic/209093925/

Comments

[Stony River @stonyriver]

Please do not conform to the boring majority ~ it is too easy to watch the Simpletons on TV and never ever have a thought ~ You will never be like this ~ at the same time I agree with this astute and insightful piece whole-heartedly ~ my tiny addition is that Mega-Universities are those which totally embrace eLearning ~ http://bit.ly/m1hta ~ and I see the future in AU Education as contracting successful Online O'seas Global Standards Mega-Universities ~ as there is nothing here in AU that will compete (the opportunity of AU being a world leader I think has been lost) ~ perhaps a little research into these Universities will lead to a very wholesome and inspiring future for You. Perhaps you could even stay where you are if you want and still be highly efficient and effective and ethical as you obviously are already. As we both know Brilliance leaves this country in droves, often through frustration ~ you may do it with the twist of not really leaving. Perhaps you will be the first to offer AU EDU Online Learning from O'seas Institutions.

[social bookmarking]

good job

keep it comin g

[Harold Jarche]

I think there are great opportunities in combining good marketing and learning. Perhaps your skillset is best suited for a role that barely exists, yet. From a previous post of mine:
"Social learning and social networking are growing in importance for many businesses, often as customer support, branding or marketing initiatives. However, HR or T&D are not driving social media use in most organizations. Learning through social networks is becoming an integral part of business and many learning professionals are missing out on it.

There is an opportunity for those who can combine an understanding of business, communication technologies and human learning to develop better social business models. We are in a period when learning professionals are needed more than ever but many lack technology and business skills and cannot help their organizations. The challenge is to get out of the traditional training mindset and open up to the 92% of the business that is currently being ignored."