For marketers, an understanding of how a consumer selects, purchases, uses and disposes of products and services is pertinent to successfully managing the marketing function. In this course, you will learn about the role of consumer behaviour within marketing. We will discuss how this behaviour is shaped by the social and cultural environment, as well as a number of psychological factors. You will learn about decision-making processes in consumption behaviour in different buying situations. This will develop your ability to integrate marketing processes at a higher level. Concepts drawn from various disciplines such as psychology, economics and anthropology will be examined. This course is part of the CurtinX MicroMasters Credential in Marketing in a Digital World that is specifically designed to teach the critical skills needed to be successful in this exciting field. In order to qualify for the MicroMasters Credential you will need to earn a Verified Certificate in each of the five courses.

Everyone - non-scientists and scientists alike - has some form of expertise, but communicating across a gap in knowledge or experience is challenging. In this Teach-Out, we address this challenge by helping participants to develop core communication skills and more effectively communicate with one another. Participants will learn why science communication is both essential and fundamentally challenging. Experts in three broad areas of public engagement with science - Policy & Advocacy, Education & Outreach, and Science in the Media - will weigh in to share their knowledge. Anyone with a STEM story to tell will have the opportunity to develop a better understanding of their audience, craft a clear message, weave a compelling story, and practice giving and receiving feedback on science communications. And all participants will be able to engage in a series of discussions addressing key issues in science communication. Because the practice of science encourages dialogue, requires diverse perspectives, and has no political agenda, we hope this Teach-Out is a useful step in encouraging more science conversations between individuals and their local, national, and global communities.

In this course you will learn about Hollywood and how it came to be the global powerhouse of today. We will discuss the complex Hollywood industry and how business and politics translate into the art of film, TV, and new media. This course will chronicle Hollywood’s growth and global reach since the 1920s, looking at: How Hollywood has responded to new technologies such as synchronized sound, color cinematography, TV, home video, computer graphics, and the internet How the global spread of Hollywood since the 1920s changed the film industry The relationship between Hollywood and independent film Hollywood’s responses to crises in American politics (e.g., world wars, the cold war, the 1960s counterculture, 9/11) We will look closely at representative studios (Paramount, Disney, Fox, and others) and representative filmmakers (Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Frank Capra, George Lucas, Spike Lee, among many others).

This course is part of the University of Cambridge’s MicroMasters programme in Writing for Performance and Entertainment Industries. How can we use story within the practice of art installation? What function does narrative ‘perform’ in the world of performance art? Do you want to create an interdisciplinary text as a basis for a three-dimensional site-specific piece of work? We will be looking in depth at how to find your own distinctive voice as you develop as a performance or installation artist. Come and consider the spatial narratives of Ai Weiwei, Joseph Beuys and Kara walker. Or you may be drawn to performance artists as diverse as Maria Abramovich and Joan Jonas. Perhaps these practices are tools for you to extend your conceptual processes within another performative medium? We will be experimenting with space, language, ‘liveness’ and sound - an inspiring and freeing component of the MicroMasters! We will be thinking comparatively about the histories of performance art and art installation, as well as considering how audience reception contributes to the creative process within these art forms. This is a comprehensive introduction to performative art forms that will give beginners a strong understanding of the essential concepts. Flexible thinking and creativity are now essential in a diversifying global job market - come and learn essential new skills, and have fun doing it! You will be set writing exercises over the course of the module, and you will asked to keep a brief creativity journal to note how your ideas progress and how your intuition leads you into productivity. By the end of this module, you will have completed several new texts for use in a piece of installation or performance art. You will have been asked to reflect on the cultural significance of the work of the artists we analyse.

Although there are some robots you might never get to meet (or might hope you never meet), such as those sent to space, war or rescue situations, many other robots and bots are being developed to populate people's homes, the online spaces they frequent, their workplaces, and the social spaces they visit. This course explores how people communicate with robots and bots in everyday life, both now and into the future. Module 1 discusses the difficulties of defining what a robot is, as well as briefly introducing bots. Module 2 focuses on bots, chatbots and socialbots in detail, to consider how people communicate with these programs in online spaces, as well as some ethical questions these interactions raise. Robots in the home are the subject of Module 3, with a discussion of robots designed to act as personal assistants leading into some examples of assistive and care robots, as well as telepresence robots that allow people to interact with one another at a distance through a robot. Module 4 considers robots at work, from the potential of telepresence robots to enable remote operations, to robots designed to share people's workspaces, and potentially even take their jobs. One example of a public space where robots might alter people's working and social lives greatly is on the roads with the development of self-driving vehicles, robots that need to be able to communicate with their passengers as well as with other road users.

