Newsletter #73: University of Alberta’s brand guidelines get a film trailer; AI is here for content creators; We’ll see the death of the social media newsfeed within five years
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
We’ll see the death of the social media newsfeed within five years. Read
“Get students to create your content.” Right idea, but oversimplified. Read
A third of Gen Z class themselves as digital creators. Read
📰 HE news
The cost of living crisis has reopened a discussion on the return of maintenance grants. Fun fact: The maximum maintenance loan available to students this year is £1,000 less than a job paying the national minimum wage – the biggest gap between the two since 2004. It’s starting to affect student choices. The Student Room reported a 26% spike (YOY) in traffic to its “apprenticeships and alternatives to university” forum on Results Day, citing cost of living as the main driver. 5% less parents now encourage students to go to university when compared with 2018. Cost of living is no longer a budgeting question. It’s a question of whether a student can afford an education at all. Read
With English dropping out of the top 10 subject areas for the first time, a few articles have surfaced on how we measure the impact of Humanities. The value of degrees are so tied up in the government’s focus on “low-value courses” that we rarely have a moment to pause and ask - “is salary how academia should be measured in the first place?” Alternative pathways could be the answer. The Dyson Institute is a shining example of applied higher education - but it isn’t for everyone (and that’s okay!) Employability is good, but if you try to retrofit a Classics degree into the needs of business and industry, you’re only going to end up with a product that both employers and students hate. Having only one way to measure value feels cumbersome, and there are certainly better ways to demonstrate student success than a graduate’s first salary. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
AI is back in the news, but specifically how it will change content creation. It feels like we’re in the early days of the gold rush and the popularity of DALL·E 2 (AI text-to-image generator) is what’s selling shovels. Two notable companies, Descript (video editing) and Jasper (marketing content creator) are making waves. Descript has a feature called “overdub” which uses a sample of your voice to correct fluffed lines - type the word you should have said and you’re good to go. With Jasper, not only can you prompt content creation via one line of text, you can also specify the tone. If you want a research feature written in the tone of Joe Rogan (for example) - it’s got you covered. Descript overdub | Jasper copywriting AI | DALL·E 2
YouTube is launching an ad-free video player for educators. It’s in Beta right now, but among the first group of partners is Purdue University - so it’s great a higher ed use case is on the cards. In short, the player strips out distractions, such as: Ads, external links and recommendations from YouTube’s algorithm. Honestly, it’s a gift for engagement and content marketing. Plus, you’ve got the added bonus of YouTube rolling out tools to create paid or free video courses in 2023. So - if you’re planning taster sessions, shot courses or even CPD-related content, you should seriously consider making YouTube its home. Read
Bonus: The most popular content on Facebook links to Tiktok. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
Search “cost of living university” in TikTok and you’ll see how stretched students are. A few universities have picked up on the trend, bringing cost of living advice out of five-click deep web pages and into social feeds. University of Greenwich outlines advice as well as five bursaries in an IG Reel. University of Gloucestershire takes a similar approach to TikTok. I’m surprised I’m not seeing more of this - with the new recruitment year, there’s a USP in demonstrating that you’re the affordable choice. Gloucestershire | Greenwich
University of Southhampton had a LinkedIn hit with its “Work After Lockdown” video. It got 58 shares, over 400 engagements and a load of love in the comments. The same video on YouTube? 266 views. In short: LinkedIn is underrated, especially for research and reputational content. It’s not just the subject matter (remote work) either. Southampton’s “human-powered aircraft” got thousands of views on LinkedIn, whereas on YouTube it was barely seen. We often design videos for a YouTube-first experience, but, right now, there are few channels with organic reach as high as LinkedIn. Get it while it’s hot. Human-powered aircraft | Work after lockdown
University of Alberta released a film trailer for its new brand guidelines. Look - brand is important, but this straddles the line of being more about “the institution” than the students it seeks to inspire. It’s not bad by any means, but at points, the cliches come so thick and fast that it feels a little like satire. That said - the interlude of staff and students working through the night is beautifully shot. TLDR: It’s just overly intense. The crescendo builds for such a long time that by the end even the narrator struggles for breath. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“Imagine you've completed all of the requirements, paid $50,000 for first year, you're excited you're going to University of Toronto … you've rented an apartment and the best years of your adult life are about to begin and instead you're missing a year.” Students on the delay to thousands of Canadian study permits. Read
👾 Culture shock
IckTok: What happens when you train TikTok’s algorithm to show stuff you don’t like. Read
Netflix turned 25. Read
