“Higher education is thirsty for qualified individuals who possess the tools needed

to be successful in the public relations classroom.This text could help develop and
grow the next generation of public relations professors.”
—Alisa Agozzino, Ph.D., APR, Ohio Northern University, USA
“Professor Smudde’s book is decidedly the first of its kind. Never before have
I seen a book that tackles the subject of instilling excellence in the teaching of
Public Relations by training future educators and practicing professionals in the
fundamentals of Public Relations pedagogy.This is definitely the book to read for
any student of Public Relations who may want to prepare for the teaching of the
college level and for any working practitioner who would like to share his or her
experience in an organized and thoughtful manner.”
—Dr. Timothy Lent Howard, Professor of Public Relations,
PRSSA Faculty Advisor, Department of Communication
Studies, California State University, Sacramento, USA
TEACHING PUBLIC RELATIONS

Excellence in public relations begins with excellence in education in public rela-

tions (PR) programs, and this book presents a comprehensive, cohesive, and con-
crete approach for effective teaching and learning in PR classes and programs.
Teaching Public Relations puts in one concise volume salient matters about effec-
tive teaching and learning of public relations, including curriculum development and
course design plus guides and tools for the work PR educators must do. This book
is the first textbook of its kind, and systematically synthesizes current principles and
practices for effective teaching and learning and applies them to public relations educa-
tion in colleges and universities. Firmly situating public relations education (PRE) in
context, the book goes on to outline principles and approaches for teaching and learn-
ing in PRE. Other features of the text include example documents that will help in
designing assignments, courses, or curricula, and a comprehensive list of publications,
organizations, online media, and other sources for further investigation and learning.
This book is a solid starting point for anyone, especially public relations pro-
fessionals, wanting to begin a career as a full-time or part-time professor of
public relations at a college or university. It is also recommended reading for
current teachers and students of PR research.

Peter M. Smudde has had 16 years of industry experience, including an

executive-level position and consulting, and 18 years as a professor of public
relations. Dr. Smudde holds the rank of professor and is the associate executive
director of Illinois State University’s School of Communication, Normal,
Illinois, where he also is the coordinator of the PR program, which has
Certification in Education for Public Relations (CEPR) through the Public
Relations Society of America (PRSA), and was a faculty adviser for Public
Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapters for 14 years.
TEACHING PUBLIC
RELATIONS
Principles and Practices
for Effective Learning

Peter M. Smudde
First published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Peter M. Smudde to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smudde, Peter M., author.
Title: Teaching public relations : principles and practices for effective
learning / Peter M. Smudde.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019033571 (print) | LCCN 2019033572 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367421410 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367421427 (paperback) | ISBN
9780367822132 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Public relations--Study and teaching.
Classification: LCC HM1221 .S775 2020 (print) | LCC HM1221 (ebook) | DDC
659.2017--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033571
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033572
ISBN: 978-0-367-42141-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-42142-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-82213-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Lumina Datamatics Limited
To the numerous students for whom I have had
(and shall have) the privilege, as their lead student,
to guide them in their learning, help them break
into their careers, and enhance the profession
and society in all that they are and do.
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

PART I
Career Matters for PR Educators 9

1 Education as a Calling 11

2 Professionals Becoming Professors 19

3 Engagement in the Profession 35

PART II
Public Relations Education (PRE) in Context 45

4 An Overview of Public Relations Education 47

5 General Points of Teaching and Learning

in Higher Education 61

6 Frameworks and Outcomes for Teaching PR 73

x Contents

PART III
Approaches for Teaching and Learning Befitting
Public Relations Education (PRE) 85

7 Know Yourself, Be Yourself 87

8 Curriculum Development and Course Design 98

9 Assessing Learning 111

Appendix A: Example Course-Management Documents 127

Appendix B: Suggestions for Curricular and Extracurricular
Teaching and Learning 166
Appendix C: Helpful Resources 167
Index 170
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Beyond the students, for whom I dedicate this book, I wish to express my
genuine appreciation to all my colleagues over the years who have listened to
my musings, questions, grumblings, and discoveries about higher education
and being a university professor. Their counsel, wisdom, and humor have been
so valuable to me in many ways. In particular, certain people have been espe-
cially helpful to me and my formation as an educator-scholar: John Baldwin,
Christine Clements, Jeff Courtright, Tim Fredstrom, Becky Hayes, Steve
Hunt, Ann Knabe, Lisa Kornetsky, Lance Lippert, Larry Long, John Luecke,
Julie-Ann McFann, Aimee Miller-Ott, Barb Monfils, Maria Moore, Priscilla
Rogers, Martha Saunders, Cheri Simonds, John Stone, Richard Telfer, Wilfred
Tremblay, Greg Velde, Sally Vogl-Bauer, and Bill Weiss.
Of the many professors who have led classes in which I was enrolled, par-
ticular ones have had a great influence on me because of what I learned about
teaching by being one of their students, and they are: Ellen Barton, Sandy
Berkowitz, Bernie Brock, Ron Fortune, Doug Hesse, Jim Kalmbach, Jack Kay,
Larry Miller, Russ Rutter, Matt Seeger, Roger Tarr, and George Zigelmueller.
Many students of mine over the years have been wonderfully inspirational.
Certain ones, especially after their graduation, have been thoughtfully helpful
to me, and I deeply appreciate them: Jennifer Detweiler, Audie Lauf, Kaitie
Ries, Ali Seys Preston, and Jill Underhill.
I also want to recognize the Public Relations Society of America’s Educators
Academy for its fine group of top-notch educator-scholars, with whom I have
had the privilege to work and who are always working hard and achieving
great results for the profession through higher education. Through outstand-
ing professional-development programs for instructors of all ranks and engage-
ment with the Public Relations Student Society of America, the Educators
xii Acknowledgments

Academy provides instructors with superb resources for self-improvement as

educator-scholars. Within the Educators Academy there are people for whom
I am especially grateful for their guidance over the years: Alisa Agozzino, Barb
DeSanto, Marcia DiStaso, Sandra Duhé, Kirk Hazlett, Julie Henderson, Tim
Howard, Steve Iseman, Terri Johnson, Dean Kruckeberg, Tina McCorkindale,
Shelly Najor, Bonnie Dostal Neff, Bob “Pritch” Pritchard, Gemma Puglisi,
Dave Remund, Bey-Ling Sha, Deborah Silverman, Joe Trahan, Sean Williams,
and Deborah Worley.
I also am deeply grateful to Jan Murphy and Becky Hayes for their helpful
reviews of and feedback about selected chapters of this book that guided me in
making those chapters better than what had I originally written.
At Routledge, I cannot express my gratitude enough for the confidence,
guidance, and support from Meredith Norwich, my editor; Mary Del Plato and
Matthew Rascombe, editorial assistants; Angela Graven, copy editor; Emma
Harder, senior production editor; and Sundaramoorthy Balasubramani, senior
project manager. Publishing a book truly takes a team, and they have been great.
Finally and most especially, I am and always will be deeply grateful and
indebted to my wife, Patty, and my sons, Matthew and Jeffrey, for their consis-
tent and steadfast love and support on this project and my work.
INTRODUCTION

Excellence in public relations begins with excellence in education in public

relations programs offered in colleges and universities. This book presents a
concise, cohesive, and concrete orientation to effective teaching and learn-
ing in PR programs in higher education. In this way, Teaching Public Relations:
Principles and Practices for Effective Learning is a primer about how to become an
academic in the field of public relations. In fact, this book is one I wish existed
when I made my career move in 2002 from industry to academia to become
a full-time professor of public relations. Most important for readers, because
I have been in academia for 18 years after my move from industry, this book
presents information, insights, and ideas of my own and from others that should
serve well to orient someone when considering to make or actually making a
similar move to academia from industry. Also, students in doctoral programs
can apply the content of this book for breaking into their academic careers
teaching public relations in higher education.

The Need for This Book

With demand rising for competent public relations professionals, PR programs
nationally must better prepare people for teaching the subject for effective
student learning. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018) estimates
a growth rate of 9% for public relations specialists (principally graduates of
PR programs) over the next 10 years, which is commensurate with other
professions. Concurrently, enrollment in PR programs nationally is strong,
and more higher-ed institutions are adding PR programs to their curricula.
Graduate and post-graduate programs in PR (or almost any discipline except
2 Introduction

for education) very rarely (if ever) offer (much less require) classes in the teach-
ing of public relations courses. To fill the increasing demand for classes led
by competent professors (part-time and full-time), a text (and accompanying
course) is needed that competently, concretely, and concisely presents state-of-
the-discipline principles on teaching and learning with sound counsel about
applying those principles through effective educational practices. Indeed,
Teaching Public Relations is the first textbook published that systematically
synthesizes into one volume pertinent principles and practices for effective
teaching and learning for public relations education in colleges and univer-
sities. This book’s primary purpose, then, is to be a solid starting point for
anyone, especially public relations professionals, wanting to begin a career as
a full-time or part-time professor of public relations at a college or university.
Teaching Public Relations fills a gap in the literature about the teaching of
public relations—no single textbook exists that systematically synthesizes per-
tinent and current principles and practices for effective teaching and learning
in public relations, yielding competent and confident PR educators. I believe
the only other book on the teaching of PR (Neff & Johnson, 2015) is a mas-
sive 616-page collection of essays (many are research based and all present per-
sonal experiences and counsel) that, individually, focus on specific topics for
PR professionals (and students graduating with doctoral degrees) who want
to become PR teachers and, collectively, functions as a handbook or reference
book rather than a focused textbook on effective ways and means for teaching
PR courses. Otherwise, there is ample scholarship about individual dimensions
of and focused analyses about public relations education in journals and certain
reports from PR-industry organizations, which are included in Chapters 4 and 6.
So, for would-be and current PR educators, this book puts in one concise
volume salient matters about effective teaching and learning of public relations,
including curriculum development and course design plus guides and tools for
the work PR educators must do in colleges and universities. In other words, this
book reveals what someone is getting into by joining academia to be a professor
of public relations.
These salient matters are, indeed, the very things I needed to know as
I started my new career as an educator of public relations at a university.
There was, however, no one source for me to use to get me started on the
path to becoming a new professor of public relations. Having been a student
through my bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs only revealed one
side of education, and I needed to know about the other side of being fac-
ulty. I needed and wanted to learn about my new industry of academia, and
I started with exploring the dynamics of teaching and learning. This start-
ing point was pivotal because it revealed how much I had to come to know
and master to be an effective educator. Still, a book like this one (had it
existed) would have been enormously helpful to get me oriented to my new
career in higher education. Through much independent reading, structured
 Introduction 3

seminars and workshops, thoughtful conversations with colleagues and

mentors, and frequent application (often featuring trial and error) I devel-
oped knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences that have served me well
and continue to serve me well as a teacher and scholar. So, this book is
meant to be a solid starting point, not a be-all, end-all treatment. And the
research basis for the chapters and appendices serves as the grounding of
this book’s content and, especially, as the next places you can go for further
exploration.
Becoming part of academia also required me to learn about how the
industry works and, in particular, the institutions where I worked. There are
processes, policies, and procedures that are essential to know and follow in
higher-education institutions. Curricula and individual courses cannot be
made without due diligence and proper designs and approvals. So too with
class scheduling, personnel (hiring, development, promotion, and firing),
operations and facilities planning, finance and budgeting, community rela-
tions on and off campus, and other matters. Politics in colleges and universi-
ties exists as with any organization, and it can be understood and harnessed
for the good, the bad, and the ugly that they effect for better and for worse
(mostly the former). In fact, the industry of academia fuses the values, pur-
suits, and fruits of education with the discipline, foresight, and results of
business in unique ways that are not at odds, as so many people think, but
are truly complementary in providing institutions that are the pistons in the
engine of our nation’s (and the world’s) economy—colleges and universities
are the places where the sparks and fuel of ideas mixes with the air of reality
to generate the power of knowledge and innovation.