This course is part of the University of Cambridge’s MicroMasters program in Writing for Performance and Entertainment Industries. We will be looking in depth at how to build a screenplay that communicates its central meaning through strong visual images. How do we write a script containing almost no dialogue? And when we do have to use speech, what constitutes successful dialogue for the screen? How will film genre and history influence your writing? What is the difference between a tagline and a logline? How do you write an effective outline of your script for a producer to read? What is a ‘story bible’ and when do you need one? All these questions and more will be answered. We will be thinking comparatively about screenplay advice from film and TV industry gurus such as Robert McKee and John Yorke - as well as asking you to find your own habits and practices as writing methodology. We will critically analyse the work of filmmakers such as Jeremiah Mosese, Mustashrik Mahbub and Melina Matsoukas. How do our global film and TV industries reflect our social and cultural concerns and needs today? The work of James Frey ( Queen and Slim ), Michaela Coel ( I May Destroy You ) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge ( Fleabag, Killing Eve ) will inspire us to find the stories within ourselves than can change the world. Successful visual communication is a vital skill in any workplace. Visual images are the fastest way to communicate the most information possible in the shortest possible time, and a strong intuitive and strategic grasp of this process will offer you an in valuable creative toolbox for expert communication in any professional sphere. Skill transferability, flexible thinking, and expert language abilities are now essential in a diversifying global job market - come and learn essential new skills, and have fun doing it! You will be set writing exercises over the course of the module, and you will asked to keep a brief creativity journal to note how your ideas progress and how your intuition leads you into productivity. By the end of this module, you will have completed several new scenes of a screenplay, with a considered plan for the structure of the entire piece of work. You will have reflected on how social and cultural mores can become useful themes to create commercially successful work.

This course is part of the University of Cambridge’s MicroMaster’s program in Writing for Performance and Entertainment Industries. How can you utilise the innovative creative world of online digital platforms to advance and create new material as dramatic writers? We will be looking in depth at how to find an digital form that stimulates you as a writer. Do you want to write interactive gameplay ‘script’ for the video game industry? Or learn how to write soundscapes for radio drama and podcast plays? Perhaps you want to create new content for your own YouTube channel? We will be looking at how narrative skill and digital production coincide in all these mediums. We will consider successful professional examples of digital narratives; look deeply into the changing form of scriptwriting in the video game industry, as well as acquire a knowledge of how to reach a target audience online. This is a comprehensive introduction to writing and innovating digital content. Learning to write for online platforms, and how to communicate most effectively with an online audience, is now an highly transferable skill for any profession. Digital expertise, flexible thinking, and expert storytelling abilities are now essential in a diversifying global job market - come and learn essential new skills, and have fun doing it! You will be set writing exercises over the course of the module, and you will asked to keep a brief creativity journal to note how your ideas progress and how your intuition leads you into productivity. By the end of this module, you will have completed several pieces of script in a range of digital mediums of your choice.

This five-week course will help you identify reliable information in news reports and become better informed about the world we live in. We will discuss journalism from the viewpoint of the news audience. Together, we will examine the following topics: What makes news? The blurred lines between news, promotion and entertainment. Why does news matter? Social sharing and the dynamics of the news cycles. Who provides information? How to evaluate sources in news reports. Where is the evidence? The process of verification. When should we act? Recognizing our own biases. How do we know what we know? Becoming an active news audience. If you are interested in becoming a more discerning news consumer, please join us and sign up today.

Strong leadership is regarded as one of the best predictors of organizational success and critical human capital required for career progression in almost every organization. However, leadership is also a highly complex and often misunderstood phenomenon. It‘s hard to define, but we all know good and bad leadership when we see it. This course will equip aspiring leaders with an understanding of what leadership is and how an individual can develop the skills required to become an effective leader in their organization. Taught by instructors and presenters with decades of business and not-for-profit leadership experience, you will learn the difference between leadership and management, the importance of understanding others and building empathy and relationships, and gain a better understanding of the different leadership styles you may encounter throughout your career. Learn through a series of engaging videos, interviews, case studies, written reflections, peer feedback, and other self-insight activities. Our instructors and faculty will help you identify your own values and ethics as a leader, and most importantly, build your self-efficacy, your confidence and belief in your own ability to achieve intended results.

Are you finding it difficult to start the conversation, or find the right words when communicating in English? Do you know how to start and end conversations in a polite way? Do you want to learn more about American, British, Canadian, Australian, South Korean, Colombian, and Chinese cultures? If so, you’ve come to the right course! 语言最重要的功能就是交流。在交流中我们要知道如何开始一个对方感兴趣的话题，回答别人的提问，自然、流畅地完成一个对话。本课程选取了8个主题，由50多位来自美国、英国、加拿大、澳大利亚、哥伦比亚、中国的老师及各个年龄段的学生，在真实的场景中，用最地道的表达和最纯正的英语，带你谈论日常生活、学习的方方面面。 本课程分为八个单元，每个单元有一个主题，分别是： 1、个人信息的介绍与交换 2、我们的家人和朋友 3、饮食与用餐 4、英语学习的目的和方法 5、假日活动和难忘的经历 6、兴趣爱好 7、情感表达 8、保持健康 每个主题由十余组对话和小组讨论，外籍老师的中西方文化差异介绍，中国老师的重点词汇、句型讲解，听力理解练习和口语测试构成。通过学习和练习，你将可以和讲英语的朋友们自如地交谈、讨论与主题相关的任何问题。本课程的学习方法有很多。英语学习者可以在反复地听和跟读对话的过程中，不断积累语言素材，和你身边的朋友或同课程的学习者进行对话练习；英语教师可以选用本课程中适合的主题，组织学生进行听说训练，组织高效课堂。也许你不能理解每段对话的全部内容，只需听懂大意，随着课程的进展，你听懂的内容会越来越多。让我们一起实现一次英语听说的飞跃吧。 本门课程在制作过程中得到了香港伟新教育基金和Google公司的资助，特此鸣谢。