Innovating to Share Knowledge: Éric Lombardot's Creative Teaching Recognized by the AFM

It all started during the COVID-19 lockdown, when Mr. Lombardot—like many educators at the time—had to adapt quickly by recording his statistics and probability courses and uploading them online. While his original intent was simply to support his students, his videos gradually began receiving positive feedback from learners at other universities—and even fellow instructors. This motivated him to "see it through" and complete the entire first-year statistics curriculum in video format.

In the following years, the more videos I created, the more I thought: I’ll leave them online, and they'll be useful next year. Students will watch the videos before class and come in already understanding the core concepts and principles. That way, we can spend class time on application and discussion instead of traditional lectures.

By turning the constraints of the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity, Mr. Lombardot implemented principles of flipped learning at the Sorbonne School of Management.

But the project didn’t stop there. Although he teaches statistics and probability, Mr. Lombardot originally trained in marketing. In conversations with students enrolled in the Double Bachelor in Cinema and Management, he identified a need: students were eager to engage in audiovisual projects that brought together all three undergraduate years. While these students had courses in cinema history and technique, first-year students didn’t yet participate in film projects, and there was no platform encouraging collaboration across the three years of study.

That’s when Mr. Lombardot proposed applying marketing concepts through the production of short films—where the students would perform instead of watching a lecture. The idea was to explain marketing and consumer psychology principles through storytelling and performance.

This gave rise to a short film—then a second, and a third. Mr. Lombardot refers to them as the “flagship videos of the channel”: Le consommateur (2022, dir. Yassine Skiba), Bob le Dissonant (2022, dir. Samuel Bulteau and Aurélia Dubois), which won the Audience Award at the 6th Student Film Festival on Consumption (organized by AFMarketing and IAE Lyon), and most recently, Nan mais halo !? (2022, dir. Yassine Skiba and Asma El Oued).

This collaborative approach benefits everyone involved. Mr. Lombardot finds a dynamic, engaging format for his content, and the Double Degree Cinema–Management students gain both a platform to showcase their creative work and a valuable opportunity to learn filmmaking as a team.

Looking ahead, Mr. Lombardot envisions the YouTube channel evolving along three main paths. First, he plans to finalize a few remaining videos to complete the statistics and probability curriculum. Then, he hopes to continue producing short films on marketing concepts with students. Finally, a new idea is taking shape: research videographies, a method increasingly recognized by leading academic journals such as Recherche et Applications en Marketing (RAM) and the Journal of Marketing and Management. The current project is a research videography on skateboarding communities, combining sociological and consumer-focused perspectives.

This project reflects key values promoted by Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Sorbonne School of Management. It highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration—between cinema and marketing—to enrich learning experiences for all involved. It also shows how innovative ideas often emerge when educators respond creatively to real-world challenges. And finally, it contributes to the broader mission of democratizing access to knowledge, well beyond the university walls.

Congratulations to Mr. Lombardot and the students involved in this remarkable initiative!

Éric Lombardot teaches Statistics and Probability in the first year of the Bachelor's program, Industrial Strategy in the third year, Marketing and Distribution in the LMD Master's program, as well as Marketing in the GESIIC Master's program.