Word of Mouth, and Implementing Studywiz
In Southampton, we are now deep into the second phase of our implementation, and the feedback from teachers attending training has been great - with them all really eager to get going with their classes, and start using Studywiz. We’re planning to hold an information event at a Southampton school, on the 1st December for those schools who are yet to show interest, where I want to involve teachers from across the city and, more importantly, children, so that we can show people how the thing works with real examples of great practice (and shock some adults, at how kids can pick up ICT skills faster than them!)
What I’ve become very aware of, especially in a unitary authority such as ours, is that word gets about. Last week, we had a small surge of schools who expressed their interest for the first time, even though they’ve not previously been in contact, or attended our launch events. It’s clear that teachers have been talking, and that the practical experiences of those who’ve been trained are being shared across Southampton. I’ve also heard that there is talk about the content that we purchased to be hosted on our deployment, and that it is creating a buzz as well.
In marketing, there is the ‘Viral’ approach to promoting a product, or an idea, and I can see how this works. In our case, we are providing something much better than a product or a brand - a set of tools that can really make an effective difference to Learning, and that is why the word has spread so quickly.
