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!

Lessons from Teaching Social Media & Blogging

I just came across a blog post by David Meerman Scott, author of the New Rules of Marketing and PR, about how social media has enabled authors to connect with the students who are reading their books.

I must admit, this new phenomenon has been one of the most unexpected and most exciting aspects of teaching this class. What has been even more remarkable is the speed at which these connections have been established. I think that Jackie Huba contacted us roughly a week after first launching the class blog, and it wasn't long afterward that Paul Gillin started commenting on some of the student blogs. Since then we have had people from all walks of life drop by our blogs (and sometimes even our class):

• corporate bloggers
• CEOs
• student bloggers from other universities
• professors from other universities
  
• people/organizations we examined as case studies in class
• internship supervisors
• and even parents!

I guess when you teach a social media class, you should expect to take the discussion outside your classroom walls, but I never imagined getting this level of interest from people outside academe.