Audiences Addressed
Teaching Public Relations is meant for three interrelated audiences. The primary
audience is PR professionals (259,600 in the US [USBLS, 2018]), especially
those at points in their careers who want to teach PR. The secondary audience
would be professors of PR programs who lead courses in public relations
education (PRE) and would like to improve their own teaching, and this
audience would include professors assigned to teach in or design PR cur-
ricula when their original field is not PR. A tertiary audience (related largely
to the secondary audience) would be students of classes on PR research that
can/should address PRE or classes focused on PRE or communication edu-
cation. Those students may well have an interest in pursuing a full-time
career as an academic. In terms of existing curricula in public relations, this
book would be core to a graduate class in PR education or a graduate class
in research about PR, where the teaching of the concepts and the subject
area are directly complementary. To meet these audiences’ needs, Table 1
presents features and the benefits of this book.
4 Introduction

TABLE 1 Features and benefits of this book

Feature Benefit

Favors industry professionals and The passion to teach runs deep among those who
academics alike. want to “give back” to others in the PR field.
Structures the complex subject Presents PRE from the macro level of education
of PR education (PRE) along to the micro level of student performance.
three intuitive parts.
Presents content in a logical way, Chapters flow logically that matter for teaching
from the macro to the micro and learning as a profession and as a student.
levels and vice versa.
Applies current scholarship in Highly relevant and proven principles and
teaching and learning generally. practices in education that matter in PR
programs are selected, explained, and applied.
Applies current scholarship in Pertinent and insightful approaches to PRE
teaching and learning within that have been published are used to link the
PRE. broader pedagogical principles and practices
to PRE.
Provides supporting material for Offers selected starting points for planning and
course-management guidance. running individual classes as well as designing
or redesigning a PR curriculum/program.
Presents additional resources A go-to source for further personal and
about teaching and learning and professional development.
about engaging in scholarship.

Because the breadth and depth of coverage about academia plus the lit-
erature about principles and practices of teaching and learning are so large,
Teaching Public Relations necessarily, purposefully, and concisely is meant to be
an orientation to and a primer about academia and starting a career in it. In this
way, it focuses on topics that pertain to professors who want to become aca-
demics in colleges’ and universities’ public relations programs. Even on this
reduced scale, the material in the following chapters is selected and developed
so that would-be and new professors can begin their work as teachers well and
then, on their own, build upon the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experi-
ences to become ever better. This book applies research in every chapter so that
what is presented is grounded in “reality,” and this research foundation should
prove useful in this very personal effort of self-improvement. By design, each
chapter’s references also are meant as additional resources that readers can and
should use, if they wish to explore a topic in more depth, and Appendix C can
be used in the same way. The close of each chapter includes a point of reflection
on the content presented, including personal reflections of my own that I have
come to learn over the years and may be shared by many of my peers and others
new to higher education.
 Introduction 5

This Book’s Content

Teaching Public Relations presents content divided in three parts. The first part
concerns career matters for PR educators. This first part of the book covers
key professional matters for people who want to become teachers, and those
chapters are about education as a calling, professionals becoming professors,
and professors engaging in the profession. The second part puts PRE in con-
text. This second part of the book covers key matters about the what, how, and
why of public relations curricula in higher education, and the chapters cover
the past, present, and future of PRE programs and PR students. This part also
presents pertinent principles for teaching and learning that befit PRE, cover-
ing salient general/macro-level dimensions of effective education in chapters
about general points of teaching and learning in higher education, outcomes
for graduates of PRE programs, and the predominant teaching and learning
environment for PRE. In this and other parts of the book, some material is
drawn from my earlier work (Smudde, 2010), which has served me well in my
teaching and my students’ learning. The book’s third and final part presents
approaches for teaching and learning befitting PRE. This section extends much
of the material from preceding chapters to present very specific ways of being
a teacher and teaching well for student learning about PR. The chapters in this
part focus on knowing and being yourself, developing curriculum, designing
courses, and assessing learning.
Teaching Public Relations also includes three appendices. The first is an
appendix of sample course-management documents that can help in design-
ing assignments, courses, or curricula. Examples include a syllabus, assess-
ment manual, and assignment for a real PR course. The second appendix
presents ideas for curricular and extracurricular teaching and learning for PR
students. The third and last appendix presents helpful resources that can be
used to further investigate topics central to being a professor. Additionally, a
companion website offers material (e.g., electronic versions of the appendices
and selected material) that gives other starting points to how professors may
conduct their classes.
One final point: Strictly speaking, because Teaching Public Relations begins
with an introduction and moves into the core content in nine chapters that are
organized in three parts, this book could have a conclusion, but it does not.
Actually it will. The conclusion is up to you. It is what you decide to do, why
you do it the way you do, when in your life you make it happen, how you go
about making the move, where you decide to enter academia at an institution
that fits you, and whether this move is at least mostly what you truly wanted
all along. Only you can make the next steps, probably with the help of many
people important in your life. My hope is that this book will be helpful to you
in some way. Every flame begins with a spark, and you already provided the
spark for your flame of being willing to become a professor of public relations
6 Introduction

in higher education. My wish for you is that, through this book, the catalyst
that feeds your flame keeps burning brightly for a long time to come and you
achieve much success.

About the Author

I earned my PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit in 2000 while work-
ing full time. (By the way, my last name is pronounced smoo-dee.) During my
academic career I have made research contributions to the public relations field,
focusing predominantly on strategic planning and management for public rela-
tions, message design for organizational communication (principally PR), and
public relations education. I have published five books and numerous journal
articles, book chapters, conference papers, and other content on vital topics in
the field of public relations. My textbook, Managing Public Relations, won the
National Communication Association’s PR Division’s 2015 PRIDE Award for
Contribution to Public Relations Education. Since transitioning to academe full
time in 2002 after 16 years in industry, I have actively advanced my own under-
standing of teaching and learning in all respects, from individuals to entire aca-
demic programs and institutions. I am Accredited in Public Relations (APR)
through the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and this credential is
highly regarded within the PR industry and is especially valuable as an educa-
tor with a terminal degree and industry experience. In this vein, in 2018, I was
involved in the redesign of the PRSA/Universal Accreditation Board’s exami-
nation for the APR credential.
I have worked on school/department, college, and university curriculum
committees, and I have served on the academic senates of the two universities
where I worked as a full-time professor. I also have been involved at the national
level with the PRSA Educators Academy, where I held a board position, worked
on its strategic plan, and participated in programming about the teaching of pub-
lic relations. I also have been involved in the redesign of the PRSA/Universal
Accreditation Board’s examination for the Certificate in the Principles of Public
Relations, which is a credential that PR graduates who also are members of the
Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) may apply for and earn.
I have designed multiple courses in public relations (including a graduate class in
teaching PR) that have been highly successful. Since 2010, I have been the PR
program coordinator at Illinois State University’s School of Communication,
where I led the redesign of the PR curriculum that was implemented in the uni-
versity’s 2012 catalog. Additionally, I led the effort in 2013 to successfully obtain
Certification in Education for Public Relations (CEPR) for the university’s PR
program through the PRSA and led its recertification in 2019. Also, as program
coordinator, I developed the assessment plan for the PR program and worked
with the PR faculty to refine and implement it. In 2015 I led the work for the
university-required program review for the PR major.
 Introduction 7

This book, then, takes advantage of my depth and breadth of academic expe-
riences in PR and PR education to yield an important and usable product that
is grounded in the wide spectrum of knowledge and matters that are vital to
effective public relations education and to public relations educators. I sincerely
believe this book will be helpful to you. Thank you for reading it!

References
Neff, B. D., & Johnson, T. L. (Eds.) (2015). Learning to teach:What you need to know to develop
a successful career as a public relations educator (4th ed.). New York, NY: Public Relations
Society of America.
Smudde, P. M. (2010). The education of citizen critics: The consubstantiality of Burke’s
philosophy and constructivist pedagogy. In P. M. Smudde (Ed.), Humanistic critique of
education: Teaching and learning as symbolic action (pp. 92–114). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor
Press.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS) (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/public-relations-specialists.htm
Part I

Career Matters for

PR Educators

This first part of the book covers key professional matters for people who want
to become educators and scholars in a college or university.
1
EDUCATION AS A CALLING

This chapter addresses the kind of internal/interior inspiration, concerns,

attitudes, and issues in becoming a full- or part-time educator in a college
or university. It also presents topics that will be relevant in other chapters,
especially the next ones in this first part of the book.

