Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Crowdsourcing my Social Media for PR Syllabus: Need your Input!

The end of the fall semester is right around the corner and that means it's time to start thinking about spring classes. When I started teaching my Social Media for PR class in Fall 07, the field was so new I had little to go on to help me put together a syllabus. In the end, I developed my syllabus by compiling a number of social media and PR topics I felt my students needed to know. I have been tweaking the class ever since -- adding topics, changing readings, experimenting with assignments, etc.

This semester, I'm ready for a major overhaul and I'm asking for your input! I'd love to create a state of the art Social Media for PR syllabus crowdsourced by experts in the field. And I'd love to hear from you! Actually, make that I need to hear from you!

What do you think PR majors should know about social media -- specifically:
  • What topics should a Social Media for PR class cover?
  • What readings are absolute musts?
  • How can students demonstrate their mastery of course content? What should the student projects/assignments consist of?
I have started the brainstorming process in this wiki and I would like to invite anyone with an interest in social media and PR to contribute to it. The wiki is open to anyone (you will need to create a free Pb Wiki login if you don't already have one). Please feel free to suggest additional topics, projects, readings, etc. I've also posted my old syllabi on the wiki for reference purposes.

Can't wait to hear from you/see your suggestions!

6 comments:

Tallulah said...

Hi There! Saw your post and had to comment about Social Media PR must reads. I'm also a Social Media PR enthusiast and practitioner and have been doing a good share of Holiday Reading. I actually wrote a blog post on it, but to be brief here are my picks:

The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell - although this was written in 2001, has some great stuff on how to make messages viral. Very good read and at times more helpful than some of the "How To Social Media" books out there.

Trust Agents, Chris Brogan
This book helps define what social media is and isn't. It's very much a "blogger's look" at Social Media, wherein social networks are sacred, transparent and powerful people tools. Although, not the best read and sometimes the "real world" examples are a bit thin and heavily focused on the "gaming world" (a lot of video gaming references).

I'm right now in the middle of David Meerman Scott's "World Wide Rave" and "New Rules of Marketing & PR" as well as "Six Pixels of Separation" by Mitch Joel. Let me know if you're curious to hear my reviews on those.

Here's my recommended Holiday Reading List which I blogged about a few days ago: http://www.tallulahdavid.com/blog/?p=18

AndreaGenevieve said...

For PR students I think its essential to teach them about Help a Reporter Out and the efforts of Peter Shankman. Its something anyone in PR should subscribe to and follow. Take a look at http://www.helpareporter.com/ for more info and it was great to "meet" you this week at the #smcedu chat.

corinnew said...

@Talluhah - Thanks for those reading tips and sorry for the delayed response. I don't think I ever received a notification when you posted your comment. Saw it today when I received a new comment. My apologies. Have used David Meerman Scott's book in the past will have to check out six pixels of separation.

@AndreaGenevieve - Yes, good meeting you to at the #smcedu chat! Sorry I couldn't stay longer. I'll definitely mention HARO. Do you teach social media?

Roxanne said...

I will be teaching a class in the Spring also. I am focusing on getting the students relaxed and not overwhelmed by all of the social media options out there. I encourage users to try many different tools and pick the couple of tools they are most comfortable with. I think it is also very important that everyone understands the difference between a group a page and a personal account.

My blog is at www.socialmediarox.blogspot.com
I post often and will be following your success.

Iron Bowl said...

I conducting a social media workshop and starting a collaborative project with Emerson College to do a media watch for Baja California.

I think getting the students to use the popular social media applications and letting them do assignments to start a group on Facebook etc. and to grow the group. And write a paper on what works, and what does not. Is a good way of understanding some of the dynamics of these sites.

I have some more info on my blog too.
http://digitalmediaacademy.blogspot.com/

ayeshapublicrelations said...

Hi,
I am a PR student at the University of Westminster and for our New Media class we made webcasts, and are going to make a viral video which we promote through various social media platforms such as Twitter, our blogs, and Facebook.
We maintain blogs where we post the videos and the press releases that we write for the course.
http://ayeshasattarblog.wordpress.com/