> The literature is pretty outdated (texts from 2005 and 2004; f.ex. the
> part about SEO is from yesteryear - (at least that way I learned that
> Yahoo! Search Marketing used to be called "Overture"; I had to google it.)
> When I go to a university programme certified by the Web Analytics
> Association, I would at least expect the literature to be on the edge of
> current development.

I wonder, would you consider Euclidean geometry "outdated" because it was
developed in the 3rd century BC? Web Analytics Demystified was published in
2004 and is still considered a seminal work in the business. A 5 year old
date does not mean the material is wrong, does it?

The UBC courses, by design, focus on the business application of web
analytics. If a new technology does not change a fundamental driver of the
business value that can be extracted from web analytics then there's really
no reason to "update" the courses.

The approach we take is to teach students how to think for themselves about
analytical problem solving in a business environment, to develop their own
creativity in problem solving rather than following robotic formulas that
may lose relevance over time. And we don't teach Marketing, SEO, PPC, etc.
The focus is on the *analysis* of Marketing, not how to *do* Marketing.

That all said, we recognize that mentioning Overture and similar editorial
issues may create confusion, and a thorough editorial review of all the
course material is scheduled for March 2010. We're looking for project
managers and editors to assist with this; if you are interested in helping
out and are a WAA member, send a blurb with a little bit of your background
to Raquel Collins at UBC:

collins@...

> Looks like this guy isn't that false in what he's writing about the
> course:
>
http://www.truthypr.com/2009/08/the-ubc-award-of-achievement-in-web-analytics.ht\
ml

The comments he made in August 2009 are mostly centered around 3 things:

1. The courses were not "advanced" enough
2. The courses did not teach deployment
3. The tutors could be more involved and active in discussions

Let's address each:

1. Clearly, the concept of "advanced" is in the eye of the beholder. If
you have experience on the business side of web analytics, actually turning
the data into information that is acted on as opposed to just running
reports, then parts of the courses may not seem very "advanced". This is
especially true of the 1st course - Introduction to Web Analytics. If
you're a beginner - the target market the courses were designed for - then
you will probably find the courses to be quite "advanced" as a whole.

2. Implementation, maintenance, tag coding etc. have never been a subject
of the courses and will not be in the future. This area can be in many ways
vendor-specific and so is best left to the vendors, who all have great
courses available on these topics. We teach enough of the technology in the
courses for a non-tech person to be able to communicate with the
implementation folks, but we're not trying to teach IT skills.

3. This is a fair criticism. We know this because it was picked up in our
own student surveys as the number of course offerings expanded to meet
demand. Mea culpa, and newly graduating students should be having a
different experience by now; we'll see what the surveys say.

97% of students taking the courses give them positive ratings, which is
remarkable in the world of online education. Still, we won't be able to
please everyone, and people looking for deployment skills or a Marketing
education should probably look elsewhere.

Hope the above answers your questions, if you have any others, go ahead and
post them.

Jim Novo
Managing Director of Education
Web Analytics Association
jim@...

Take the courses:
http://www.tech.ubc.ca/metrics/