Live to work; work to live. Do what you love; love what you do. These
two maxims intertwine and reveal the essence of the concept of vocation.
This concept of vocation is about much more than what one does for one’s
self. Vocation is an interior calling to which one responds enthusiastically
and authentically to muster his or her strengths, talents, energies, knowledge,
skills, abilities, experiences, and so on to engage creatively and competently
in service and leadership with and for others. A vocation can encompass one
or more jobs one holds in a career, but a vocation truly is more than any job.
A vocation is a “calling”—“a transcendent summons, experienced as origi-
nating beyond the self, to approach a particular life role in a manner oriented
toward demonstrating or deriving a sense of purpose or meaningfulness and
that holds other-oriented values and goals as primary sources of motivation”
(Dik & Duffy, 2012, p. 11). Teaching is just such a vocation, and in higher
education, it combines with research and service. It “is a calling that makes
claims on our souls” (Durka, 2002, p. 3).
12 Career Matters for PR Educators

The Calling to Be an Academic

So, what is the content of this calling to academia, especially to teach? Numerous
studies over the past decades have been conducted to explore that topic in terms
of personal motivation. In higher education, teaching is one of three key areas
of work expected of professors, the other two areas being research/creative
work and service. So, while thinking about going into teaching, also think
about completing scholarship and service because all three intertwine in higher
education. Fray and Gore (2018), in their analysis of the last 10 years of empiri-
cal studies about why people around the world go into teaching, found two
broad approaches to understanding people’s motivations for becoming teachers:
traditional and contemporary. Interestingly, the two approaches intersect to an
extent. The traditional approach encompasses reasons that are altruistic, intrin-
sic, and extrinsic. Altruistic reasons for going into teaching include service to
others, desire to help and support students, make a difference, contribute to
society, and answer a calling to become an educator. Intrinsic reasons, which
Fray and Gore report are “a primary influence on the choice of teaching”
(p. 154), include people possessing a passion for teaching, having an interest
in the subject matter, having interest and enjoyment in teaching, being suited
for the profession, and establishing one’s self as an accomplished authority in a
given subject. Extrinsic reasons for people choosing teaching for their vocation
include two areas: (1) lifestyle choices that allow for much work-family balance,
perceived life fit, flexible work hours, and holidays; and (2) working conditions
that feature job security, good working environment, reliable or good income,
and job opportunities and career prospects. A third area of the extrinsic reasons
is teaching as an alternative career to one’s primary career choice, and as such,
the alternative career of teaching is not necessarily negative but, rather, a posi-
tive thing that links to altruistic and intrinsic motivations.
Contemporary approaches to understanding people’s motivations for
becoming teachers (and engaging in scholarship and service) examine other
influences on people’s reasons for choosing education as a vocation. Fray and
Gore (2018) explain that contemporary studies examine adaptive and maladap-
tive motives. Here is where we see intersections between contemporary and
traditional approaches to understanding motivations for becoming a teacher
who also contributes scholarship and service. Adaptive motives “relate to effort,
involvement, and commitment, and include teaching ability, shaping the future
of [students], enhancing social equity, social status, intrinsic career values,
expertise, and making a social contribution” (p. 156). Maladaptive motives
“include factors such as teaching as a fall-back career and the negative influ-
ence of significant others” (p. 156). The degree to which someone is driven
by intrinsic or altruistic motivations can well influence whether that person
also operates on adaptive (i.e., positive, favorable) motivations or maladaptive
(i.e., negative, unfavorable) motivations for going into teaching. As Fray and
 Education as a Calling 13

Gore (2018) explain, “enthusiastic” teachers are driven by altruistic and intrin-
sic motivations to teach well, “conventional” teachers are similar to enthusiastic
teachers but rated lowest in professional opportunities, and “pragmatic” teach-
ers are those who are largely driven by intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
Other contemporary motivations for people going into teaching are human-
istic values, professional vocation, and working conditions. Additionally impor-
tant is the fact that, “[w]hile cultural beliefs can play a critical role in dissuading
some from the profession, they may also construct ‘favourable [sic] conditions in
teaching…facilitating a positive image of the teaching profession’” (Fray & Gore,
2018, p. 157). The greater context for people choosing the vocation of teach-
ing, as it would be in any profession, includes multiple influences from various
sources about a variety of concerns that matter personally to one’s vision of one’s
career and life. Instrumental in one’s decision to choose teaching, supported by
Williams and Forgasz (2009), is that person has some crucial personal values that
she or he deeply wants to fulfill through a career change (Ahn, Dik, & Hornback,
2017). In higher education, such personal values center on giving back to the
profession by teaching the next generation of PR professionals, exploring a field
more deeply, and contributing knowledge to it, plus serving the institution, the
field, and the community in roles that benefit from one’s expertise.

Becoming a Professor
In higher education (generally) as a vocation or “life purpose,” focused stud-
ies about why people choose to become professors are practically nonexistent.
Remember, too, that being a teacher in higher education (chiefly when full time)
includes being a researcher in one’s field of specialty and someone giving ser-
vice to the institution, discipline, and community. Doing a simple online search
for the topic using various phrases such as “why be a professor” and “professor as
vocation” yields many online articles by individuals in the profession, and those
articles are on publications’ websites and blogs of various kinds (e.g., Chronicle
of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, and The Princeton Review) but nearly
nothing from scholarly sources. Perhaps most revealing is the fact that the online
articles about being a professor contain advice from authors’ personal experiences.
In this way, content about why people chose to become a professor very often
echoes the altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic reasons for becoming an educator,
researcher, and servant, which is useful and inspiring. What is important to keep
in mind about these articles, however, is that because they are all individuals’ per-
sonal reflections, they are not generalizable to the entire population of university
and college professors. To the extent that you identify with someone’s own expli-
cated experiences about why she or he became and remains a professor could make
a difference to you, but in general terms, there is little to nothing in the way of
broad insights about professors’ motivations for their vocation in higher education.
14 Career Matters for PR Educators

Even with this ironic dearth of scholarly insight about the vocation of profes-
sor, there is one usable vein of sources: job-search websites. The first such website
is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), which gives detailed information
about a broad range of topics, from responsibilities and salary to requirements and
pros and cons of the professorate. The website LearningPath.org presents much
of the USBLS’s data and findings in usable ways. Other example websites include
The Princeton Review and JobMonkey.com, both of which present concise and con-
crete information (in different ways online) about the substance of being a pro-
fessor. One vital thing to remember about a career as a professor is that, like any
profession, there are pros and cons. The best thing you can do is your own due
diligence about the profession and find out what it takes to become and be success-
ful as a professor who excels at teaching, research, and service (see Chapter 2). Talk
with people that you know are professors and enjoy it (or not). Read articles and
books about the profession for all that it is, especially for teaching and learning in
colleges and universities. Most important, investigate what any institution is like
where you would like to be on its faculty and find out about its organizational cul-
ture, student body, overall institutional performance and reputation, expectations
for faculty, and the department culture and reputation in which you would teach.
Depending on the institution in which you seek to become a professor,
either full-time or part-time, the requirements for holding the position can
vary. For someone planning on being a part-time professor, working “on the
side” as an adjunct instructor in addition to a full-time job or in retirement, a
master’s degree, ample professional experience in the field you teach, and adept-
ness at teaching would be common requirements. For such a position, someone
who has been in the profession for a very long time and been very successful,
career experience coupled with accolades earned and, especially, accreditation
in public relations or communication may suffice instead of a master’s degree.
For someone planning on being a full-time professor, this career move very
often requires a doctorate in the field (or a doctorate of education degree
coupled with extensive professional experience), sufficient success publishing
and presenting scholarly work, and solid teaching experiences backed up with
good teaching evaluations. Job descriptions for full-time and part-time posi-
tions will state the minimum requirements and expectations. More informa-
tion about these and related dimensions to working in higher education will be
covered in Chapter 2 and later chapters.

Impetus for and Maintenance of Career Change

Different reasons may be behind someone embarking on a career change,
from the catastrophic (e.g., layoff and company failure and closure) to the
deeply personal (e.g., values conflict with a boss and desire to break into a
whole new endeavor). Any career change should be subject to a thorough
risk-benefit analysis because there can be some significant challenges to face
 Education as a Calling 15

and overcome, such as the psychological toll from making the change, shifts
or sacrifices to accommodate new commitments, financial alterations (espe-
cially if a cut in pay and benefits is involved) because of a job and career
change, and the need to establish a new personal network in the new pro-
fessional arena. In particular to public relations educators, they often feel
called to their work in academia because they are committed meaningfully
to the public relations field, genuinely want to prepare the next generation of
PR professionals, and experience a certain organizational identification (i.e.,
how one psychologically bonds with an organization based on one’s view of
one’s role plus the organization’s values and goals, sense of belonging and
attachment, and other factors like benefits of working in the organization)
with a college or university so they may bridge research/theory and practice
(Hocke-Mirzashvili & Hickerson, 2014).
A very useful view of the relationship between a public relations teacher and
students is master to apprentices. In fact, the ideal full-time professor of public
relations, generally speaking, has long been someone with a terminal degree
(i.e., a doctorate in the PR field or a closely related field); many years of industry
experience with a good track record of accomplishments, especially in manage-
ment positions; and participation in the profession in one or more professional
associations (Commission on Public Relations Education, 2018; Wright, 2011).
Additionally, in more specific terms, PR professors also ought to be ready to
lead students in their learning in a field that undergoes rapid change; stay up-
to-date on usable technologies; be willing to work well with and share ideas
and insights with industry peers and leaders; apply their expertise in public rela-
tions for the benefit of their institutions and organizations outside their institu-
tions; conduct original research that contributes knowledge about and for public
relations; obtain a professional credential such as being Accredited in Public
Relations (APR) through the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
or Accredited in Business Communication (ABC) through the International
Association of Business Communicators (IABC); undertake internships with
sponsoring organizations to keep their knowledge, skills, and abilities sharp
in the ever-changing PR field; and serve as judges, reviewers, or panelists for
competitive presentations of research, programs, or projects in public relations
(Plowman et al., 2018, pp. 106–107). In these ways, the integration of being
excellent at teaching, research, and service is vital. So, preparing your case for
being considered for a position as a full- or part-time faculty member teaching
public relations in higher education is the substance of the next chapter.

Personal Factors of the Calling

Making the switch to higher education, especially full time, involves
“a calling-infused career change” (Ahn et al., 2017, p. 56). Career changes
are evolutionary as someone progresses through a series of jobs (perhaps with
16 Career Matters for PR Educators

multiple employers) and instrumental life changes. Simultaneously, a per-

son forms a self-concept that matures with the effects of diverse and chal-
lenging factors that affect one’s life and career. In this way, then, career
change is “natural and inevitable, rather than a detour” (Ahn et al., 2017,
p. 49). At the core of such a career change, when examining one’s risk-
benefit analysis, are the altruistic and intrinsic rewards, while any extrinsic
rewards should be supportive to a great extent (Williams & Forgasz, 2009).
The calling to be a teacher “embodies the belief that the improvement of
self and of human life are always worth whatever it takes to create a better
world for all. Of those who see this as folly, we dare to ask, ‘What would it
be like to teach without such conviction?’ We do what we do because we
believe that doing it, even in the most trying of conditions, is better than
not doing it” (Durka, 2002, p. 9).
Teaching itself “is an ancient and venerable task, but it is always a revo-
lutionary one.... All we can hope for as a result of such teaching [of critical
understanding at any level] is a kind of person who will make a difference to
the outcome” (Booth, 1988, p. 27). In the profession is a range of teachers,
and no one becomes a teacher to be a bad one. Indeed, there is something
special about teaching that brings out the best in someone, especially in higher
education when teaching is tied tightly to scholarship and service. As Palmer
(2007) explains, “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are
able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects,
and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves.
The methods used by these weavers vary widely…. The connections made by
good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts—meaning heart
in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will
converge in the human self ” (p. 11).
In teaching, the intertwining of one’s self with others and a subject
together in the greater context of what is going on in the world evokes the
dynamism of mind, body, and spirit of teacher and student together. In this
way, all are students. A teacher-scholar in higher education is a life-long
learner, as is evidenced by the active integration of research/creative work
and service with teaching. The vocation of teaching in higher education
is one that enables someone to attain ever greater intellectual, emotional,
spiritual, and behavioral advancements in himself or herself first through
effective and affective pursuits within and beyond the self precisely because
teaching is other-focused. Within the context of higher education, the
objective of teaching “is that of increasing the student’s motivation and
ability to continue learning after leaving college” (Svinicki & McKeachie,
2014, p. 5). A teacher owns his or her vocation when he or she is gladdened
and energized by its pursuits, and that vocation flows within as a matter of
 Education as a Calling 17

personal identity and nature as a person, being genuinely and authentically

compelled to inspire learning and contribute knowledge about and service
to a subject with others who want to engage.

