Students in my Corporate Public Relations class at Georgia Southern are blogging as part of their learning experience in the class. I am confident that they would welcome your feedback on their blogs.
If you’re a student of mine who is requesting a letter of recommendation from me, please fill out the form below. (If the form does not automatically appear, please see form at my Google Docs.)
What should a new public relations practitioner know about relationships between in-house PR people and PR agency people? Here’s a question I asked of Phil Gomes from Edelman Digital for the Ask Phil group in PR OpenMic. I’d welcome thoughts from others as well!
Find more videos like this on PROpenMic
In September, my Corporate PR students at Georgia Southern University were given the One Week of Twitter Assignment. Most of the students started their adventures with Twitter a similar feeling. They typically had two types of confusion: confusion about how Twitter works and confusion about why there is any value in Twitter. One student even commented in class and in her blog, “At first I didn’t like it…I thought oh great another stalking tool.”
What did they get out of the assignment? Here are a few of their comments:
When I was first given the assignment I wasn’t quite sure what I had gotten myself into. However, I’m really glad that my Corporate PR professor had given us an opportunity to explore this GREAT social network. Twitter has taught me an entire new way to be connected to people. Reina Heard
I would definitely recommend becoming involved in Twitter; it is an experience that can help you gain contacts in the field that you are interested in as well as making an online reputation that will help you in the future. Megan Piper
My personal advice for anyone who hasn’t yet gotten into Twitter would be to join up, secure your username and play around with it for a while. Michael Tarver [NOTE: Take the time to click through and read Michael's whole post, where he describes his impressions of Twitter's possibilities, limitations and usefulness.]
Last week I was working on an important presentation and was having difficulty coming up with ideas to get the audience involved… so I turned to Twitter. I asked a direct question relating to audience involvement and within two hours I had four replies. I used the tips and my presentation was a success! Heather Atha
I have already made contacts through the site and Twitter is officially a part of my everyday life. I would recommend this site to anyone who is interested in networking and expanding their social horizons. Becoming an active tweeter has made me more interested in using other social media sites, and I am more involved online all together because of this experience. Kelli Martin
I used Twitter and my comment showed up on Current.com [during a presidential debate]! That’s exciting. William Foster
Using Twitter on my mobile allowed me to see immediate reaction of others on these topics. I found this especially fascinating; because as I viewed an event unfold I could watch others response to the event. This allowed to somewhat observe the cognitive faculties that are employed in one’s opinion formation process. Donovan Sharkey
Of course, not all the students found Twitter to be something they’d like to continue even after the assignment was over. Here’s one final comment that is similar to several criticisms that I read in their blogs:
I personally did not like Twitter because I have a hard enough time finding time to check my e-mail or my school account. I think Twitter is a wonderful networking site for the professional world but not for me at this point in my life. Lauren Jackson
Will I continue to use One Week of Twitter as an assignment in my public relations classes? Definitely. And do I recommend that my students continue to use Twitter? Definitely. [Students: See Twitter for College Students: 7 Tips Plus a Bonus.]
Questions about how I used this assignment?
Instead of physically coming to PRCA 3339 on Friday, October 24th, please take the NewsU online course titled “Language of the Image.” You will need to register with NewsU — free — before you can take the couse. We will discuss some of the key points Below is NewsU’s description of the course:
What will I learn? This module will explore the elements that transform a photograph into an image that tells a story. Through interactive exercises you will learn about quality of light, juxtaposition, point of entry, mood, emotion and a sense of place. At the end of the course, you will be able to communicate better, using visual language, with your newsroom colleagues, whether they are photographers, reporters or editors. And you can share with others who have taken the course how your new visual vocabulary will help you in the newsroom.
How long will it take? This self-directed module takes about one to two hours to complete. You can access the course on your own schedule, starting and stopping at your convenience. And you can come back anytime once you enroll.
About the instructor: John Davidson is a partner in Creative Eye Consulting, specializing in visual therapy for the newsroom. Before leaving in January of 2003, Davidson was Assistant Managing Editor/Photography and Senior Editor/Visuals at The Dallas Morning News. He has worked at five other newspapers as a photographer and photo editor.
Note: This course requires the Flash plug-in to view.Cost: This course is currently available at no cost to registered users of News University.
For my GSU PRCA 3339 (PR Publications) Students:
Please provide your blog URL as a comment to this post. Be sure to provide the whole address, including the “http://”
Thanks!
For All of My Classes
A USB drive, at least 1G
Intro to Public Relations (PRCA 2330)
Wilcox, D.L., & Cameron, G.T. (2009). Public relations: Strategies and tactics (9th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Recommended but not required: Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston, MA: Forrester Research, Inc.
Public Relations Publications (PRCA 3339)
Morton, L. P. (2006). Strategic publications: Designing for target publics. Greenwood, AR: Best Books Plus.
Recommended but not required: Botello, C., & Reding, E. E. (2007). Design collection revealed: Adobe InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3 & Illustrator CS3. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Photo Credit: bookshelf, originally uploaded to Flickr by chotda
Review an article on public relations that appears in a peer-reviewed journal. Your review is due by midnight on Thursday, October 23. Recommended journals include (but aren’t limited to):
- Journal of Public Relations Research
- Public Relations Journal
- Public Relations Review
Your 500-word minimum review could take the following form:
- What did you learn from reading the article?
- What surprised you in the article?
- What do you want to know more about, now that you’ve read the article?
- How is the information in the article relevant to the corporation you’ve chosen for your final project?
It is acceptable to use first person for this review. However, even though you are writing a blog post, be sure to cite your source–in text as well as in your reference section–in proper APA format. (Using Citation Machine might be helpful.) This assignment is worth 100 of your 1000 points in PRCA 3331.
Questions? You know where to find me . . .
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/1704875109/
