A Learner’s Way

In their Special Event course, in small groups of seven or eight, our students must create, produce and publicize an event from start to finish, without a budget. Recently, students raised lots of funds for local charities with events as varied as an afternoon tea, a student film festival and a pub quiz.

To assist with their understanding of what local venues have to offer, I organized a field trip to check out a couple of the top venues in Toronto.  Half the group, along with my colleague Jessie May Rountree, toured The Carlu, and  I joined 20 students to learn all we could about The Liberty Grand.

Much of the value in taking students on field trips lies in their mastery of soft skills that will serve them well later on in any job.  I was reminded of this as I pulled into the parking lot at the Liberty Grand around 8:40 a.m., about 20 minutes before our scheduled tour.  Four students had beaten me to the location and two more drove up shortly afterwards.

As we exchanged information about the traffic and weather, one of the students exclaimed that she was most proud of getting there by public transit.  She figured out the route.  She made her transfers successfully.  She arrived ahead of schedule, even while following an unfamiliar route. This victory may have more significance for her than any other information she gleaned during the tour.

Goal setting.  Planning.  Time management.  And, success.  Heady stuff.  I remember feeling the same way at my first summer job when I figured out how to navigate my way to the 52nd floor of the Toronto Dominion Centre.

What kinds of field trips are most valuable for PR students?  I’d like to hear the student perspective on this.  Do students consider field trips just a pleasant diversion from sitting in class?  Or, do they provide value? Practitioners:  what kinds of field trips should PR students take? 

For our Media Relations course, we assign William Wray Carney’s  In the News,  published by the University of Alberta Press.  It’s been our required text for a number of semesters now because it serves as a basic primer with a Canadian slant. 

Earlier this week I asked students to read Chapter 3 about the relationship between journalists and communicators. My challenge?  How to make chapter content more engaging and relevant.  This time around, I tried using two graphical organizers for our in-class work.

First I described what I meant by graphical organizers and why they’re helpful to reinforce concepts and organize thoughts. I referenced Tony Buzan, inventor of Mind Maps, and displayed examples of a few different mind maps on the overhead projector.

In pairs, students picked up coloured markers and pieces of 11 by 17 inch paper and I instructed them to create mind maps based on Carney’s Chapter 3 content. They were to concentrate on ideas about professional relations between journalists and communicators.  When they finished, students posted their work at the back of the classroom so we could compare and share.

The results were certainly diverse.  Some students were quite linear in their thinking and their mind maps showed this.  Others created mind maps with lots of pathways and connectors.  Still other used lots of colour to connect their ideas.  In the main, however, their efforts looked very little like the mind maps on Buzan’s website and other places. 

And I was stuck by the lack of creativity that most displayed.  They just didn’t look like work produced by a generally high-responding, energetic, enthusiastic group of PR students.  It was like they were all concerned with “colouring within the lines, “ rather than having fun with the exercise.

Either I had explained the concept too quickly or students didn’t get the point of why we were doing this.  When they came back from break, I acknowledged that some might be questioning the value of our exercise. I explained why I felt learning this way was preferable to me going over exactly what they had read. (I find that most adult learners—especially those who actually complete their readings—really hate it when professors just regurgitate chapter contents.) Then, I restated my belief in the value of graphical organizers.

Not willing to give up, I then descibed the Venn Diagram and asked students, individually, to create one that represented what journalists and communicators have in common.  When I checked their individual diagrams after class, it appeared they got it.  Guess that’s all I can expect at this stage.

My colleague Gary Schlee shared a couple sample chapters from IABC’s Vital Connections: Building Relationships with Key Stakeholders that proved really useful to help my group determine if they have the right stuff to work in media relations.

In chapter 2, authors Steve Freeman and Linda Mastaglio, ABC list a number of skills and character traits they believe MR specialists need to succeed. Traits include (among others) being assertive, articulate, trust worthy, engaging, optimistic, productive and confident. Being creative is not on the list, somewhat surprisingly.

I could have just read out the traits as students dutifully wrote them down. But, from a teaching/learning perspective, that’s not terribly effective. Instead, I created an exercise that had students examining their potential suitability as MR specialists.

In the first phase: I asked students to sit, in pairs, beside a course-mate they hadn’t interacted with very much before. I then asked them to share two characteristics or traits they thought their seat-mate possessed. Then, they compared notes. The general buzz in the room told me that many students were suprised at their course- mate’s perceptions.

Following this phase, I distributed a handout identifying all of the traits listed in Vital Connections. I asked them to circle the traits they felt they possessed. Next, they answered: what other traits does a MR specialist really need? (e.g. excellent writing skills, ability to multi-task, etc.)

The final phase? They created a concrete goal specifying how they were going to develop one of their own traits or characteristics to help them become a MR specialist with the right stuff.

I can’t wait to read what they’ve written.