A Question for You

Why do you want to become a professor of public relations in a college or university?

For what it is worth, here is my story about why I went into teaching. I remem-
ber thinking about becoming a teacher when I was in junior high, after my dad
had been helping me with some difficult homework, and I thought the process
of teaching and learning as we engaged in it (and as I thought about my teach-
ers) was pretty interesting. But not until I was in graduate school, working on a
master’s degree in writing, did I consider it seriously. On one important occa-
sion, during a conversation with my peers about our ideal jobs, I said I would
like to be a professional student, being paid by some large corporation to go to a
university, take classes, earn degrees, share my learning with the company, and
get paid a good compensation package for doing so. Realizing that idea would
not be possible, I concluded that the best alternative was to become a university
professor, where I could study what I want, teach what I know, and publish and
serve in the field in which I love. On another pivotal occasion, my master’s thesis
advisor told me during a conversation that he thought I would do very well as a
university professor. He did not know about my prior discussion with my peers,
and when I reflected on what he said, why he said it, and how much I truly liked
the pursuit and sharing of knowledge, I began to devise a career plan. But that
plan did not begin and end with teaching.
Through my graduate studies in writing and technical communication,
I learned about the great value that professional experience has in many ways.
One way in particular was in teaching in higher-education institutions. That
is, I believed that if I were to become a professor who had great credibility with
students, I had to achieve three objectives: (1) have a substantial industry career
in communication and writing, (2) hold a corporate leadership position for a
sufficient time, and (3) earn a doctorate along the way. I thought I would, then,
retire from industry and become a professor later in my career. I also taught part
time for a year after earning my doctorate. It turned out that I accomplished
my objectives by 2000, and two years later, giving up a six-figure salary and
benefits, I began my first full-time position as an assistant professor in a depart-
ment of communication teaching public relations. Looking across my 34-year
career now, it is evenly split between industry and academia, and the interplay
between practice and theory has been wonderful and fruitful in my classes,
research, and service.
18 Career Matters for PR Educators

References
Ahn, J., Dik, B. J., & Hornback, R. (2017). The experience of career change driven by
a sense of calling: An interpretive phenomenological analysis approach. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 102, 48–62.
Booth, W. C. (1988). The vocation of a teacher: Rhetorical occasions 1967–1988. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Commission on Public Relations Education. (2018). Fast forward: Foundations + future
state. Education + practitioners: The 2017 report on undergraduate public relations educa-
tion. New York, NY: Author. Retrieved from http://www.commissionpred.org/
commission-reports/fast-forward-foundations-future-state-educators-practitioners/
Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Make your job a calling: How the psychology of vocation can
change your life at work. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press.
Durka, G. (2002). The teacher’s calling: A spirituality for those who teach. New York: Paulist
Press.
Fray, L., & Gore, J. (2018). Why people choose teaching: A scoping review of empiri-
cal studies, 2017–2016. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, 153–163. doi:10.1016/j.
tate.2018.06.009
Hocke-Mirzashvili,T. M., & Hickerson, C. (2014). U.S. public relations educators’ identifi-
cation and perception of the discipline. Public Relations Review, 40, 100–106.
Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (10th
anniversary ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Plowman, K., Brubaker, P., Rennie, K. D., Van Slyke Turk, J., Deats, J. R., &
Wright, D. K. (2018). Educator credentials: Evolving expectations. In Fast
forward: Foundations + future state. Education + practitioners: The 2017 report on
undergraduate public relations education (pp. 101–107). New York, NY: Commission
on Public Relations Education. Retrieved from http://www.commissionpred.org/
commission-reports/fast-forward-foundations-future-state-educators-practitioners/
Svinicki, M. D., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and
theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.
Williams, J., & Forgasz, H. (2009). The motivations of career change students in
teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 37(1), 95–108. doi:10.
1080/13598660802607673
Wright, D. K. (2011). History and development of public relations education in North
America: A critical analysis. Journal of Communication Management, 15(3), 236–255.
2
PROFESSIONALS BECOMING
PROFESSORS

This chapter explains the expectations for those who would want to be
professors of PR from both an institutional and a student view and how
to build the proper credentials and expertise to be a professor. A brief
summary of the job search process and what is typically required to be
successful in it is presented in this regard.

The point of being a professor is to pursue, contribute, and share knowledge.

Very generally, being in the business of creating and sharing knowledge means
professors of any kind necessarily are experts in particular subject areas in their
fields. Professors exercise that expertise, accordingly, when leading students in
their learning, creating scholarship or creative/artistic products to bolster their
fields, and serving in one’s department, institution, field, and community to
make things better for others. “The professorial life is distinguished not only
by the latitude it affords and the academic freedom it guarantees, but also by the
opportunity it provides to pursue any area of study, regardless of popularity”
(Cahn, 2011, p. 6). A long-standing view—and a great misconception in con-
temporary times—refers to academia as an “ivory tower,” which is a metaphor
for a lofty, rarefied, and almost sacred place of intellectual pursuits separated
from the real-world, every-day matters of society. On the contrary, academia
is a tremendous place where theory and practice of daily life come to play, with
professors leading the way because they have the liberty to study what they
want and how they want (i.e., given their institutions’ frameworks and scholarly
conventions) to add valuable knowledge, teach what they know as effectively
they can, and serve others on any scale to make a difference for the better.
20 Career Matters for PR Educators

Academic Freedom
The objective of pursuing, contributing, and sharing knowledge is the substance
of the three pillars for academia: teaching, research, and service. (Chapter 3 will
give more detail about these pillars.) Institutionally speaking, the free pursuit of
inquiry, also referred to as “academic freedom,” constructively embraces both
conflict and consensus along these three pillars as faculty engage with peers
and practitioners about topics in a subject area. And such engagement does
not mean that academic freedom is amorphous. That is, there are standards
for individual performance within the professoriate, and those standards vary
based on one’s own college or university, the field in which they profess, and
the formal position they occupy as full-time or part-time faculty. So academic
freedom does not mean anything goes. According to the American Association
of University Professors (AAUP) (2018), academic freedom concerns three
interrelated freedoms of inquiry, teaching, and public sharing of knowledge—
all of which intertwine the individual, institution, and society. More precisely,
the AAUP defines academic freedom operationally:

1. Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of

the results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic
duties; but research for pecuniary return should be based upon an under-
standing with the authorities of the institution.
2. Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their
subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching
controversial matter which has no relation to their subject. Limitations
of academic freedom because of religious or other aims of the institution
should be clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.
3. College and university teachers are citizens, members of a learned profes-
sion, and officers of an educational institution. When they speak or write
as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline,
but their special position in the community imposes special obligations.
As scholars and educational officers, they should remember that the public
may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. Hence,
they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint,
should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every
effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution (para. 9).

With this definition, the AAUP includes brief clarifying statements that have
been added over the years. To provide something of a simplified and prag-
matic summary of the spirit and content of those statements, academic freedom
means, within the framework of institutional values and policies, applicable
law, scholarly expectations, sound argumentation, consideration of prevail-
ing community or social attitudes, and application of principles of effective
 Professionals Becoming Professors 21

teaching and learning, professors may, as matter of their role as academic

experts in their fields, broach any topic about which they have reasonable and
sufficient credibility so that diverse views about it can be invited genuinely,
discussed respectfully, and evaluated responsibly in ways that help others and
the community in their understanding and growth.
So the romantic vision of professors truly clashes with the reality. Professors
work very hard on topics that matter to people in the same field or subject
area. And professors often work long and odd hours of any day, based on their
teaching schedules (e.g., classes, grading, student interactions [digital or not],
etc.), work commitments (e.g., meetings with committees and others), personal
habits, project time lines (especially across time zones worldwide), and other
matters (see McCabe & McCabe, 2000; Ziker, 2014). The whole idea of
experts holding a position that allows them to investigate, work out, and share
knowledge is absolutely essential to advancing and improving real things that
really matter in the “real world.” For the field of public relations, professors
are deeply involved in making sense of what works (and what does not), why,
how, with whom, when, where, and whether to try them again—the complete
content and context of communication between organizations and their publics
from the identification of problems or opportunities and the invention of
messages, to designing and distributing discourse to measuring effectiveness.
The greatest repository of knowledge about public relations exists in scholar-
ship produced over many decades among professors and (more often in the last
couple of decades) professors and professionals working collaboratively. In turn,
that knowledge is applied in courses about defined topic areas that are essential
for people studying to become public relations professionals. More about the
content of educational programs will be presented in later chapters of this book.

Aspects of an Academic Career

For any PR professional who has decided to become a PR professor, the process for
that decision likely has been a thorough one (also see Buller, 2010; Henderson &
Schwartz, 2015). Given the content of the first chapter and this one, you can see
there are many dimensions to consider because the vocation of teaching is signifi-
cantly different from the vocation of being a practitioner of any rank and station.
Indeed, it helps to define the industry-to-academia transition as one that “typi-
cally consists of an interprofession step in a protean career wherein the incumbent
undertakes an effort at an extrarole adjustment. The industry-to-academia career
transition results from the development of a particular values hierarchy within the
incumbent, and often results in some level of tension in the receiving institution
in the form of values incongruency” (Bandow, Minsky, & Voss, 2007, p. 32).
Making a career move from professional to professor is not easy, but that chal-
lenge and triumph of change is what makes it worthwhile. It is an opportunity to
22 Career Matters for PR Educators

reengage more deeply and in new, dynamic ways with the public relations field
that are not possible outside of academe, especially because of the day-to-day
pressure of business. In academia, there is a wonderful synergy among the educa-
tion of students, contributions to the knowledge base about PR, and serving the
field in various roles and capacities.
Much has been written recently about academia in the United States, from
histories about institutions to analyses of processes to predictions about its future
(e.g., Arum & Roksa, 2011; Bastedo, Altbach, & Gumport, 2016; Becker et al.,
2018; Blumenstyk, 2015; Christiansen & Eyring, 2011; Fisher, 2019; Newman,
Couturier, & Surry, 2004; Palmer & Zajonc, 2010). What is vital to know about
higher education in the U.S. (and other nations) is that it is a social, economic,
and cultural good in every respect. Like any industry, academia has its problems
and its glories. Any college or university, like any organization, has its strengths and
its weaknesses. Overall, the value that higher education adds to society far out-
weighs the demerits. In fact, the outlook for higher education in the U.S. is gen-
erally very good, as data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018) shows
in Table 2.1. The median pay is attractive among educators, and the number of
professor jobs available suggests a high demand for qualified candidates to be pro-
fessors. Over the next 10 years, the growth in higher education for professors is
predicted to be strong, as nearly 200,000 new educators should be needed. When
compared to private industry, generally, the one drawback to a career in academia
is the pay; whereas, the pay for professors often is less than that earned by people
with similar levels of experience in industry. But as a vocation, being a professor
has features and benefits that more than make up for that pay difference.
Faculty come from two principal avenues: (1) from academia, after earning a
doctorate in their chosen fields, and (2) from industry, perhaps having earned a
master’s or doctoral degree in their chosen fields along the way. The first route is
considered “traditional,” while the second route is considered “nontraditional.”
Ideally, someone with both extensive industry experience and a doctorate
(either a doctor of philosophy [PhD] or a doctor of education [EdD]) is the
best fit for current and future public relations programs in higher education.
In public relations, the nontraditional route has become more and more prized
over recent years, as people with both industry wisdom and academic smarts
are highly credible to students because the nontraditional faculty member has

