How has it been? Re: Content Strategy MOOC starting in 10 days

[Milan Davidović]

Can anyone comment here? Or point elsewhere to comments already made?

--Milan Davidović

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On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 12:51 PM, Zahoor Hussain
<zahoor....@annotation.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I assume that everyone has signed up for Content Strategy for Professionals
> MOOC on Coursera ?
>
> If not then details are @ https://www.coursera.org/course/contentstrategy
> #contentstrategy
>
> It starts on 13th January 2014, is 6 weeks long, and there are 29k people
> who have expressed an interest.

[Eddie VanArsdall]

I ended up dropping out of the course. I am now working on a site redesign for my current work project, so I knew I wouldn't be able to complete the final assignments. 

In retrospect: I felt that the course had potential, and I found some of the discussion on digital media valuable. I also found some useful information on participant discussion boards. BUT, overall I think the course has a ways to go. Having read most of the major books on content strategy, I have plenty of resources to turn to when I need advice from experts - including this group. The advice offered by the course was elementary by comparison.

[Milan Davidović]

Thanks for that -- would you recommend it to someone closer to the
beginning of their career in CS?

--Milan Davidović

Sent from my Commercial Visible 6

[Rachel McAlpine]

Since you ask, I'm afraid I lasted only 20 minutes. I found the NW University MOOC on content strategy repetitive and off target as well as simplistic. I was shocked by the ungrammatical definition of content strategy and it went downhill from there. Yet those 20 minutes were well spent because they reminded me of various dangers for online teachers.

Rachel

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[Eddie VanArsdall]

I think Rachel has summed up the course perfectly. It's just not ready for prime time - not for anyone at any level. Until someone has developed a real-world course informed by real work (hint: her name is Hilary and she's already working on it), you can find an extensive number of resources online, including templates.

[Rahel Anne Bailie]

I just looked at the course promotion page. It doesn't bode well that the textbook is one in *content marketing*. And it doesn't inspire my confidence in Northwest University (as a lot of the instructors seem to be from there).

I suppose this is part of the growing pains to be expected as the profession matures. I'm reminded of what Jared Spool and Leslie Jensen-Inman have done with starting their Center Centre School. I think we need a similar school, with some professional standards and expectations, for content strategy if we want to be taken seriously.

---

Rahel Anne Bailie, Content Strategy / Content Management / Content Design
Intentional Design Inc. - Content strategies for business impact 
Co-producer: Content Strategy Workshops
Co-editor: The Language of Content Strategy - in stores Feb 27th
Co-author: Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits

On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 6:45 AM, Eddie VanArsdall <evana...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think Rachel has summed up the course perfectly. It's just not ready for prime time - not for anyone at any level. Until someone has developed a real-world course informed by real work (hint: her name is Hilary and she's already working on it), you can find an extensive number of resources online, including templates.

[Erica Rualo]

I took the course, viewed most of their videos, submitted the assignment and did the peer reviews. The course was inappropriately named (as even the instructors admitted in various forums). It was a 101 in Content, but not Content Strategy as true practitioners know it.

 

What was interesting to me was that the assignment was, in large part, a creative writing one. In my experience in various firms, Content Strategists are not always writers. I used to manage a team of writers/editors at my previous firm. Now, I'm at a firm where I'm completely separated from the Creative team, but need to influence them. These Coursera folks view Content Strategists as editors and they really didn't think about the digital aspect of strategy (what CMS, do you need XML, etc.).

 

What was really embarrassing for them was the example they provided for the assignment. It was such a cheesy piece of content! And it was beyond me what vehicle they would have used to deliver it. An email seemed the most fitting, but I don't think anyone would have ready past the first line. What was sadder still, was that in the assignments I had to peer review, people modeled their work after the poor example provided. Ugh. It was the blind leading the blind.

 

That said, what I found useful were a few basic points they gave in their 'Take Back to Work' document that I can socialize with stakeholders in my firm, in that very 101 kind of way.

 

 

On Wednesday, February 19, 2014 5:14:39 PM UTC-5, Milan Davidovic wrote:

[Destry Wion]

Hi Milan,

Just an FYI... We have an article coming up at the new CSF site by a contributing author who took the full MOOC with the intention of writing up a full review of it with as little bias as possible. He's also taken part in a few other MOOCS, so the article will look at the genre in general, in addition to this particular one in relation to CS. Can't give you an exact date, but it should be published before the end of March, likely by middle.

-dw

[Milan Davidović]

Will set a reminder to go look for that; thanks...

--Milan Davidović

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[Lorraine Thompson]

I sped through weeks 1-3 in a couple of hours & am sorely disappointed in North Western MOOC's:

* Generalized and over-simplified content marketing fundamentals any content professional already knows. E.g., "John's Three Truths": 1) Content deluge 2) Users/consumers attention deficit 3) Complex world. Wow. Really? Most of the "powerful insights" can be gleaned from any number of content marketing blogs--basically spin on Claude Hopkins' Scientific Marketing.

