Does Your PR Course Syllabus Excite, Intrigue, and Motivate Students to Learn? Syllabus Designs and Student Impressions of the PR Course and the Course Instructor

The purpose of this study is to examine how a format of a syllabus influences student motivation and engagement in a public relations course and students’ impression of the course and course instructor. This study conducted focus group interviews and a lab experiment with undergraduate student at a large university in the Midwestern United States to examine how a format—design or length—of a PR course syllabus can affect student motivation, engagement, and impression of the course and course instructor. Results from the two focus group interviews were mixed, but students’ preferences were geared toward the long version of the visually appealing syllabus. Findings from the experimental study show no effect of syllabus design on student engagement. However, the visually appealing syllabus had an effect on student motivation, and its short version produced positive impressions of the course and course instructor

The Socratic Method in the Introductory PR Course: An Alternative Pedagogy

In the recent past several educators and practitioners have advocated the use of a Socratic dialogue or case method to teach public relations principles. Reported here are the results of an empirical study comparing student reactions to and perceptions of learning in introductory public relations courses using a traditional lecture format and a Socratic approach. The independent variables in this study are lecture and Socratic teaching methods. It was hypothesized that compared to students in a traditional course, students in the Socratic course would: (1) retain more factual information about public relations, (2) feel more confident in their knowledge and skills needed to work in public relations, (3) report more opportunity to practice critical thinking, (4) report more opportunity to practice problem solving skills, (5) report greater aspiration to work in public relations, and (6) report higher levels of course satisfaction. For four of the six research questions examined, there were small differences between students who received traditional and Socratic instruction. These differences were in the direction expected but were not statistically significant. There were significant differences in the two groups showing that students who received the Socratic instruction reported more opportunities in practicing their critical thinking ability, and ability to solve practical public relations problems

Students\u27 Perceived Usefulness and Relevance of Communication Skills in the Basic Course: Comparing University and Community College Students

Communication skills training is extremely important in terms of students\u27 career choices. However, few studies have been conducted regarding differences between community colleges and four-year universities in terms of students\u27 perceived usefulness and relevance of the study of communication in relation to career choice. The present study extends extant research by examining students\u27 perceptions of this issue. The participants in Study 1 were 155 community college and 291 four-year university students and participants in Study 2 were 205 community college students. The results demonstrate that students at both institutions perceive that the skills learned in basic communication courses are useful and relevant in relation to their future career. There were differences among students enrolled in interpersonal and public speaking courses, with those in interpersonal courses perceiving greater relevance of communication skills in terms of their future career

Applying Broom\u27s Role Scales to Thai Public Relations Practitioners

This ankle used Broom\u27s role scales to examine roles behaviors of Thai public relations practitioners to see if they perceive their roles similarly to their American counterparts. Four factors and one isolate emerged from the factor analysis: manager, communication liason, media relation specialist, graphic technician, and editor. Overall, Broom\u27s role scales appear to have a cross-cultural application, at least with the Thai sample. The manager and communication liaison factors found in this study were consistent with the findings in a series of role studies conducted by Broom and Dozier