TABLE 2.1 Quick facts about postsecondary teaching

2017 Median Pay $76,000 per year

Number of Jobs: 2016 1,314,400
Job Outlook: 2016–2026 15% (Much faster than average)
Employment Change: 2016–2026 197,800

Source: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm#tab-1.
 Professionals Becoming Professors 23

“been there and done that” (Silverman, 2010). It is possible that someone with
many years of experience, especially including management positions, plus
accreditation in public relations or business communication may be accepted
in lieu of a master’s degree. In all cases, having had some teaching experience
is important. Such experience can be gained by leading educational sessions at
work, at conferences, or at community venues, or it can be gained by leading a
formal class offered through an educational institution. Having been an orga-
nizational leader also may be relevant for teaching because of the need to help
others understand matters and be successful with them.

Decision Factors for Joining Academia

Before applying for a position in academia, know that there are four key factors
to consider about where and in what capacity someone plans to work as a
professor. First, there is institution type. A college or university may be pub-
lic, which means it historically was established and its operations have been
partially funded by government money from the state in which it is located.
Alternatively, a college or university may be private, which means its opera-
tions are funded by its own means. In both cases, public and private higher-ed
institutions are nonprofit organizations because any profits are turned back into
the institution and not to benefactors. Another type of institution is for-profit,
which means it operates more like a private institution but a portion of profits
are shared with investors as dividends. Any institution ought to be accred-
ited by a relevant accrediting body to ensure that high standards for academic
(i.e., student learning) and institutional (i.e., operational performance) excel-
lence are upheld (Lubinescu, Ratcliff, & Gaffney, 2001). Such accreditation
is very important, as institutions must, by law, show on their websites what
accreditations they have secured (from the whole institution to educational
units and programs of study), and reports about how well an institution mea-
sures up to accreditation standards are available for scrutiny. Those reports
include the good, the bad, and the ugly about an institution’s performance as
a place of higher education.
A second key factor to consider is institution emphasis, and there are three
fundamental types. In all three types, there are varying levels of emphasis
placed on one or more of the “three pillars” of academia of research, teaching,
and service. The performance standards that uphold these pillars are central to
decisions about retaining and promoting faculty based on their performance.
First, an institution may be primarily research-based, which basically means
that faculty are expected to be conducting research and publishing their work
in peer-reviewed journals and conferences and in substantially important proj-
ects like books and major projects or reports. Similarly, creative works may be
included as publicly displayed and peer-evaluated pieces. Faculty at research
institutions also are expected to secure funding from external organizations
24 Career Matters for PR Educators

for research or creative work they plan to complete. Such grants are extremely
competitive, so securing them is highly prized as they bolster a researcher’s
credibility and, especially, fund the work she or he wants to do. In research-
based institutions, teaching is minimal to not existent for full-time faculty,
leaving most of the teaching duties to adjunct faculty and graduate students.
Examples are Ivy League schools and flagship state universities. Second, an
institution may be primarily teaching-based, which basically means that faculty
are expected to be great teachers who also stay on top of recent scholarship and
trends in their fields so that knowledge can be incorporated in their classes.
Research and creative work may be only treated as supplemental to the role of
teacher, which also includes a sizeable load of service to the department, insti-
tution, and field as an additional venue to exercise teaching. Examples include
small private schools, especially those that are religiously affiliated and locally
anchored. Third, an institution may balance teaching and research expectations
so that faculty are expected to be strong educator-scholars (i.e., they are effec-
tive teachers and researchers) who also engage in service to their departments,
institutions, and fields. Examples include my own university and others that
use faculty performance as scholars and educators as the primary evidence for
decisions about promotion, tenure, and merit pay.
A third key factor to consider for breaking into academia is institution scope.
Colleges may grant associate degrees that students earn over a minimum of a
two-year period. These institutions are traditionally called junior colleges, and
they host students from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Other
colleges may grant only bachelor’s degrees that students would earn within
four years or so. Universities are institutions that offer bachelor’s degrees plus
master’s degrees and, perhaps, doctorates. Note that some smaller liberal arts
colleges may not offer advanced degrees but are still called universities in their
name (e.g., Illinois Wesleyan University). Universities typically will be the
most likely institutions to emphasize research that is at least equal in importance
to teaching or more important than teaching.
Complementing institution emphasis and scope, colleges and universities are
further defined in greater detail by The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of
Higher Education. This classification scheme serves as the “leading framework
for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for
the past four and a half decades…as a way to represent and control for institutional
differences, and also in the design of research studies to ensure adequate represen-
tation of sampled institutions, students, or faculty” (The Carnegie Classification,
n.d., para. 4). The classifications offer insight about how institutions are grouped
by their emphases plus other factors. These groupings or “classifications” can be
searched for what institutions make them up as well as for in what classification
any given institution fits, including summary information that explains that fit in
a classification. This framework, then, can be quite useful in identifying particu-
lar institutions that may fit one’s career plans in academia.
 Professionals Becoming Professors 25

The fourth key factor to consider is the kind of appointment: full- or part-
time. (Other appointments are temporary ones, such as visiting professor, and
are significantly different, come with unique expectations and stature, and,
therefore, are excluded from this discussion.) A full-time appointment, which
was mentioned in Chapter 1, is the complete package, where someone must
fulfill the expectations for teaching, research, and service according to the
standards set by the university and the department in which he or she works.
Depending on the institution, a full-time professor, generally speaking, will be
required to teach three or four classes each semester (fall and spring only; sum-
mer would be optional). A full-time appointment is anchored in a nine-month
contact, and additional earnings may be possible through summer teaching or
short programs that an institution may offer in the summer or other times of
the year to help faculty improve their teaching or complete research. A part-
time appointment is solely focused on teaching. Often referred to as “adjunct”
faculty, part-time appointments are granted on an as-needed basis but could be
renewed because of exceptional and consistently satisfactory teaching effective-
ness. Part-time pay is based on the number of classes someone leads, applying a
per-class rate that is standard at the institution.
One important additional dimension for this fourth key factor is that being
a professor does not preclude you from consulting and freelancing. In fact,
doing such work bolsters your credibility in the field, raises the profile of the
institution as one that encourages engagement with the community, could
earn income for you and/or the institution (depending on how remuneration
is structured), and provides opportunities for educational content or research
material or both. Being a full-time professor means that position is primary,
and any extracurricular work cannot impinge on your responsibilities and per-
formance as an academic. Such outside employment may need to be reported,
and your institution would have a process for doing so. Part-time academic
appointments would not require reporting additional employment and, overall,
allow for a balance of teaching and professional pursuits so that neither area suf-
fers. Being a full-time consultant or freelancer and a part-time academic could
work very well, and being a full-time professor and part-time consultant or
freelancer can be quite beneficial too. Personal time management and project
management must be outstanding to balance work and life matters.

The Job Search in Academia

With your decisions made about each of the four key factors (and there may be
others of your own you addressed), it is time to begin the job application process.
Remember that, as you would for any job for which you want to acquire, you
are making a case that you should be considered strongly for a job and, even-
tually, hired. So the bulk of the application process involves you making a
portfolio about yourself as someone who is qualified to become an academic.
26 Career Matters for PR Educators

While there are helpful sources that go into detail about applying for academic
jobs (e.g., Boyd, 2018; Formo & Reed, 1999), focusing on nine fundamental
steps is sufficient, and the content in these areas is necessarily concise to get you
started well and keep this book on track. You may also wish to review the first
chapters of Learning to Teach (Neff & Johnson, 2015) for additional tactics for
breaking into PR education in colleges and universities.
Before going into the ten steps, it is important to recognize that the hiring
process in academia is usually conducted in a committee system. That is, under
the guidance of the institution’s human resources department, a committee of
faculty in the department seeking a new faculty member will read and rank all
applications submitted for an open position. The committee also will be involved
throughout the interviews and recommendation to hire someone. Note that the
committee ultimately only recommends a candidate be hired, as the hiring decision
rests with the department chair together with the approval of the dean of the
college in a given university and the university’s executive in charge of human
resources. With this background and your thoughts about yourself that Chapter 1
inspired, here are the nine steps for the application process.

