Allie Johns MSc, PGCert (LTHE), FHEA
Senior Lecturer, Digital Marketing (RUX, Strategy & Innovation)
Teaching specialisms: Rich User Experience, Digital Value Proposition Design, Immersive Storytelling
My profile
Biography
I’m a senior lecturer in the specialist digital marketing teaching and research team in the Department of Marketing International Business & Tourism (MIBT), within the Faculty of Business and Law.
I design, deliver, and lead several specialist creative and strategic digital marketing units for our full-time postgraduates, part-time, Executive Level E-learners, and undergraduate degree apprenticeship students. I specialise in immersive UX and storytelling, digital marketing strategy/planning and innovation. Helping students build their confidence and develop their employability is at the heart of everything I do.
Impact
2023/24: Manchester Met Future Education Leaders programme - specialising in the student experience of teaching & learning as part of the University’s ‘Belonging & Mattering’ community of practice
2022: Guest castaway on ‘Treasure Island Pedagogies’ podcast (Liverpool University Centre for Innovation in Learning) https://anchor.fm/livunicie/episodes/Treasure-Island-Pedagogies-Episode-17–The-one-with-the-Play-Doh-e1eje5e
2022: Guest on ‘A critical thought’ podcast (Man Met Learner Development Team) dispelling the myths of critical thinking https://soundcloud.com/user-349121495
2021: Presented on Innovation in Teaching at LTSE CABS conference https://charteredabs.org/events/ltse2021/
2019: Visiting lecturer, Christ University, Bangalore - MBA.
2016: Presented conference paper at ACM TVX - the international conference for Interactive TV and online video experiences - at the Institute of Design, Chicago, USA https://tvx.acm.org/2016/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/TVX-2016-program-booklet.pdf
Teaching
Unit Leadership
- Rich User Experience (RUX)
- Digital Masters Level Learning (DMLL)
Degree Apprenticeship (Undergraduate part-time)
- Digital Human & Audiences (DHA), L5
Undergraduate full-time
- Digital Marketing Campaign Management (DMCM), L6
- Strategic Marketing (SM), L6
Accreditations and awards
Fellow Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE)
2021: Faculty of Business & Law nominee - Teaching Excellence award
2020: Outstanding Innovation in Teaching - nominee https://www.theunionmmu.org/your-voice/teaching-awards/teaching-awards-shortlist-2020
Supervision
Masters students studying MSc Digital Marketing Communications, Creative Advertising, and Marketing.
Research outputs
Johns, A., Galpin, A., Meredith, J. and Glancy, M (2016) I Kind of Had an Avatar Switch: The Role of the Self in Engagement with an Interactive TV Drama. TVX ‘16: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video. June 2016, 77 - 82 https://doi.org/10.1145/2932206.2932218
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Conference papers
Johns, A. (2021) 'Netflixing your unit: A learning framework to engage and empower your students.' In Learning, Teaching & Student Experience 2021. Online, 29/6/2021 - 30/6/2021.
Johns, A.M., Galpin, A.J., Meredith, J., Glancy, M. (2016) 'I Kind of Had an Avatar Switch: The Role of the Self in Engagement with an Interactive TV Drama.' In TVX '16 Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video. Chicago, USA, 22/6/2016 - 24/6/2016. New York, United States: Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 77-82.
Career history
2017 to date: Senior Lecturer
2023: Manchester Met Future Education Leader programme, specialising in the student experience of teaching & learning, as part of the university’s ‘Belonging & Mattering’ community of practice
2022 to 2024: Interim Programme Leader, Digital Marketer Degree Apprenticeship
2021 to date: Postgraduate and Degree Apprenticeship unit leadership
2020: PG Cert LTHE (Distinction)
2019: Visiting lecturer - Christ University, Bangalore, India - MBA
2019: FHEA (PG Cert LTHE route)
2018 - 2020: Programme Leader, MSc Digital Marketing Communications
2017 - 2020: Undergraduate and Postgraduate Unit Leadership
1990 - 2017: Industry career
I’m lucky to have forged my creative and strategic digital career in the 90s, working through the dot com boom in New York, London, Hong Kong and Europe, then progressing to freelance consultancy and into the B2B creative agency world as a planning director.
An award winner in marketing and digital innovation, I’ve successfully led strategies and campaigns for a range of brands in the UK, Europe, USA, and the Far East, including British Airways, Airtours plc, PetSafe International, and Stagecoach Group plc.
In 2013, I returned to higher education to study a part-time MSc in Media Psychology at the University of Salford. In 2016, I presented my research for BBC Interactive at the ACM TVX Conference in Chicago, USA. After graduating with Distinction in September 2016, I became an Associate Lecturer in digital marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University, progressing to Senior Lecturer in July 2017.
A passionate advocate for the use of behavioural insight to create digital experiences that inspire and connect with audiences, I now specialise in applied Rich User Experience, immersive storytelling and Digital Innovation Strategy. I continue to work with industry partners to provide work experience for students. I introduce my professional network to new digital talent, provide mentorship for alumni, and ensure my applied knowledge stays current and relevant.
Above all, I’m a strategic creative and critical thinker with an established track record of driving and delivering change. I always take an empathetic and empowering approach to leadership and problem-solving. Actively listening to students, customers, clients, and colleagues alike, is at the heart of everything I do.