Building self-evaluation skills through criterion-referenced assessment in public relations

Although technical skills in public relations are essential to practice, skills in self-evaluation, critical thinking, and problem solving are required when new practitioners move to management roles (Van Leuven, 1999). Public relations courses integrate specialist subject knowledge with graduate skill sets and capabilities in non-technical areas (Butcher & Stefani, 1995). Given that autonomy in learning is a skill valued by employers (Clifford, 1999) and advocated by accrediting professional bodies (Anderson, 1999), this study explores how public relations students build skills in and perceive the practice of self-evaluation. Currently, the public relations education literature presents a limited treatment of self-evaluation. Therefore, this study is guided mostly by the education literature and uses criterion-referenced assessment to determine how more than 150 students understand assessment requirements, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and interpret the differences between their self and their tutor's judgement of performance. The results indicate strong support for student understanding of assessment requirements and self-evaluation techniques but lower than expected support for understanding the differences between their self and tutor judgements. These findings are significant to educators, practitioners and professional bodies as they have implications for lifelong learning for public relations professionals

Changing roles for changing times? How listed companies interpret their role as communicator

In recent times, there has been a strong call for a greater focus on the ‘relationship management’ function of public relations. This exploratory study seeks to contribute to this movement within public relations scholars and professionals by exploring the relationship management aspects of financial public relations. Still a relatively new discipline, financial public relations faces many challenges in both the planning and implementation of communication programs for shareholders. The increasingly competitive nature of the world’s financial markets and the changing profile of the traditional shareholder are raising important issues for financial public relations professionals. This study explores the ways listed companies understand their relationships with their shareholders and the way such understanding influences the communicative practice of the listed companies. Data were collected from seven Australian publicly listed companies via interviews. A conceptualisation of four major roles played by a listed company in building and maintaining its relationship with its shareholders is provided. Two roles that the listed company believes the shareholder plays in maintaining the relationship are also identified. Challenges to the roles are identified, including the changing profile of the Australian shareholder, the influence of new technology, and growing shareholder activism

Disclosing disclosure : new challenges for financial communicators

Stockmarket regulators in Australia, Canada and the United States have all issued recent challenges to listed companies on their disclosure practices, questioning in many cases what has been long standing practice. Financial public relations counsellors are constantly called up to advise on the communication consequences of difference disclosure strategies. This paper will explore the challenges, faced by a group of financial communicators within seven Australia listed companies, in setting and enacting disclosure polices for the organisations. It will identify hey issues involved in communicating within a regulated environment, as well as address the implications of new technology for future practice

Increasing transparency: Utilising criterion-referenced assessment to enhance student learning in public relations

The central role of assessment in the learning and teaching environment is well\ud recognised. Educators face growing demands to improve student\ud understanding of and performance in assessment items (Marginson, 1997;\ud Rust, Price & O’Donovan, 2003). At an institutional level, a number of\ud universities have responded to these demands by reviewing assessment\ud paradigms in order to better demonstrate transparency and accountability in the\ud setting and marking of assessment items (Neil, Wadley & Phinn, 1999; Rust et\ud al, 2003). One of the paradigms being adopted by universities is criterionreferenced\ud assessment (CRA). CRA involves designing assessment tasks in\ud line with subject goals, identifying skills to be demonstrated within an\ud assessment task, assigning relative weights to, and describing each relative\ud skill/criterion (Carlson, MacDonald, Gorely, Hanrahan, & Burgess-Limerick,\ud 2000).\ud CRA has a number of advantages including the ability for students to target\ud their performance against pre-determined standards and be judged as an\ud individual rather than against a normative performance (Neil et al, 1999). A\ud United Kingdom study of CRA showed significant improvement in performance\ud by motivated students (O’Donovan, Price & Rust, 2001; Rust et al, 2003).\ud However, other educators suggest that CRA limits student experimentation,\ud creativity and originality (Hay, 1995).\ud With the goals of increasing transparency and encouraging assessment for\ud learning, CRA was introduced into an undergraduate introductory public\ud relations unit with an enrolment of 290 students. Student research was\ud undertaken to explore the success of the new assessment paradigm and to\ud identify how students used the CRA approach to enhance their learning. The\ud findings of this study show strong use of and support for CRA, with students\ud using the assessment processes to identify their strengths and weaknesses\ud and develop techniques to improve their performance in future assessment\ud tasks

Destination public relations: Understanding the sources that influence course selection for and career preferences of postgraduate students

The growth of accredited postgraduate courses in public relations highlights the need for research that understands the motivations and career expectations of postgraduate students. Australian and international research suggests that undergraduate student expectations differ from the realities of courses and careers in public relations (Bowen, 2003; Storto, 1990; Xavier, Mehta & Larkin, 2006). Undergraduate students favour training in publicity and promotion more than the critical thinking and business skills preferred by employers (Bowen, 2003). The gap between perception and reality has the potential to affect the continued development of public relations as a management function. \ud \ud Using international research as its base, this study explores the Australian postgraduate perspective through a survey of approximately 140 students to identify their motivations to study public relations and preferences for positions and workplace environments. The survey was administered in an introductory postgraduate public relations theory unit across four consecutive semesters during 2004 and 2005. The findings provide insight into the career expectations of postgraduate students who prefer careers in event management and publicity. Educators must balance student needs with university teaching and learning goals and industry expectations by preparing students for the diversity of careers in public relations