1. Account for your professional and personal “assets” suited to academia.

Starting with your present resume, update anything that needs updating.
Next, create it anew as a “curriculum vitae,” or CV. While a résumé is
principally (if not completely) a listing of current and previous jobs held
and education achieved that is organized in reverse-chronological order, a
CV differs from a resume in one vital way: A CV presents details (shown in
reverse chronological order in all sections) about your work history plus all
teaching, research, and service you completed at any time in your profes-
sional career. It also, like a résumé, would include details about any pro-
fessional certifications and awards you earned. Example CVs are available
online, and a useful outline for you to begin developing your CV’s content
is as follows:
• Education (show by institution with degree[s] earned, including thesis
and dissertation titles with the names of thesis and dissertation com-
mittees’ members)
• Licensure secured (examples are the Accredited in Public Relations
[APR] from the Public Relations Society of America [PRSA] and
Accredited in Business Communication [ABC] from the International
Association of Business Communicators [IABC])
• Scholarship (show your published and presented work, using a con-
ventional source-documentation style, such as that from the American
Psychological Association [APA] then divide your work into subcat-
egories of publications, conference papers and presentations, speaking
engagements, invited work, and works in progress)
 Professionals Becoming Professors 27

• Teaching experience (show by institution or organization and by job

title and date with descriptions of classes you led; keep syllabi for those
classes on file)
• Industry experience (use your current résumé’s content in this area)
• Service experience (show such work by organization, date, positions
held, and contributions made)
• Awards earned (show by organization, award title, date, and reason)
If you have an online profile at LinkedIn.com or other sites, make sure they
all show the same information about you. Being truthful, up-to-date, and
consistent is vital. Any social media accounts also must be supportive of
you in every personal and professional respect, so make sure you have an
impeccable online presence, if you have one.
2. Investigate available positions in areas of the world that interest you.
Using what you learned and decided by working with the four factors for
entering academia covered previously, find faculty positions for which you
would like to apply. Online access to available faculty jobs is vast, so the like-
lihood of finding suitable positions is quite good, especially if you are will-
ing to relocate. At least two great and highly prominent places to begin are
the websites for The Chronicle of Higher Education (https://chroniclevitae.com/)
and Inside Higher Ed (https://careers.insidehighered.com/), as these two web-
sites feature job postings from all over the country and beyond in every field
and institution. Individual institutions’ websites will also list open faculty
positions, and these sites will be key to you, if you have a particular institution
in which you would like to work. Other very important websites are those
from scholarly organizations for the communication, public relations, and
related fields. Three key organizations that show open jobs in public relations
are the National Communication Association (https://www.natcom.org/),
International Communication Association (https://www.icahdq.org/), and
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (http://
www.aejmc.org/). The special interest groups in education for the PRSA and
IABC can also prove helpful in finding open faculty positions.
3. Revise your “asset” accounting results from step one.
Given all the information you gathered from job postings that interest you,
go back to your CV and make any improvements that you think would be
beneficial to your case. Also, be sure to make notes about yourself, your
experiences, and your contributions to the public relations field that might
matter in the subsequent steps in the process. Organize all pertinent files
of examples to support your industry and academic positions. The argu-
mentative claim you are making—that you are qualified to be a full-time
or part-time faculty member and should be seriously considered—must be
supported by solid evidence and clear, compelling reasoning connecting
the evidence to your claim that matters to the people doing the hiring.
28 Career Matters for PR Educators

4. Write statements about your philosophies of education and research.

Because professors are professional teachers and researchers, they must have
a personal view about those two areas. (There also may be a need to articu-
late a personal view of service.) The point of having these statements is to
reveal who you are in these areas that matter to being a good professor.
Examples of these statements can be found online, and the vast majority of
them are written as short, detailed narratives of about two single-spaced
pages each that explain someone’s perspective about education and about
scholarship. When writing a philosophy of teaching, remember that it also
encompasses learning. (Chapter 7 will cover this topic in more detail.)
Begin writing a draft of your philosophy of teaching and learning by artic-
ulating what you presently know, value, do, and expect. This way you have
a good sense of where you are on the matter before you go further. Next,
read as much as you can about teaching and learning in higher education,
and make any notes about things that pertain to you, enlighten you, and
inspire you. Remember to consider both on-campus and online educa-
tional venues. You could address particular courses you would especially
like to lead and curriculum considerations in light of industry advances and
trends. Then, revise your draft statement about teaching and learning as
thoroughly as possible while also being concise and realistic.
When writing a philosophy of research, you should explain what top-
ics in public relations that excite you and why. Also, address how you
would conduct research on them through one or more methodologies
(i.e., quantitative, qualitative, critical, mixed method) and why that/those
methodologies are appropriate. Additionally, in your research philosophy,
you should refer to examples of your own work that pertain to what you
like to research and, especially, how you plan to develop any particu-
lar line or lines of additional research to build on what you have done.
A very useful additional component of this statement would be a “research
agenda,” which presents and briefly describes (perhaps in list form) what
projects you plan to conduct, why, how, and for what ends.
5. Show proficiency of teaching and syllabus examples.
If you have led collage classes before, you should have a record of how well
you performed as a teacher and what courses or class-like sessions you led.
If you have not led classes but have led workshops, seminars, or the like,
you may have attendees’ feedback about those sessions that reveal how they
went. Surveys of students’/attendees’ responses to your teaching, whether
they were in formal class settings or workshops at conventions, would show
people’s opinions about (for example) your teaching skill, student learning,
instructor affect, and teaching quality. You must explain what the data mean
from these surveys, including a summary of how the institution and you use
the data to help you improve yourself. General or overall data by institu-
tion or venue would be sufficient, and you may choose to give data for each
 Professionals Becoming Professors 29

course you led. Syllabi for courses you led and would lead also are important
examples of your capabilities as a teacher, as they show how you structure
courses and their content and assignments for student learning. You need
not have summary statements of any kind with any syllabi, but you may like
to have personal notes for them that could help you in an interview.
6. Write a letter of application.
Given everything you worked through to this point, you must now pres-
ent your formal argument about why you are qualified to be a full-time
or part-time faculty member and should be seriously considered for a par-
ticular position. Useful examples for such application letters are available
in books and other sources that can give you inspiration for how to write
your letter. Thinking of your letter as a formal argument is the key. You
begin with your claim that you are qualified and should be considered and
interviewed, and then provide reasoning from your evidence. A simple
outline of the content of your letter would be as follows:
• An introduction of yourself as someone interested in and qualified
for a given position, emphasizing the one key message that matters
most (i.e., your “unique selling proposition”) that makes you stand
out as a strong candidate. In this regard, for example, someone with
an advanced degree and PR industry experience plus some publishing
would lean on this blending of industry with academia.
• In separate paragraphs, address your record of competence in teaching,
research, and service. Tie examples from your CV to the points you make
that support your key message, even restating points that you make about
yourself in each of these three areas and your philosophies about them.
• Conclude with a summary of your key messages that support your
claim about why you are a strong candidate who should be interviewed.
Mention that you attached all requested material and, if you believe
it is relevant, any other material that you believe can help your case.
Thank the committee for its time and effort in reviewing your appli-
cation, and say that you look forward to its reply soon.
Note that your letter need not be any longer than it needs to be. That
is, whether it is one page or two or three pages, the argument must be
compelling, factual, and well-written from grammar to organization.
Make sure that your letter targets specifically the academic job you want,
showing how your background and credentials directly fulfill the job
description. Follow the conventions for proper business letters, using your
own, personal letterhead that presents your name as a brand and is consis-
tently used in your CV and elsewhere.
7. Secure references.
As you likely already know, having the support of other people who
can vouch for your professional and personal character, credibility, and
30 Career Matters for PR Educators

expertise is essential. Because you are applying for a position in academia,

make sure you choose people who have some bearing on or, especially,
participation in higher education. The character, credibility, and expertise
of your references matter because they know you well and would be sup-
portive of you, understanding that you are seeking a career in academia so
they can talk about how valuable and valued you would be in this arena.
Your references, then, ought to be able to honestly and sufficiently answer
any question a search committee has about you. The higher the profile and
credibility of your references in PR, the better. It is best to have established
academics among your references more than PR professionals, because the
academics are “insiders” to the new industry you want to join and can best
link your background to the demands of academia. Most colleges and uni-
versities ask for three or four references, and many times those institutions
will want letters and, other times, the institutions will only want contact
information. Either way, the references will be contacted. Make sure you
keep your references well informed about which institutions you apply and
whether a letter is required.
8. Prepare for interviews.
Getting an interview, of course, is a great sign that your presentation of
yourself has been successful and that the search committee wants to learn
more about you. Make sure you researched the job, the department, the
institution, and the department’s faculty well so that you can ask pointed
questions that bolster your case about your fit for the position while genu-
inely being true to yourself. There usually are two interviews: by phone
or video and on campus. Committees receive a large number of applica-
tions for an open position, and from that lot the committee chooses its top
applicants with whom it would like to speak to learn more. An interview
conducted by phone or by streaming video, with the latter being the most
preferred, is the first step. Committees will have a set of questions it will
ask all top applicants that are interviewed. How you present yourself and
the visual/audio context in which you are present matters, so make sure
you take these into account so that your interview looks and/or sounds
great. The interview would likely last about 30 minutes, including time
for your questions of the committee. You should have several questions you
would like to have answered, perhaps concerning timing for the decision,
promotion and tenure process, start-up funds (i.e., money that may be
available for new faculty to acquire specialized equipment, software, etc. to
do research and, perhaps, teaching), the makeup of the student body, and
living in the community.
The next step is an on-campus interview, which would be scheduled
with only the top one or two (or three) applicants based on the commit-
tee’s review of the video/phone interviews. This stage in the process is the
last one before the committee makes is recommendation about whom to
 Professionals Becoming Professors 31

hire. On-campus interviews are very structured, beginning in the morn-

ing and lasting most of a full day. It is best to arrive the day before the
on-campus interview day, noting that the institution would arrange to
pay for all expenses related to your interview. The agenda for on-campus
interviews could include a teaching demonstration (in a real class relevant
to the job or in a separate session to faculty and perhaps students); a pre-
sentation about research to department faculty; meetings with the search
committee, the department chair, and the college dean; and breakfast at
the beginning of the day and/or dinner at the day’s end with anyone avail-
able on the search committee. During all of these points on the agenda,
which can be exhausting but also inspiring, trust yourself for who and what
you are and know so that you can genuinely be yourself and demonstrate
your fitness with and enthusiasm for the job. If, however, in the process
you discover something that makes you uncomfortable, it is up to you to
decide how to proceed with the day’s agenda, and it may be best to stick it
out until the end to make sure your comfort level is true. If, in the end, you
believe the fit between you and the institution and the job is wrong, say so
to the department chair at some point sooner rather than later so you do
not waste any more time for yourself and the committee. If you truly want
a particular job, send thank-you notes (handwritten or e-mail) to the com-
mittee members or, at least, the department chair, mentioning one or more
things that are genuinely attractive to you about the position and how you
believe you would add value to the department.
9. Negotiate your contract.
This point in the process begins with an oral offer by phone and then fol-
lows with a written offer with all the pertinent details. Your response to
the oral offer should be truly reflective of your personal hope of actually
getting a written offer to work at the institution. If you agreed to an on-
campus interview and you think all went well, your genuine enthusiasm
for getting an offer ought to be obvious during your phone conversation
about it. When you get the written offer letter, scrutinize it carefully for
what you believe is fair given all the factors you weighed at the outset about
entering academia. Research what is fair about the compensation, perfor-
mance expectations, and any other dimension as they compare to similar
institutions in academia and especially in the part of world in which the
institution is located. In this way, negotiating a contract for an academic
position is very similar to negotiating any other job, but you must work
within the parameters of academia and not industry. The likelihood of
much or any wiggle room for the salary is very low, and there may be some
matters that can be adjusted provided they are reasonable and you make a
solid argument for them that shows the value to the institution. Ultimately,
your formal, written response of acceptance or rejection of a job offer will
be required.
32 Career Matters for PR Educators

A Question for You

What do you seek by being a professor of public relations?

