Social Media in the Classroom

By L. Simone Byrd, Alabama State University

With a 4/4 teaching load, there are a variety of tools and concepts to experiment with, and integrate into the course curriculum. This is especially true in the academic discipline of public relations and advertising. As a junior faculty member completing the second-year on the tenure-track, I’ve noticed that the majority of the courses offered in my department, had not begun to respond to the growing relevance of social media on not only public relations and advertising, but the overall mass communication discipline. To some extent, I’ve used social media tools in my courses, but not to the extent at which they’re currently being used.


I recognized this lack of social media emphasis as both a problem and an opportunity. It was a problem because the students were not being exposed to all the skills they would need to succeed in their careers. In particular, I noticed that the writing skills of many of my students were not up to standard, and as such, they would find it difficult to obtain employment in the competitive PR environment if those skills did not improve. Furthermore, it was an opportunity for me to introduce them to these skills and concepts, since I recognized their significance.

CMM 310: Introduction to Public Relations “Team Blog” Assignment

In my second year, I started the Introduction to Public Relations course by requiring students to read the following journal article:

Bowen, S.A. (2003). I thought it would be more glamorous: Preconceptions and Misconceptions among students in the public relations principles course. PR Review, 29, 199-214.

In requiring this reading, students are confronted from the beginning, with research that details how students come into the major believing the myth that public relations is an “easy” major and all practitioners do is “hang out with celebrities” and “go to parties”. I have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students about this article, saying that it gave them a dose of reality and that PR is not exactly what they thought it was going to be, yet they wanted to continue because it seemed interesting to them. I realize this article is less about social media and more about misconceptions held by college students about the profession. However, I feel an article like this is highly useful in getting the point across early on, prior to detailing the social media aspects of the practice of public relations.

Social Media Use/Assignments:

In this course, students created and maintained a “team blog”. Specifically, students were required to:
  • Weekly or bi-weekly postings to the Facebook Group Page; a minimum of ten (10) postings at the conclusion of the semester.
  • Postings could have been an extension of class discussion (which included students’ thoughts on an assigned reading)
  • Postings were also required to have documentation from an official public relations-related resource (i.e., PR Week, Journal of Public Relations Research)
  • Pose questions or statements that might stimulate online discussions regarding their thoughts/opinions on the profession

CMM 420: Public Relations Case Studies “Web 2.0 Reports”

Next, in the PR Case Studies course, I required students to conduct research on Web 2.0 applications. Over the duration of the semester, they had to complete four of these short reports (2-3 pages) and discuss, in detail, how these tools could be used in public relations practice to target and communicate with a relevant, target audience. My rationale for creating this assignment was to introduce students to the various uses of social media and what it can provide for the 21st century public relations practitioner. In terms of the content, I instructed students to engage in a brief, but quality discussion of the tool (i.e., its history, who created it, how it was initially used) and provide a short commentary of their interpretation about the tool itself and what the implications are for the practice of public relations.

Social Media Use/Assignments:

While I believed this assignment was mildly successful, I discontinued its use in the Fall 2009 semester, in order to replace it with an idea that I thought might generate more excitement. Specifically, I created a Facebook “Group” Page. The guidelines for this assignment included:
  • Weekly or bi-weekly postings to the Facebook Group Page; a minimum of ten (10) postings at the conclusion of the semester.
  • Postings could have been an extension of class discussion (which included students’ thoughts on an assigned reading)
  • Postings were also required to have documentation from an official public relations-related resource (i.e., PR Week, Journal of Public Relations Research)
After review of these two assignments and their impact, I believe the first assignment relating to the Web 2.0 emerging technologies is a better option for use in the classroom for a few reasons. First, it forces students to not only research, but to also write more, which can have a positive influence on their writing ability. Second, it requires that they collaborate with other students to complete the assignment. Collaborative work is a hallmark of the public relations profession. Therefore, students need to become accustomed to working cohesively with others in small group settings. Finally, the Web 2.0 assignment encouraged students to not only identify and discuss emerging technologies used in social media, but they had to explain how they saw the implications of those innovations on the profession.

Readings:

Primarily, the readings for this course came from the PR Week (US & UK) trade press magazines, covering issues from corporate social responsibility to issues management. Readings were assigned for every class period and students were required to come to class not only having read the article, but also with two questions to stimulate discussion.

CMM 400: PR Problem-Solving (PR Campaigns) “PR Campaign Proposal Project”

This course, acts as our “capstone” course. Specifically, it is meant to bring all of our objectives and skill sets that students should have learned in previous courses, into an environment where all the activities are hands-on. In working with an actual, nonprofit client, students use the ROPES (Research, Objectives, Programming, Evaluation and Stewardship) Model to frame their campaign planning. Moreover, I require students to develop some extensive programming strategies that speak to how their client should integrate social media into their overall public relations/marketing strategies.

Social Media Use/Assignments:
  • Using the SWOT, PESTLE and Stakeholder Analysis, students must identify all of their internal and external target publics; moreover, they must learn everything about these audiences
  • They must also learn about the technology use and competency levels among their target publics
  • What social media tool(s) are most useful in helping your client create and maintain relationships with potential and existing donors?
  • What recommendations will be made for the client to integrate social media into the execution of the team’s stewardship phase of the overall campaign?
Readings:

As this course follows with the philosophical underpinnings of what the capstone course should entail, students were directed to resources, but for the most part, were instructed to use their previous research skills to locate their own knowledge sources.

CMM 405: Social Media: Elements & Applications (Commencing Fall 2010)

This course was my brainchild, and I am looking forward to teaching it. This course is designed to provide students with a basic, yet vital understanding of social media and its tools for application. Students are expected to develop a body of knowledge that relates to concepts such as globalization, global media systems, and media development. Specifically, these and other concepts will provide a basis for understanding how social media emerged, how it influences and engages communities and how mass communication has evolved due to its existence in daily life. Finally, students will engage in a variety of projects (field experiments and semester project) to bridge their conceptual learning into practice, which will produce a portfolio-ready creative piece.

Social Media Use/Assignments:
  • International Cultural Conflicts: Analyze one of the world's ethnic conflicts using one or more of the concepts discussed in class. Also examine it from a social media perspective. Did social media help or hinder to fuel the spread of information on the issue? What are people saying about the conflict via social media (also identify the various social media tools/applications used)? What are some of the implications for emerging technology as society continues to advance? You may also use the outside resources to help guide your analysis.
  • Personal Branding Strategy /Social Networking: Develop a personal branding strategy for yourself through the use of an online, social network. You will NOT be able to use an EXISTING social network (i.e., MySpace, Facebook), instead I recommend joining LinkedIn. You will have to discuss how you: a) defined your brand, b) made your brand durable, c) invested in your brand, d) made it visible, and e) created champions of your brand. This option may be of specific interest to those who plan to pursue careers in public relations and advertising. Finally, make sure you note that you have a LinkedIn account on your resume.
  • Media Professional Interview: Interview a media professional who works in public relations/advertising, radio/television & film, or journalism field (select this person based on YOUR selected concentration within the DoC). Aside from obtaining a brief overview of what their job entails, ask them how they’ve integrated emerging technology into their daily work. Specifically, you’ll want to ask them about social media/networking, as well. How did they learn about the influence of these technological trends on their jobs? Were they open to embracing it? What surprises did they encounter in integrating these trends? What differences did they notice from having implemented the social media tools?
Readings:
  • Safko, L., Brake, D.K. (2009). The social media bible: Tactics, tools and strategies for business success. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • deBeer, A.S., Merrill, J.C. (2009). Global journalism: Topical issues and media systems. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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