What is it all about?

For the first time ever, the curriculum for a national qualification is being written entirely by employers, not academics. In its first stage of development, more than 100 leading practitioners from advertising, film, TV, new media and venture capital have contributed with content.

It is also the first time that a curriculum has been written using wiki technology. What makes this so exciting is that anyone working in connected industries is able to contribute kernels of knowledge, links to case-studies, video uploads, etc. The wiki has just gone live and can be seen here. We are announcing it on Tuesday, January 19^th at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

What problems are we solving?

We can all identify with the fact that the way we do our work has changed so much over the past few years, and most of us expect it to continue changing just as quickly in the future. To get a sense of just how much change is taking place around us, watch this video.

The academic world moves very slowly, which was fine when life was relatively consistent. Many would say that business has changed faster than education.

We solve this problem by using social media tools, such as wiki, to host an ever-developing repository of the most up-to-date vocational learning. Industry practitioners are encouraged to contribute by uploading their knowledge, sharing case-studies, suggesting further reading material, linking to videos, or anything else that that helps learners learn.

This repository is freely available for everyone’s benefit.

If you have ever used Wikipedia, then you have used a wiki. In a nutshell – it is an online tool that manages permissions so that communities can contribute towards the content of a web page over time.

How does this help creative talent of the future?

One of the many by-products from this initiative will be a nationally accredited qualification that will have been developed thousands of future employers. This is provided through University of the Arts London Awarding Body.

Learners can follow updates to any of the 40+ units by choosing to receive RSS feeds. By doing so, they can receive email alerts every time mentors contribute new knowledge to that wiki.

We have put everything into creative commons so it can be used, improved and shared by anyone.

Who are we?

We are School of Communication Arts 2.0, the industry-backed advertising school. We reopen in London this September after fifteen years. Our model allows us to provide intense vocational learning to a cohort of fifty. The three most unusual things about our model are that; (i) there are 300 teachers for our 50 students, (ii) half of our students will receive full, industry-funded scholarships, and (iii) ten of the cohort will each receive £10,000 of start-up capital halfway through the course to help them become Ideapreneurs.

Why attend the event at the IPA on Jan 19^th?

We know it’s early (8.30am), it’s cold and there’s no booze on offer, but there will be breakfast. More importantly, many of our mentors and governors have already confirmed that they are coming – so it is a great opportunity for you to network with them and ask them directly what they expect to get out of their involvement with us.

For more information

schoolcommunicationarts.com

Contact Marc Lewis mob. 07980 296 605

Email : marc_lewis (at) mac.com

ilonio.com is a free blogging platform that allows you to easily share content with the world.