For what it is worth, and building upon my reflection at the end of Chapter 1,
I knew moving from industry to academia was going to “cost” me a lot. I knew
my salary would be reduced by around 40%. I knew I would have to relocate
my family. I knew that I had a lot to learn about education and being an educa-
tor in a university. After much conversation with my wife and some with my
boys, who were four and eight at the time, we devised an approach to how we
would handle this move. We discussed what parts of the country in which we
would most like to live, and I looked for full-time faculty positions in PR at
institutions I thought would fit me the best. Because of my unique blend of
industry experience and doctoral degree, I felt the best institutions were those
that balanced teaching and research. I did not see myself as a grand researcher
but, rather, as someone who can excel at both education and scholarship.
In preparation of my move to academia, I had done part-time teaching
in business writing at the University of Michigan’s College of Business in its
MBA program, and I was a part-time teacher of public relations in Wayne State
University’s Department of Communication in its graduate-degree program.
The surveys of students’ responses to my teaching were good, and I had them
available in the event I needed to share them. I also took several opportuni-
ties to enroll in workshops about teaching and learning at Wayne State, and
I acquired and read many sources about teaching and learning in higher educa-
tion. I also had published a few articles along the way and had created an agenda
for future research in public relations. These experiences helped me develop
philosophies of teaching and learning and of research—statements that were
certainly embryonic but definitive and helpful nonetheless. I also, with the
help of my professors and online research, crafted my CV, wrote my application
letter, and secured references that would be instrumental in my quest.
As part of my academic job search in 2001, I attended the annual convention
of the National Communication Association, and there I purposely sought to
meet with the people to whom I had applied for open full-time faculty posi-
tions in PR. This approach allowed me to drop in on the very people that
already saw or would soon see my application, and I could interview them in
a way. One of the several institutions with which I met invited me for an on-
campus interview, and from there, I received an offer. The reality of the low
salary was a shock but not too much, because I knew it was coming. What more
than made up for the drop in compensation was the reality of becoming what
I had long wanted to become and having the kind of career and life that my
wife and I believed would be most beneficial to all of us.
In the summer of 2002, we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin and began a
new life together. I loved the change and the challenge, and my family enjoyed
 Professionals Becoming Professors 33

the new opportunities in our new home. It took me a couple of months to real-
ize that I did not have to be at work at 7:30 a.m. and stay until after 5 p.m. every
day. The great flexibility to do my work as a teacher, researcher, and servant
in my field was wonderful, and over the years, I have come to appreciate more
and more all that I have and have become and have to offer others through my
work as a professor.

References
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principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure
Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
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transitions from industry to academia. Journal of Human Resource Education, 1, 23–37.
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century: Social, political & economic challenges (4th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Becker, S. A., Brown, M., Dahlstrom, E., Davis, A., DePaul, K., Diaz, V., & Pomerantz,
J. (2018). NMC Horizon Report: 2018 higher education. Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE.
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zonreport.pdf
Blumenstyk, G. (2015). American higher education in crisis? What everyone needs to know.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Boyd, D. (2018). So you want to be a professor: How to land your dream job in academia. Cincinnati,
OH: Bosley Publishing.
Buller, J. L. (2010). The essential college professor: A practical guide to an academic career.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Cahn, S. M. (2011). Saints & scamps: Ethics in academia (25th anniversary ed.). Lanham, MD:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Christiansen, C. M., & Eyrving, H. J. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of
higher education from the inside out. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/
Trend19-Intrusion-Main?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&cid=at
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Henderson, J. K., & Schwartz, D. F. (2015). Practitioner to professor. In B. D. Neff & T. L.
Johnson (Eds.), Learning to teach: What you need to know to develop a successful career as a
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Lubinescu, E. S., Ratcliff, J. L., & Gaffney, M. A. (2001). Two continuums collide:
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34 Career Matters for PR Educators

McCabe, L. L., & McCabe, E. R. B. (2000). How to succeed in academics. San Diego, CA:
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thebluereview.org/faculty-time-allocation/
3
ENGAGEMENT IN THE PROFESSION

This chapter revisits the three pillars of higher education and explains why
a PR professor must excel in all of them, especially on the tenure track and,
certainly, after obtaining tenure and promotion. The chapter then addresses
basic institutional matters about university/college hierarchy and the kind of
support and enculturation systems available to new professors.

Academia truly is a very busy arena all year, every year. Because colleges
and universities are chiefly in the business of education, and education in
the U.S. traditionally has run from late summer to mid-spring, people tend
to think that the business of education occurs only those nine months of the
year, with official breaks in classes being held within and between semesters.
Like any business, institutions of higher education operate over the full
course of a year, and the greatest period of organizational activity concerns
teaching and learning during the “academic year,” which spans nine months,
roughly from September to May when classes are held. All the work that
gets done is organized in important and useful ways. Because teaching is
highly important in higher-education institutions, the organization of work
for leading classes is paramount but so is the infrastructure that enables
research/creative work and service. Together with these core-business mat-
ters, the other business needs of an institution also are in place to support its
strategic requirements.
36 Career Matters for PR Educators

Organizing the Three Pillars of Academia

The first pillar of academia is teaching. In higher education, courses are designed
to suit a program or curriculum, and one or more classes (or “sections”) of a given
course may be offered and led by an individual instructor per class as needed.
Depending on an institution, a standard “load” of classes for any faculty mem-
ber is four each fall and spring semester. (The common nomenclature to express
that teaching load is 4–4.) Institutions may give “reassignments” (also called
“releases”) from teaching one class each semester so that full-time professors have
time for conducting research or producing creative works, and in this case, the
teaching load becomes 3–3. Reassignments for one or more additional classes
may be granted for someone who holds an administrative assignment in a depart-
ment or other substantial reason (e.g., editor of a scholarly journal). Part-time
faculty may be hired for one to four classes (maybe more, depending on need
and contract stipulations) per semester, and no reassignments would be offered
because part-time faculty are solely focused on leading classes. If an institution
has any union representation of faculty, contractual matters about teaching and
other work would be stipulated and have to be consulted and followed.
Courses in programs of study (i.e., majors and minors) are shown in a uni-
versity’s catalog, and the numbering system can vary from one institution to
another. A university’s graduation requirements and other relevant policies that
pertain to matriculation through a degree program guide how curricula are
structured. (More on this topic will be given in Chapter 8.) A useful way to
think about course-numbering systems is how students progress in their build-
ing of knowledge and skills. For undergraduate, baccalaureate programs, the
first level is foundational courses with content that is essential to a broad field of
study and could be designated at the “100” level. Such courses feature rigorous
inroads to essential knowledge and skills in a field, surveying what a field has
to offer in some ways. The next level of courses adds subject-specific material
to challenge and expand students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities gained in the
100-level courses. Such next- or mid-level courses could be designated at the
“200” level. Beyond these courses are advanced courses that go into the great-
est depth for undergraduate students, and these courses could be designated at
the “300” level and cover very particular areas of a subject. An example of a
sequence of required courses (3 credit hours each) in a public relations major
could proceed along this line:

• COM 120 Introduction to Communication Theories

• COM 160 Introduction to Public Relations
• COM 180 Media Writing
• COM 220 Public Relations Writing
• COM 260 Law & Ethics in Communication
• COM 290 Research Methods in Communication
 Engagement in the Profession 37

• COM 350 Public Relations Campaigns

• COM 390 Managing Public Relations Departments and Firms
• COM 399 Internship in Public Relations (elective or required)

Other courses could be taken along the way at the students’ discretion, and
those courses are called “electives.” Such electives ought to be at the 200 and
300 levels to count toward graduation, depending on a university’s policies
for matriculation. Graduate-level courses could be offered at the “400” and
“500” level, depending on whether a university offers courses for master’s and
doctoral degrees. Generally speaking, though, most universities offer under-
graduate courses at the levels of 100–400, with graduate courses offered at 500
and above, so there can be variation from one institution’s course-numbering
system to another. But teaching courses at all levels is just one of the traditional
three pillars of academia, and Chapters 5 and 6 will address this topic well.
The other two pillars of academia are research/creative work and service.
A full-time, tenure-track professor, given the policies and expectations for
scholarly productivity, may pursue traditional research, engage in the develop-
ment of creative works, or both. This work is the second pillar of academia.
Part-time faculty may choose to engage in research/creative work, which,
together with the full-time faculty’s work, make valuable contributions to the
field that should advance it. Research encompasses the full gamut of work that
spans imagining a project, planning how to complete the project, implementing
the plan with relevant resources, creating a finished product (i.e., manuscript),
securing an outlet for the product (going through peer reviews of the work),
receiving feedback about the product and whether it is in any shape for publica-
tion, revising the work for the outlet (if accepted or allowed to be resubmitted
after revisions) or submitting to another outlet (if rejected), then having the
product published. Publications include journal articles, book chapters, books,
conference papers and presentations, and prominent speaking events. Peer-
reviewed or “refereed” publications are considered the best. Excellent guides
on conducting scholarly research are those by Boice (1990); Booth, Colomb,
and Williams (2008); and Moxley (1992). For creative works, such as documen-
tary films, paintings, sculpture, plays, poetry, novels, screenplays, chorale and
music scores, and so on, the process is fairly similar but is primarily governed
by the scholar’s own creative process and the requirements for producing any
particular work in its particular medium. The ultimate end for creative works
is public exposition, which ought to include peer-reviews or judging outcomes
from among other works of the same type.
The third pillar in academia is service. This pillar actually builds upon the
other two because so much is required to maintain a field’s value and con-
tinuing contributions to society. Simply put, service involves “giving back.”
Expectations for service generally are higher for full-time faculty and for
38 Career Matters for PR Educators

part-time faculty, and any department will guide all faculty in their service
pursuits. Service requirements may be fulfilled at various levels: department,
college, university, field, and community. For public relations faculty, depart-
ment service could include serving on one or more committees (as it could
also be similar at the college and university levels), field service could include
being an officer in a professional or scholarly organization, and community
service could include being a member of a board of education or board of
directors of a nonprofit organization. Service opportunities vary widely, and
they ought to be ones that most complement a faculty member’s personal and
professional interests, especially along the lines of the field in which she or he
specializes. For the public relations field, natural service opportunities can be
found in local chapters of, for example, the Public Relations Society of America
(PRSA), Association for Women in Communication (AWC), and International
Association for Business Communicators (IABC). Other service opportunities
can be found in the Institute for Public Relations (IPR), which brings together
industry professionals and academic scholars, plus scholarly organizations, such
as National Communication Association (NCA), International Communication
Association, regional U.S. communication associations, and the Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), all of which
have public relations divisions.
The big deal about these three pillars is this: A PR professor (and any
professor in any field) must excel in all of them that play to their strengths as
educator-scholars. Given the discussion in Chapter 2 about the types of higher-
ed institutions, emphasis on the pillars can differ from one institution type to
another. Being a part-time professor means focusing almost exclusively on the
teaching pillar, while being a full-time, tenure-track professor means balanc-
ing the requirements for all three pillars well and doing well in all of them to
the degree expected by your department and university. Boice (2000) explains
very well how new full-time faculty members can thrive while balancing the
demands on them to teach well, produce solid research, and serve the institu-
tion and the field. (Chapter 5 addresses this topic further.) These three pillars,
then, are the grounds for evaluating one’s professional performance, particu-
larly for full-time, tenure-track faculty.

