Name and position of the participant and other supporting staff if relevant

Attila Simay, PhD

Assistant Professor

Name of the course and discipline, level and year of study and any useful background info.

Business Communication and its Strategy

MA in Marketing, 1st year students

Name of community partner and/or any other supporting partners (public or private sector)

Ethnic Talents Non-profit Casting Agency

CERL project title(s)

How can Ethnic Talents enhance their visibility both towards potential employers (film producers, promotion companies) and employees (marginalized minorities – Roma, etc.)? How can they improve their existing database to make it available as a marketable service?  

Tangible info – e.g. module descriptor, learning outcomes, assignments, assessment criteria, …

The students need to submit a presentation material and present it by the end of the semester. The presentation is evaluated by the community partner and the lecturer together. The students can get maximum 30 points.

These points are part of their final grade, which is measured on a 100 points scale, another 40 points collected by other in-term tasks and 30 points by a written exam. The grades have the following set up:

0-60: fail, 61-70: pass, 71-80: satisfactory, 81-90: good and 91-100: excellent.

How was it taught:

1.      number of students

2.      student groupwork or individual,

3.      how they worked with the partner,

4.      how the project proceeded,

5.      any reflection done with students,

6.      evaluation or formal assessment of their learning,

7.      Could or should we follow up with students?

8.      tech used

9.      Anything else interesting?

10.   For how long have you been teaching this course, and since when there is a community partner involved?

1.      15 students

2.      They worked in groups of 3

3.      Students met the partner during the beginning of the course and got to know more about them and their need for more visibility. Students then worked as groups on their analysis and ideas, having the chance to consult on one occasion with the partner.

4.      Students developed their suggestions and submitted them in a ppt presentation that they presented live to the partner.

5.      The students from the group and the community partner both filled a feedback form as the Spring semester group work ended.

6.      The partner was present when the students presented their group work at the closing of the course and reflected live on the results. The group got a formal evaluation and points for their work from the lecturer, based on their presentation.

7.      I suppose yes.

8.      Moodle, Teams, Neptun

9.      Usually there are more students in this class

10.   I have been teaching this course since 2016 autumn, and we have had community partners since 2018 spring.

What did you CHANGE about your programme/course in relation to CERL during CIRCLET?  

1.      More detailed project description in the syllabus in order to inform the students about the role of this project in the course and set up correct expectations. Put emphasis on non-profit communication environment.

2.      Scheduled consultations between the student groups and the partner one-on-one, facilitated and organised by the lecturer. Instead of a common consultation meeting these smaller meetings helped a more direct and informative discussion between the students and the partner.

3.      The presentation materials were collected a day before the presentations, thus those materials could be shared with the community partner before the students presented them. The evaluation of the partner could be based on both the submitted materials and the presentation. The evaluation feedback was provided by the partner the day after the presentations.

CHALLENGES and how you overcame them?

Starting the semester online with a lot of technical dependencies on all sides.

We didn’t know each other.

Fewer students than usual, smaller groups.

After several years this is the first time when there was no other project for students so there was no choice for them, and I don’t know how this affected their commitment.

The result came out fine, as the smaller groups became more interactive, and all groups accepted to work on this one project and eventually did fine work.

Fortunately, no major technical problems occurred during the semester.

What did your STUDENTS LEARN or how will they benefit?

A student’s response in the science shop feedback form:

“It was complex and challenging to elaborate these many factors. I liked that we were assigned with a really important task instead of working on a fictional company’s fictional marketing campaign.”​

I wish to believe the students got a better understanding of the possible roles of marketing communication, especially the role of communication practices in a non-profit environment.

What do you think the BENEFIT was TO THE PARTNER?

The partner’s response in the science shop feedback form:

“I was a great experience that we could customize the project to fit our needs. It did sound like the students were presenting serious strategies for us!”

The partner got good insights and ideas how to start and implement a communication campaign.

HOW could/will you IMPROVE YOUR CERL teaching practice next time?

Maybe more consultation time provided in the mid-term session.

3 TANGIBLE PIECES OF ADVICE you would give to someone starting a CERL project with students?

1.      Set up the deadlines and the frame of cooperation.

2.      Provide proper reason to the students how and why they participate in the project, what they will gain from it.

3.      Provide proper information to the partners what they can expect as a project outcome and set expectations accordingly.