HAMBURG X HANGZHOU: INTERNATIONAL TEACHING IN TIMES OF CORONA
International teaching plays a significant role at Brand University. BU lecturers regularly visit our partner universities abroad to give seminars there as well. But how does this teaching exchange work in times of Corona? Because of travel restrictions, it’s a matter of getting creative.
Our lecturer Betty Siegel shows how it works. She normally teaches master students from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou in one-month intensive courses. She wanted to hold her seminar in person in the 2020/21 winter semester as well, despite travel restrictions.
The solution: Betty Siegel taught from Germany via video chat. Falk Fuhrmann, Strategy Director of the Shanghai Shengshi Longcheng Brand Consulting Company, took over the practical part of her seminar “International Brand Communication” on site. As the person responsible for projects in the Greater China Region, he lives and works in China.
Their chinese student Nora explains: „Betty and Falk accompanied us in this course to learn the basic theory of branding systematically. Betty’s class started from the beginning of the week, and conveyed the theory of branding to us through two consecutive days of related lectures. Falk then used exercises and small group presentations on Friday and Saturday to allow us to practice.“
The seven-hour time difference in the online seminar suggests fatigue on one side or the other, but Betty Siegel made up for it with her teaching style, her students expressed their delight: „Her teaching style is just like her personality: Straightforward and full of information. The output is crazy!“
The students found the addition of Falk Fuhrmann’s practical cases to the theoretical part of the course very enriching, as Timothy Wu explains:
„Betty’s class was quite efficient and important, and Falk’s cooperation provided us much more possibilities to think about the theoretical definitions. I found this procedure was quite interesting and special. This study experience was certainly helpful for us. Thanks a lot!“
„After one month of study, I learned about the important concepts of brand positioning, brand identity, brand globalization, and brand localization. Through real-life case studies, my understanding of these concepts has deepened. I have gained a lot from this combination of definition and case studies“, Wendy Chen completes.
Thus, within a month, the students learned about the importance of brands from intercultural brand experts. Knowledge that they will continue to build on in their studies.
Header picture: Felix Spörl