Course Timetables
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Course timetable - full day course, 6 hours tuition
Tentative timetable
- 9.00 - 9.30: Registration, pastries and tea/coffee
- 9.30 - 10.15: Introduction: What is Open IP? Open licences; business models; and distribution mechanisms.
- 10.15 - 11.00: Exercise: Radiohead's In Rainbows experiment.
- 11.00 - 11.15: Coffee
- 11: 15 - 12.00: Building communities: The importance of community and use of social media.
- 12.00 - 12.45: Complements and substitutes: How microeconomics applies to the way we think about creative works.
- 12.45 - 1.45: Lunch
- 1.45 - 2.30: Case Study 1: Tom Reynolds & Friday Books
- 2:30 - 3.15: Case Study 2: John Buckman & Magnatune
- 3.15 - 4:00: Case Study 3: David Bausola &Where are the Joneses?
- 4:00 - 4:15: Break
- 4.15 - 5.00: Exercise: Products and business models
- 5.00 - 5.30: Next steps: What will you do next?
- 5:30: End
Teaching techniques
The traditional teaching technique is for a lecturer to stand up in front of a class and talk at them until they fall asleep. Is that really the best way to impart information? Especially considering that our teaching materials are all going to be up online long before we give the course!
Options for course delivery
- traditional lecture
- group discussion
- open space - central theme is posited, people group into self-organised groups to discuss, then report back conclusions
- ideas bazaar - groups splits into smaller groups, each discussing a different idea.
- other...
Of course, we don't have to use just one method, but can use a combination of several. What do you find works best?
Possible exercises
There are many ways that we can illustrate the key concepts with exercises. Here are a few ideas - please do add some of your own!
Using a product/industry/business model card deck
Idea: We create a card deck with each card having a different product, industry or business model on it, e.g. "Song", "Music Industry", "Loss Leader - giving away Product A to promote Product B". The attendees are split into groups of two or three, and then have half an hour to come up with a plan for how they are going to market and promote their product within the given framework. A spokesman then reports back to the group at large, and there is a group discussion about the results.
Quizzes
Issues such as copyright can be really dry, so perhaps some sort of quiz might liven things up a bit. On the other hand, perhaps quizes are a bit patronising?
Radiohead's In Rainbows - Discussion and analysis
We'll outline the actions Radiohead have taken in releasing In Rainbows as a free download, and then encourage attendees to think of the pros and cons of taking such an action. What about what they did was good? What was bad? How might it go horribly wrong for In Rainbows? How might it go right? What might the repercussions be for the music industry? What might happen if other bands tried the same thing?
Mash-ups research
01Zero-One has a PC suite, so it would be possible for attendees to go and research mash-ups online, and then return to the group after half an hour to give a presentation on what they found.
"Six Thinking Hats" or variation thereof
Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats" is a way of examining a problem from multiple points of view:
- White Hat is analytical and considers data, trends and holes in the data.
- Red Hat is instinctive and intuitive and consider gut reaction and emotional reaction.
- Black Hat is pessimistic and considers what the flaw are, why might it not work?
- Yellow Hat is optimistic and looks that the best possible outcomes.
- Green Hat is creative and thinks of alternative ways of doing things.
- Blue Hat is process control, a bit like a meeting chair, and considers which type of thinking is required when.
We could adapt this methodology, and have a debate with our participants each taking a specific role which we have outlined, to debate a particular creative business proposal. This might work in conjunction with the Radiohead In Rainbows exercise.
More info here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm
Professional development plan
Attendees will be asked to fill in a Continuing Professional Development Plan - an outline of five things that they think they should do next, how they will do them, and by when. This is a good way, at the end of the day, to bring people back from the conceptual and abstract to their own personal situation. It also gives them something concrete to work with once the course is over.
Course timetable - evening course, 2 hours tuition
We're only going to have time for a basic introduction in two hours, so we'll need to pick the juciest bits of the course to present. Which bits are those? Is a presentation the best way to communicate? Would an ideas bazaar work better in such a short time?
