Hello everyone! I’m Kaan Erkan and I would like to share my thoughts and feelings about York University School of Continuing Studies.
A Little About Me
As I said my name is Kaan and I came to Canada from Turkey. It was my first visit to Canada, but I was excited to go on a new journey in a new country. I graduated from Bilkent University in Turkey where I studied Business Administration. Even while I was studying business, I always wanted to do marketing. I also took some elective classes on digital marketing but apart from some projects, I was not qualified to be a marketer. I worked as a sales representative at Coca-Cola for 2 years then decided to pursue a career in marketing. I heard about York from a friend and as I did some research, I decided that studying at York would be a great opportunity for me.
I am currently a postgrad student at York University School of Continuing Studies. I am studying Digital and Content Marketing and will be graduating at the end of August. As my studying ends, I would like to share some of my insights as a foreigner to introduce you to York University and the School of Continuing Studies.
Studying at York University was a great experience in many ways. I always wanted to be involved with digital marketing and this was my first course where we really dived in. While I was studying, I got the chance to learn more about marketing principles and learned how to make well-informed decisions in the ever-changing marketing world.
About Learning at York University
York University provides a well-rounded curriculum that covers a large number of topics in terms of digital marketing. From SEO strategies to content creation, I get to experience many new techniques in a theoretical sense and some of the methods in a practical sense. Most lessons were carefully planned to give students both practical and theoretical knowledge.
I believe that practical learning is the most effective way of learning. I, myself, learn by practice. That is why I consider the practical assignments that we did to be the most important ones. Creating a detailed SEO strategy, or original content was the best way to learn for me. The feedback we got from our instructors and classmates was educational as well.
Discovering the Industry
Another feature of the program is that since a lot of the instructors were from the industry, I got to get industry insights from real digital marketers. In addition, some of the lectures had guest speakers also from the industry, which improved the experience. These guest speakers talked about the current trends in digital marketing. They also talked about what types of struggles they had and how they overcame them. These speakers helped me to link what I learned from the course to real examples. The networking that I made thanks to this program is also important for me. As someone who came from abroad and is trying to get into industry, these connections can act like a lighthouse for me. Interacting and teaching each other with our classmates from different backgrounds improved my way of thinking.
Decision Making
The most important part of the course for me was improving my decision-making process. During most of the projects we did for York University, we had to work with a group which is not always easy. In those group projects, I realized that someone had to take responsibility and make decisions for the group if necessary. In some cases that was me, in others, it was my group mates. Making decisions and seeing the results, combined with the information I gathered from the lectures improved my decision-making process. I learned to be more precise, and I learned to think about small details. I also learned how to make data-based decisions. As I said I learn by practice. And practicing with tools was really fun and educational. By using these tools, I got the chance to learn how to optimize/improve a marketing strategy.
As I said I came from abroad to Canada to study and I always wanted to get involved with digital marketing. I expected to learn about technical, practical, and industrial information but this program also provided me with the ability to withstand struggles and stand up to challenges. I believe all the problems that I faced improved me.
In the future, I can’t wait to use the knowledge that I gained at York University. I hope my experience can inspire and maybe change a few people’s minds. York University gave me most of the necessary education to be a great marketer one day. With these gathered skills, I look forward to embracing challenges and working through campaigns.
