Fiona Peterson – Program Leader, MA Virtual Communication
School of Creative Media, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
With a 25-year career in education, most of my teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate levels in RMIT University’s Business Information Systems, Management and Creative Media.
My field is organisational communication. In addition to being an educator, I am a consultant in my own company, which specialises in public relations strategy and positioning clients to win business.
I am a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and give frequent presentations to academic and professional audiences, in Australia and overseas.
In 1998, I was co-winner of a state education scholarship to investigate virtual networks and e-commerce in USA and Canada. My meetings were at the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ-Amex, Warburg Pincus, KPMG and more.
This inspired me to travel the world and research for the next two years to design and develop the Master of Arts (Virtual Communication), which I am proud to lead.
Knowledge sharing networks and managing e-communication underpin the program. I keep in close touch with my extensive international network across the communication and technology industries. This ensures that the MA Virtual Communication remains fresh and at the cutting edge.
I have a strong commitment to international on-line collaborative projects, such as The Departure Lounge http://www.tcm.rmit.edu.au. In this creative communication project, my corporate writing and multimedia students in Australia worked with graphic design students in Japan and Zimbabwe.
Beyond the classroom, I have extensive experience in innovative project management, curriculum development and design of assessment tools. I have also written proposals with the United Nations for extending programs on teaching in the new media, to developing countries such as Zimbabwe.
My Master of Education (RMIT) included Curriculum Leadership and Curriculum Assessment & Evaluation, with a minor thesis on Global Education. Undergraduate studies were in Business (RMIT) and technical teaching (State College of Victoria).
The current challenge is writing a thesis on the Establishment of Virtual Global Networks: technology, relationship management and knowledge management.
The Master of Arts (Virtual Communication) prepares graduates for new roles in managing e-communication.
The focus is on:
· global collaboration within and between organisations
· creative communication strategy for taking products and services to the e-market.
This is a prestigious masters degree for practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds, such as public relations, marketing, journalism, human resources, global management, IT strategy and web design. Considerable worldwide research underpins this innovative Flagship Program in the School of Creative Media at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
The International Advisory Committee for the MA Virtual Communication includes business leaders in the United States, Europe and Asia from IBM, Alcatel, Motorola, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard Consulting, NASDAQ-AMEX, IT Skills Hub Australia, Accenture, BP, Caltex, Premier Oil, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, tmp.worldwide, William M Mercer, Watson Wyatt, Information Handling Services (IHS) and Porter Novelli Convergence Group.
Other business advisers are from International Association of Business Communicators, Public Relations Institute of Australia, and Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association.
International Advisory Committee members are also from MIT, United Nations Development Programme, Internet2, International Institute of Sustainable Development, and European Centre for Digital Culture, Knowledge Organisation & Learning Technology.
The program combines multimedia, Internet management and communication management, including strong theoretical frameworks and practical application. Flexible delivery includes face-to-face seminars and workshops, with online learning guides, discussions and collaborative projects.
The 15 courses cover areas such as knowledge management, global relationship management, e-branding, designing for interactivity, website development, streaming technologies, communicating technical solutions, international corporate communication, e-marketing and virtual project management.
Students learn about virtual communication, and the teaching methodology reflects the content. In addition, postgraduate capabilities are developed in critical thinking and ill-structured problem solving. Analysis includes alternative solutions for successful business practice.
Lecturers are highly qualified industry practitioners, all ensuring the three specialist areas of multimedia, Internet management and communication management are fully integrated in each course, in an international context.
Students join a knowledge sharing network. Drawing on their different specialisations, experience and cultural perspectives, they research existing and emerging technologies. These are applied for development of new e-communication solutions and strategies.
Graduates will be able to lead their section of industry in future communication developments with emerging technologies, and will be able to create communication strategies incorporating these technologies for organisations.
phone +61 3 9925 4763, fax +61 3 9925 4362, mobile +61 0418 489 712