Best Practices in Teaching Global Languages and Cultures
Friday March 28, 2003
206 Ingraham Hall, Observatory Road
UW-Madison

9:30

Integrating Theory and Practice into a New Interdisciplinary Course:
Lands' End as a Real-World Global Strategic Communications Case

Michelle R. Nelson, Assistant Professor, Journalism & Mass Communication

Nelson will discuss the interdisciplinary, special topics course Journalism
676: Global Strategic Communications, which she taught during Autumn 2002,
with a special focus on the real-world project. The advanced undergraduate
course was designed to bring together students from area studies, foreign
languages and professional areas (strategic communications, life sciences
communications, marketing) to focus on theories and practices related to
international advertising and other commercial communication strategies.
Students worked in interdisciplinary teams to create international
advertising campaigns that they presented to a real client (Lands' End).
Nelson will present information related to the: (1) course development and
promotion, including the use of campus resources like CIBER and CGEC for
funding and client recruitment and the need to promote awareness of new
courses; (2) project rationale and relationship to course goals; (3)
reality of project development and overview of course progression; and (4)
student outcomes, including a presentation of tangible portfolio pieces and
discussion of experiential learning gained from presentations to upper
management at Lands? End. In addition, reflections on the 'idealistic'
course description and the realities of the actual student enrollment and
course content will be provided. Minor difficulties and pleasant surprises
will be shared as well as strategies for dealing with the ?fear factor? of
working with external clients. The presentation will be illuminated with
anecdotes, quantitative and qualitative feedback from course evaluations
and client comments. Finally, Nelson will suggest and solicit ideas for
future (Autumn 2003) iterations of the course.