Letting Go of Assumptions: A Study Abroad Tradition

By Jacqueline Babb, Senior Lecturer and Full-time IMC Academic Director, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications 

My courses are bookends for full-time graduate Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) students. Students begin graduate studies with a strategy course: we interrogate strategy frameworks, dismantle marketing decision-making, and encourage each other to check our assumptions. It’s as much a critical thinking course as a strategy course. Students come away with the courage to ask questions and think critically. 

Over the subsequent months, my colleagues in IMC put that critical thinking to work as students develop and defend strategies. And by the time they come back to me for their final quarter, our students are ready to learn how IMC shows up around the world.

We board a plane and fly 4,000 miles to London in the spirit of learning. The London course ponders how brands connect with customers. On one hand, heritage brands like Coca-Cola, Selfridges, and Wimbledon are icons. These brands have invested heavily in their rich history. On the other hand, emergent retail brands like Assouline and DIPTYQUE create multi-sensory experiences to engage customers in their stores. We can purchase a candle or book anywhere: why do these brands invest so heavily in customer experience?  

This type of inquiry brings us back to the first quarter when we unapologetically questioned our assumptions. The students know quite a bit about marketing and come to the London course with those ideas. We want to see how those ideas activate and inspire. But, to truly learn from this global experience, students must let their assumptions go and open themselves up to a new way of learning as experts in IMC. 

On the first day of class, students write their assumptions about how brands connect to consumers though heritage and experience on a piece of flying wish paper, a biodegradable piece of tissue-like paper. This exercise gets our assumptions out of the way. We spend the week using London as a classroom, exploring brands from the inside out.

On the final day, students meet at the iconic Tower Bridge to light a match to their assumption paper and watch it fly away. This ritual reminds students that learning evolves as we become experts, and we can let our assumptions go. As a summative learning activity, students gather around the bridge to share their new perspective on our course question and what they learned in the process of being open to new experiences. 

A special thank you to Lauri Dietz, Director of Pedagogy and Assessment, for inspiring this learning activity.

Published Fall 2024