* Theoretical rather than practical info. Like suggesting the best way to gather customer behavioral info is to have a staff member follow a member of your target market around all day--akin to anecdotal evidence, rather than metrics-based research. Plus, get real: most enterprise content departments could never get managerial buy-in for something like this.

* No studies cited to back up claims and theories.

* Talking Heads format which is, er, less than engaging.

On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 9:45 AM, Eddie VanArsdall <evana...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think Rachel has summed up the course perfectly. It's just not ready for prime time - not for anyone at any level. Until someone has developed a real-world course informed by real work (hint: her name is Hilary and she's already working on it), you can find an extensive number of resources online, including templates.

[Monica Bussolati]

I'll be very interested in reading that article. 

I assigned one of my team to take the MOOC then decided to join along. I was quite disappointed. I think there was bad info from the odd def of content strategy to speed skimming through many topics. 

There was an assignment which was super fun because there were no real world limitations. But it was more content marketing and strategy than content strategy. E.g., Manufacture a buyer persona sans data (don't get me started). Create a strategy, create some content. I think people may come away from this thinking content strategists are copy writers and that you can manufacture personas via a creative writing exercise. 

Most notable to me, no one on this list was involved. A CS MOOC that offered up zero content strategists. 

Too broad and mistitled. 

Monica
º º º º º º º º º º º º º 
B U S S O L A T I   202-319-2222   www.bussolati.com  @bussolati  

STRENGTHENING YOUR ORGANIZATION BY HELPING YOUR TEAMS COMPETE AS WORLD CLASS CONTENT MARKETERS

[Monica Bussolati]

When are you starting it Rahel? :/)

º º º º º º º º º º º º º 
B U S S O L A T I   202-319-2222   www.bussolati.com  @bussolati  

STRENGTHENING YOUR ORGANIZATION BY HELPING YOUR TEAMS COMPETE AS WORLD CLASS CONTENT MARKETERS

[Hilary Marsh]

FYI, I met with the people who run the MOOC this week. Stay tuned....

Sent from my iPad

[Monica Bussolati]

Interesting. Very. 

º º º º º º º º º º º º º 
B U S S O L A T I   202-319-2222   www.bussolati.com  @bussolati  

STRENGTHENING YOUR ORGANIZATION BY HELPING YOUR TEAMS COMPETE AS WORLD CLASS CONTENT MARKETERS

[Milan Davidović]

Do tell.

--Milan Davidović

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On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 8:26 AM, Monica Bussolati <buss...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting. Very.

[Richard Prowse]

Hey...

I've written a blog post on the wider question of MOOCs in relation to content strategy. 

It would be great to hear your views on CS in relation to pedagogical content.

http://contentbear.co.uk/2014/03/02/moocs-who-needs-content-strategy-you-do/

Rich

[Rahel Anne Bailie]

I read your post a couple of times and would approach the underlying  question a different way: what value does the content bring to the student in the real world? 

Audience analysis: I assume that MOOC students want to apply the knowledge in the real world. 

Org requirement: I assume that the instructors have run content strategy projects at a managerial level and know what separates a strategist from a writer. 

Content requirements: I assume that the content covers a basic content strategy projects, including templates for deliverables, from the creative brief on through post implementation activities. 

The impression I got was that the course focused on copywriting, which is a minute subset of content strategy. If the course does not help a promising content strategist prepare for the real-world challenges, the course does a disservice to students. 

If the course had the content, then where was the inventory, the scorecard, the analytics, the chunking for re-use, etc etc? The absence of discussion of these areas leads me to believe that the course was silent on the topic. 

If I am wrong, I will be relieved to be so.  However, I suspect that the course developers have not run any content strategy projects outside if academia, and as a result, we're ill-prepared to deliver a course that prepares students for the work world they're thrown into. 

On Monday, March 3, 2014, Richard Prowse <richard...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Guy's 

I've written a blog post on wider question of MOOCs in relation to content strategy. 

It would be great to hear your views, on CS in relation to pedagogical content.

http://contentbear.co.uk/2014/03/02/moocs-who-needs-content-strategy-you-do/

Rich

On Wednesday, 19 February 2014 22:14:39 UTC, Milan Davidovic wrote:

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[Malcolm Davison]

Rahel, I was interested to read your comments on the MOOC, while I haven't seen the course, your observation on course priorities surprised me:

> The impression I got was that the course focused on copywriting, which is a minute subset of content strategy. If the course does not help a promising content strategist prepare for the real-world challenges, the course does a disservice to students.

Would you knowingly want to drive across a major new suspension bridge if you knew the engineer who designed it was useless at maths, and had messed up elsewhere?

Writing is to content strategy as maths is to engineering. Many share my view that writing is indeed the core skill in content strategy.

