The first course is taking shape
In early 2017, barely a year after the two-year YH E-Commerce Manager training had been started at IHM Business School, it was noted, as in most new training courses, that some of the training's courses needed to be developed. Among other things, a new course leader was sought for the Digital Marketing course.
Andreas Anderzon, former Transportation Manager North Europe at H&M, now entrepreneur and founder of Styling Agenten and E-handelshuset, among others, was one of the people in the management group for the training when the issue was discussed.
“For me, it was a given that we should call in Robin Pettersson at HERE! He has exactly the qualities required to train and has always felt confident in his competence. When I suggested his name to the others in the management team, it turned out that both Linda Aspling, then head of e-commerce at Tenson, and Magnus Edvardsson, Head of E-Commerce at Consid, also knew Robin well, so the decision was easy”
Andreas Anderzon, CEO, D&G Group
A few months later, the agreement was signed and in November of the same year, the first edition of the new version of the Digital Marketing course was run for around forty students.
“It was extremely nerve-racking to step up as a teacher the first time. I had lectured here and there for quite a few years but the longest previous assignment was a course of four days, now I was going to lecture for eight weeks.”
Robin Pettersson, Digital Growth Specialist, HERE
However, building the training turned out to be the biggest challenge and the process began with revising the curriculum and making sure that all relevant channels and tools were taken care of. A nearly 800-page long presentation was then produced divided into different course elements, which consisted of everything from the importance of keeping track of one's target group to Content Marketing and Google Ads. A process that took almost four weeks before the final result could be presented.
"It was tougher than I had expected to build the course from start to finish, unfortunately it was the only way forward. Now in retrospect, I'm glad I did it because the course has received incredibly good feedback from the students every year since then. Then there are always things to improve and since development moves forward at lightning speed, we naturally make changes between each start of the course".
The next step in the collaboration
After the success of the Digital Marketing course, it was natural that the question of taking on other courses would arise, and the next challenge came already the following year, then in the form of supervisor and examiner for the students' Degree Project. The first edition was managed together with Torbjörn Noaksson, current Digital Project Leader at Jönköping Municipality.
"It was nice to have a colleague next to you with whom you could share the challenge and Tobbe and I were a great match. Having said that, the degree project was in many ways an easier project to take on because the major responsibility lies with the students. The idea is for them to demonstrate independence in problem solving where we as supervisors mostly assist with guidelines and act as a sounding board. Something that in itself has been both developing and interesting and you always learn something new when you are surrounded by a bunch of knowledge-hungry talents."
The degree project also progressed smoothly, but the following year Torbjörn decided to look for other challenges and no longer had the opportunity to act as a supervisor. In connection with this, a natural opening was created for colleague Robin Olsen who, just like Pettersson, had a lot of experience in lecturing, among other things he had recently completed a training mission for the Västra Götaland region in digitization.
“It was really fun to have the chance to act as an examiner together with Pettersson. We complement each other well and have a consensus on how we want to shape the industry. In addition, we both think it is incredibly exciting to accompany the students on their journey”
Robin Olsen, Digital Growth Specialist, HERE
Constant development
The collaboration between Olsen and Pettersson during the subsequent degree project goes as expected and in the same year Olsen also gives several appreciated guest lectures in the Digital Marketing course.
At the beginning of 2020, IHM then makes a major evaluation of the education in general and it is decided to replace certain courses that no longer feel relevant. In connection with this, HERE is asked if it can take on the responsibility of developing yet another course; The Digital Ecosystem. A four-week course that will create an overview of the e-commerce industry's many expressions, tools, working methods and channels to better prepare the students for future more in-depth courses.
"It felt like a given that I would take on the new course, even though I knew it would be time-consuming to plan and produce the training material. Our existing involvement in the training had given us both insight and influence, and in connection with taking a new approach to the training, we now had the chance to raise the level even further," says Olsen.
In order to get a clearer common thread through the various courses, it was decided, among other things, to lift certain parts from the course Digital Marketing to the Digital Ecosystem, in connection with this they also shortened both Digital Marketing and the Degree Project from eight weeks to six.
"The developed structure has made the education even sharper and the Digital Ecosystem has received top marks from the students. Having said that, you can never sit back, in an industry that develops as quickly as ours, it is important to stay on your toes. We expect that the education and all courses will need to be revised at regular intervals, which also makes the assignment all the more interesting," concludes Olsen.
“Since 2017, we have hired HERE as course managers for the E-Commerce Manager training. The collaboration has worked brilliantly and the response from the students has been very positive. In my role as educational leader, it is highly desirable to find course-responsible teachers who not only possess relevant professional competence and are skilled pedagogues, but who can also take the students in a good way. Working with Robin and Robin has been a pleasure and it has felt both fun and safe. They are incredibly committed, responsive, flexible, reliable and you always have fun in their company”
Stefan Töreki, Head of Education, IHM Business School
