Academics receive Early Career Education Practice Award at British Academy of Management conference
Two Management School academics were recently announced as the winners of the British Academy of Management Early Career Education Practice Award.
Victoria McCall and Dr Ahmed Al-Abdin, both Lecturers in Marketing, received the award for their work entitled ‘Using music and creative blended learning techniques to enhance student experience in Strategic Marketing’.
A primary issue for undergraduate students at ULMS is to be competitive in the job market when they have completed their degree. This leads them to seek innovative learning environments, offering transferable skills which can be used to inform job applications and post-university interviews.
Victoria and Ahmed recognised a gap in the on-campus teaching practices and created an innovative blended learning environment for the undergraduate final year Marketing Strategy module. The online interaction mimics the increasingly global and online-based work environment that the majority of students will experience in their careers, and prepares them for this through an understanding of working with others in an online environment. They also used innovative teaching techniques including music within the lecture to enhance motivation and engagement, and post-lecture café sessions to encourage social learning, all with the aim of creating a more positive student experience.
Victoria and Ahmed were presented with a trophy and certificate at the British Academy of Management conference on 4th September at the University of West England, Bristol. The award is highly competitive and their submission was judged by a panel consisting of Business School Deans.
Victoria said "We were delighted to win the award and we really enjoyed the process of creating a holistic, blended learning approach. It was especially rewarding to see the increased engagement from students. This type of pedagogic innovation is definitely something we will continue to explore and develop further in the future."
Ahmed commented "We witnessed the use of music before lectures stimulated students attention, enabled them to attend lectures earlier to listen to their song requests and heightened their enthusiasm and interaction in class. A deeper question we are now asking is 'why' and this is something we are actively exploring further."