As I wrote on this group a few weeks ago, if a content strategist cannot at least recognise the difference between good and bad content then all the rest of the skills they might need to create, distribute and maintain are to nought. This encompasses writing, layout, navigation, accessibility and much more besides.

However, on a content strategy course only a proportion of learning space and time can be given over to it partly due to the diversity of CS skills - but also the notorious lack of commitment of the online learner. The benefit of modularised online courses, such as MOCCS, is that if the learner has a specific weakness this can be addressed separately. In my view, a content strategy course must at the very least convey that copywriting holds centre stage and go some away towards building an appreciation of standards.

regards

Malcolm Davison

[Hilary]

Hi Malcolm,

The course focuses on creating compelling content - knowing your audience and creating good text, video, etc. That is absolutely an essential foundation of content strategy, and too often missing. However, it's actually the easy part of content strategy because it's so visible.

The most challenging parts of content strategy are those that organizations don't even know they're missing, don't know they need - governance, process, tech structure to enable content to behave, lifecycle, and several other points Rahel mentioned.

As it was offered this first time, the MOOC was only one piece of content strategy, and is misnamed. 

Hilary

Hilary Marsh  |  312-806-7854  | hil...@hilarymarsh.com

Content strategy for associations, nonprofits, corporations:
websites, blogs, social media, e-newsletters
http://www.hilarymarsh.com 
also hilarymarsh on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Slideshare, etc.

[Malcolm Davison]

Thanks Hilary for that further insight, it's a tricky balance to get right. A course can't ignore content standards, but then there won't be hours available to do it justice either. But if someone took a course without the qualitative content incorporated - then they could become a certified content strategist without the core abilities.

I am always concerned, in the context of content strategy, if it appears that the production values of the content writers are not given full recognition. Without their expertise, content strategists will be 'distributing dross to the disinterested'. That's a nice phrase - I must use that again! But I suspect, Hilary, that you broadly agree.

regards

Malcolm

[Rahel Anne Bailie]

I can see where you're coming from, Malcolm, but here's the flip side to my thinking.

Content strategy is not a job for juniors. Content strategists are the "management consultants specializing in a content vertical", if you will.

If you can't write or recognize good writing, they should take a 100-level copywriting class first. Then do the advanced stuff (Hilary's point). Why would you teach 100-level skills to someone who is supposed to be learning 400-level skills?

---

Rahel Anne Bailie, Content Strategy / Content Management / Content Design
Intentional Design Inc. - Content strategies for business impact 
Co-producer: Content Strategy Workshops
Co-editor: The Language of Content Strategy - in stores Feb 27th
Co-author: Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits

[Malcolm Davison]

I agree Rahel, although strategic decisions are increasingly being implemented further down the pecking order. The problem is, that in my travels running inhouse web training, so often those at the helm who you think should know - don't! Fundamental content delivery errors are going unrecognised.

Perhaps a content skills course should be a prerequisite to a CS course.

M

[Britta Alexander]

@rahelab "Content strategy is not a job for juniors. Content strategists are the "management consultants specializing in a content vertical", if you will."

Great line.

[Paola Roccuzzo]

This is becoming my favorite parallel, but I really think this community should take the International Institute of Business Analysis as an example for setting up professional standards.

Would you leave your project in the hands of a junior BA? Granted, they might have a fancy course under they belt, and they might know how to create a traceability matrix, but would you let them in charge of capturing the requirements, with no experienced BA overseeing?

A certified IIBA business analyst has *at least* 7500 hours of actual work experience. You can't study to become a certified BA. Period.

As Rahel said, we are business consultants--we sell the insight and the experience gained by addressing content problems. We do not sell content audits. It's not rocket science, it's a grid. It's what you can read into it, and the solutions you can provide that make a content strategist.

Education can enhance our profession by circulating best practices, case studies or tutorials for professional tools, but can only support, and never be a substitute for hands-on experience.

That said, I think about all the small organisations that cannot afford a content strategist, but have somebody who is in charge of creating and managing content. People who know the organisation inside out, but just need a framework, best practices, and tools to address all-too-familiar issues. I see them as the primary audience for a good content strategy course--and we sure do need one!

On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 8:58 PM, Britta Alexander <bri...@eatagency.com> wrote:

@rahelab "Content strategy is not a job for juniors. Content strategists are the "management consultants specializing in a content vertical", if you will."

Great line.

--

[Richard Prowse]

I'd have to agree with Rahel's comments.

While the MOOC covered a lot of ground, very little of it actually related to the practice of content strategy. Although I agree individuals should have a grasp of copywriting, it's not something I'd expected this MOOC to cover.

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[Régis Faubet]

Hi! I wrote a review of this MOOC on the CS Forum website: http://csforum.eu/articles/review-of-nwu-content-strategy-mooc

Tell me what you think.