Launched: First ever Growth Hacking Course (?)
This January the Information Networks programme at Aalto and Columbia Road (a digital growth consultancy) are launching a master’s level university course on growth hacking. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this topic is taught and tackled by a dedicated university course.
Note! We are looking for 2x course assistants for this course. Read more!
What is Growth Hacking?
I asked Eero Martela, a growth hacking expert from Columbia Road, to give a brief description:
It is an approach for growing a business through rapid experiments in customer touchpoints. Typically growth hacking activities are a combination of marketing, software development, sales, service design, and analytics. In short, it’s about trying all (morally and legally approved) means in order to achieve tactical growth.
In the big picture, growth hacking is a way-of-working that has an impact on entire organizations. It stems from the organizational culture, gets re-enforced by the company’s vision and goals, is actualised by concrete, hands-on activities, and drives business results and revenue.
Growth hacking is both a mindset and a proven way of conducting performance-driven business.
How does the course work?
The course is a period 3 course, which means it starts on January 7th and ends before February 25th (7 weeks, 4 study credits). Each week we have lectures on Mondays from 14–16. The lectures are visiting experts from various organisations.
In addition to the lectures, the participants are divided into three groups (four students in each group). Each week the groups work on their group work: on Wednesdays 16–18 under guidance by Columbia Road and course assistants, and also the teams get weekly tasks.
The groups have a dedicated topic to work with, and each topic is an actual event happening during the Spring. The topics/events the teams will “growth hack” are (in all simplicity):
- The marketing and registration for the Information Networks special seminar on March 22nd. The seminar is arranged to celebrate the twenty years of the programme’s existence and the goal is to grow the alumni’s awareness of the event and convert that into registrations.
- The marketing and application of high school students (“abiturientit”) to apply for the Information Networks programme. The high schoolers will make their minds about their studies during the Spring and the objective is to grow the awareness of the programme and convert the students to apply for it.
- The marketing and attendance of an open lecture series Social Media Phenomena by the Information Networks programme. The objective is to make the large public aware of the event (open lectures from February to March) and grow the attendance to these public lectures and/or their digital streaming.
All of the groups and their tasks will be given access, tools, guidance and help with the content, metrics, and the actual events. Also, each team gets a marketing budget to spend.
The course has two course assistants in addition to the Columbia Road teacher and myself, Risto Sarvas, the supervising teacher.
How to apply?
The course is under the course code CS-E5002 Special Course of Software Engineering: Growth Hacking (see in Web Oodi). It should be easy to include this course in the optional courses of your major or minor in Information Networks or Computer Science and Engineering. In some majors this course code is already in the list of optional courses.
Any Aalto student is applicable to apply, as long as you have basic knowledge of web programming & technologies and communications & marketing (e.g., courses CS-C1180 Verkkojulkaisemisen perusteet and TU-C9291 Viestintä ja digitaalinen media).
The course accepts only twelve students, because it is ran the very first time and we would like to get really motivated participants. The registration for the course starts in Web Oodi on November 19th 8:30am, and people are accepted to the course on “first come, first served” basis, i.e., order of registration.
Any question, please contact me risto.sarvas(ät)aalto.fi.