How do you know if a key topic you’ve discussed with students is going to stick?

Well, one way is to test them. But, I know from experience that students generally just study what they need for the test. The following week, all that information just disappears.

I prefer other methods as part of how I check for understanding during content classes. At the end of a mini lecture, for example, I might give each student a PostIt Note and ask him or her to identify two or three key points on the subject just outlined. Then, I randomly check and see what points really stuck. If they’re way off base, I’ll add or modify their answers.

I also distribute a preprinted sheet headlined “Muddiest Point” and “Clearest Point” for students to indicate, either in the middle of a content class, or at the end, what still needs clarifying. Their feedback gives me an idea of what’s sticking or not.

In a recent class, I generated a fair bit of discussion around the topic: how is managing marketing different from managing PR? I used content from Grunig and PowerPoint slides, plus asked pointed questions. Students could take notes or not as I told them I’d post the information electonically later that day.

To check whether any of the information stuck, at the start of the next class (two days later) I announced I would “quiz” them. What I handed out was a simple chart with 10 examples/scenarios. I asked them to classify each example as one of marketing, corporate communications or PR. When we took up their responses, I was reassured the content from the previous class had stuck.
The next hurdle? Can they apply the information and place it in context the next time we tackle a PR problem?

As one of my students wrote about the history of PR: “I expected it to be a snoozefest. ” With this in mind, I decided to change how I covered the history of PR in my Intro to PR class. The changes I incorporated produced a lively, engaging class.

Here’s how it happened:  in the previous class, I divided the group in half. Half were asked to find as much as they could about Edward Bernays; the remaining were to research Ivy Lee.

When they arrived in class on Monday with their research I gave each student a lined index card, asking them to quickly review their information and distill it into into three to five key points on the card.

Then, I randomly placed students in pairs.  The Bernays experts “taught” the Lee experts (and visa versa) about all they knew.  As I walked around, I  probed where they had obtained their information. Virtually all of them had downloaded information from the Internet.  Not surprisingly, lots arrived with information from Wikipedia. (I suggested this really isn’t a reliable source.)

Listening and watching the students share what they knew about Bernays and Lee was so stimulating.  Being in charge of the content was powerful stuff for university-educated students accustomed to the “sage on the stage” style of teaching.

After the pairs discussion we used the whiteboard to set up a compare and contrast between Bernays and Lee’s contribution to PR. Students took sides and debated the merits of each pioneer. They offered their opinions on the ethics of some of the more famous PR campaigns from the early 20th century.

When I received their written reflections about what had taken place, I wasn’t surprised at how many recalled the main contributions of each pioneer. (As opposed to a lecture where students typically retain about 5 per cent of the information presented.) 

And, even better, they told me they felt great that they hadn’t taken part in another “snoozefest.”

Whether during a class or a seminar, many of us dred it when we hear a facilitator announce “I’m going to ask you to take part in an ice breaker.” Organized, quick and purposeful ice breakers go a long way to eliminating that fear.

Over the years, I tried many ice breakers.  Some have been more successful than others.  Two worked well today (our first day of classes). I call them “Match the Year” and the “The Name Game.” 

Match the Year took place during our program orientation class. Students  picked a penny from a basket at the front of the room.  (Based on the anticipated average age of the group, we provided pennies dated from 1990 onwards.)

The verbal prompt: look at your penny; note the date and tell the person beside you one memorable thing that happened that year.  Once the pairs exchanged information, we asked them to share with two other  students sitting nearby.

Then, each of the three faculty members drew a penny from the basket, called out the year and asked students with that year to state their memorable event.  From start to finish, this took us about 10 minutes to complete with a group of about 40 students.

I like Match the Year because it gets students talking, helps them discover what they have in common and forces them to think quickly. 

Later in the day, I used The Name Game in my Media Relations class.  It has students thinking about current events and the media.  It goes like this: students choose a slip of paper printed with the name of person who represents a particular category of individuals  (for example, Sir John A. McDonald.) Then, I instruct students to find their category counterparts.

Because I know the ideal group size is four, I only put four names in each category (the Beatles, four Food TV chefs, four local politicians, four Canadian Idol stars, etc.) ”The Name Game” gets students involved immediately, forces them to seek out information and communicate with strangers. 

Once they find their matches,  they stay in their groups, talk about what they have in common and come up with a group name based on their commonalities.  They write that name on a folder I’ve provided.  Then, a member from each group describes how the group came up with its particular name. During the first few weeks of the course I use the folders to distribute and collect student work and for additional group activities. So, the folders become useful for organizing material and tracking student participation.

What these ice breakers communicate to PR students is that in our business, they must think on their feet, seek out information quickly and work cooperatively.   That makes ice breakers a great introduction to the PR field in some ways.

Tell me about ice breakers you’ve loved and loathed.