Tenure, the Tenure Track, and Promotions

So what is “tenure” and the “tenure track”? A common and inaccurate under-
standing of tenure is that it is “lifetime employment” at an educational insti-
tution. Tenure is more complex and does not include any kind of guaranteed
employment. Tenure is very similar to any other organization’s policies about
continuing employment of people. As the American Association of University
Professors (2018) defines it, tenure “is an indefinite appointment that can be
terminated only for cause or under circumstances such as financial exigency
 Engagement in the Profession 39

and program discontinuation” (para. 1). The AAUP further explains the pur-
pose of tenure “is to safeguard academic freedom, which is necessary for all
who teach and conduct research in higher education. When faculty members
can lose their positions because of their speech or publications research findings,
they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities to advance and transmit
knowledge… [because] [f ]ree inquiry, free expression, and open dissent are
critical for student learning and the advancement of knowledge” (para. 3, 4).
In higher education, someone is on the “tenure track” when he or she has
been hired as a full-time faculty member at the rank of “assistant professor,”
and the total time that person is on the tenure track is seven years and is called
a “probationary period.” Tenure is not automatic and must be earned and maintained.
Through a meticulous process, tenure may be granted to people who have
demonstrated a consistent and solid track record of performance in teaching,
research, and service. Collegiality (i.e., being a good person working well with
others) also matters, and universities and colleges often have a personnel policy
in this regard. What is important to note is that one’s track record must be well-
established every year over the first five years of the seven-year “probationary”
period, because in the event that someone fails to perform well in any of those
five years, the appointment may not be renewed and he or she has an opportu-
nity to secure employment elsewhere. In short, someone must make the case
that she or he is worthy of being awarded tenure and promotion.
Being on the tenure track means that someone’s reappointment to continue
on the track for another year is contingent on institutional funding and their
performing as expected toward the time they must apply for tenure and pro-
motion. During those five years that someone is on the “tenure track,” he or
she has the title of “assistant professor” and works hard at performing well
as a teacher, scholar, and servant to the levels required. Annual performance
reviews help someone understand how he or she is doing and what can be
done better to excel at the job. Applying for tenure occurs at the beginning of
one’s sixth year and typically includes an application for promotion to the next
level of professorship—going from assistant professor to associate professor—
through a thorough process of reviews of one’s body of work as an educator-
scholar. That process encompasses most of the sixth year of the probationary
period, and it begins with the department’s review and then proceeds to the
college, the provost, and then the university president. And, if applicable, an
additional review may be required by a university’s governance board (e.g.,
board of trustees or board of regents). If someone’s application for tenure and
promotion is successful, he or she would begin the next year (i.e., the seventh
year) with the new rank and with tenure. If the decision is not favorable (i.e.,
tenure and promotion are denied), the applicant may be able to work one more
year (i.e., the seventh year) while also seeking employment elsewhere. Tenure
and promotion go together, and very rarely (if ever) might one be granted
without the other (i.e., the latter but not the former).
40 Career Matters for PR Educators

People can be hired as assistant professors with tenure. This circumstance

is possible when an institution hires someone who already was tenured at the
rank of associate professor at another institution. By becoming a new faculty
member, the person may be able to negotiate to retain tenure but begin at the
lower-level title to retain the benefits of tenure while still having to fulfill
the requirements for promotion to the next level and, thereby, obtain a salary
increase commensurate with that level of promotion. Similarly, someone who
held a position as tenured associate professor and is hired by another institution
may also choose to go back on the tenure track at the level of assistant professor
to obtain a greater salary increase upon becoming tenured associate professor.
The important point here is that tenure and rank can be negotiated, if and only
if the person hired and the institution agree that, under the rules of the hiring
institution and given the person’s track record, one or the other or both can and
should be retained.
The process for being promoted from associate professor to professor (also
referred to as “full professor”) is very similar, but if someone is denied the
promotion, he or she remains an associate professor and may re-apply for pro-
motion to professor at another time, when his or her track record is stronger.
The differences among the full-time professorial ranks can be understood this
way: Assistant professor is an entry-level rank. Being promoted to the rank of
associate professor with tenure means someone is an emerging leader among
scholars in a field. Being promoted to the rank of professor means someone has
become a leading scholar in a field.
Once someone is granted tenure, it stays with the person throughout his
or her career at the institution. (Tenure often is not transferrable to another
institution but can be negotiated; rank also may be negotiated.) Just like in any
organization, excellent performance in all areas must be upheld according to
department and university standards. Just like any organization, violations of
performance expectations and personnel policies will be addressed according
to established procedures and, if necessary, applicable laws. Simply put, tenured
professors and part-time faculty, just like people in other organizations and
industries, can be fired with cause. The process for determining cause is rather
meticulous and befitting of academia, and a similar process would be expected
in nonacademic organizations. Tenured professors and part-time faculty, just
like people in other organizations and industries, can choose to leave their insti-
tutions any time, hopefully at a time that does not compromise a department’s
course offerings, which would affect students’ matriculation.

Institutional Organization and Operations

The organizational structures of higher-ed institutions are excellent examples of
bureaucracy. But do not let the negative connotation of that word, “ bureaucracy,”
overrule its utility. The roots of university and college hierarchy can be traced
 Engagement in the Profession 41

back to ancient Benedictine monasteries in medieval Europe, and what is impor-

tant to understand is that those monasteries were critical to the revitalization
of civilization through and after the Dark Ages. All this recollection is not to
say that higher-ed institutions’ organizations are out of date and out of touch—
hardly the case. The point is that, just like any complex organization, a college or
university must be structured in the most effective and efficient way so that all its
operations can work together to fulfill its mission and realize its vision. Excellent
treatments about the business of higher education have been published in recent
years, and particular ones that reveal details about how they operate include vol-
umes by Bastedo (2012); Bastedo, Altbach, and Gumport, (2016); Becker et al.
(2018); Kretovics (2011); and Lombardi (2013). No two higher-ed institutions
share identical organizational structures. And no organizational structure for any
organization is perfect, so continuous improvement is essential to strengthen an
institution’s performance and value for all stakeholders and other publics.
A college or university has distinct operations, with certain units per-
forming particular functions (Bess & Dee, 2012; Gunsalus, 2006; Lombardi,
2013). Organizationally, a college or university’s simplest hierarchical struc-
ture can be explained as having two fundamental parts: operations and
administration. For operations, the largest area concerns academics, which
includes all departments and schools (i.e., schools are units that are larger than
most departments but not large enough to be a college made up of multiple
departments) offering plans of study in their respective subject areas, and
those departments/schools are, in turn, organized into colleges and include a
graduate school, if such programs are offered. Other operations areas concern
facilities and grounds, property control, admissions and enrollment, financial
aid, human resources, registrar, student affairs, housing, and others. Many of
these operational areas are similar or related to those of complex nonacademic
organizations. Administration, just like corporations, fundamentally includes
organizational leaders who must oversee groupings of operational areas so
that they all work in harmony with each other and, most important, are in
tune with the institution’s strategic plan, budget, and other forces, especially
accreditation and governmental standards. Essential areas of administration
include academic affairs; finance, planning, and institutional research; com-
munication and marketing; government and media relations; alumni relations;
development; and others. Individual operating units have administrative lev-
els to oversee their day-to-day operations. Official organizational charts for
colleges and universities would reveal the interrelationships among all parts
of the institutions and, especially, show how those parts make up the whole.
When coupled with formal documentation about an institution’s strategic
plan and all policies and procedures about governance, personnel, students,
accreditation, and other performance matters, including news coverage, fac-
ulty of every rank can learn the details thoroughly about their institutions’
business as an educational enterprise.
42 Career Matters for PR Educators

Moving from industry to academia can be a jolt to your system, but truly
it is not too bad. The kind of discipline, politics, expectations, and so on are
significantly different but, somehow, similar and relatable. The similarities and
relatability at least exist because of the basic nature of work and how humans
organize complex enterprises of any sort, especially for business. Fortunately,
higher-ed institutions have support structures in place to help new faculty
(Bandow, Minsky, & Voss, 2007). Such structures often can focus on, for exam-
ple, new-faculty orientation, effective education for both teachers and students,
technology systems training, funding for new faculty to do research, embark-
ing on a sound research agenda, and personnel support from benefits and poli-
cies to employee assistance programs and financial planning. Other support
structures may come in the form of workshops or seminars about the institu-
tion’s workings, and still others can originate from field-based organizations
that have groups focused on higher education, especially for public relations.
Departments may offer mentors for new faculty, so those faculty can learn
about the organizational culture and build rapport with their peers. The more
collegial a department is, the more likely people will work well (and play well)
with each other, genuinely caring about each other’s progress and success. With
departments and universities employing a diverse workforce of faculty and staff,
collegiality does not mean no one ever disagrees and no arguments or dissent
arise. Rather, collegiality means people are largely sensible and emotionally
competent to behave in appropriate ways that are helpful to the group and sup-
portive of individuals, especially so that the work environment is pleasant, plus
the way work gets done is effective, efficient, and fun.

A Question for You

How do you imagine your transition into academia may be?

For myself, I started teaching business writing classes part time in the University
of Michigan’s MBA program, and later I taught a PR class at Wayne State
University (my PhD alma mater) in its master’s program. These part-time
teaching assignments helped me begin learning about higher-ed teaching and
learning. I was invited to participate in department activities to the extent that
I could, and that was a good way to get to know people. I also met with other
faculty to learn about their courses and ones I would lead and other aspects
of teaching the material in my assigned classes. I undertook part-time teach-
ing while I was working full time, with the idea that sometime in the future
I would move from industry to academia full time.
Although I planned to make my career move into academia in retirement,
a convergence of events, chief among them being I earned my doctorate and
I was laid off from my job as PR director at a major software company, made
my entrée to academia possible sooner rather than later. After sending many
 Engagement in the Profession 43

applications for PR faculty jobs at various colleges and universities in areas

of the country my wife and I preferred, and after some interviews, I landed
my first full-time job as assistant professor of public relations at the University
of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW) and started there in August 2002. UWW
university provided me with great guidance and opportunities for growth as an
educator-scholar in all three pillars of teaching, research, and service. The cul-
ture and business of the institution was good, and I greatly enjoyed working
with the people in my department and other areas of the university. Those who
were senior faculty in my department were especially important in my learning
about and succeeding in academia generally and UWW specifically.
Because I saw myself as a newbie to higher-ed, notwithstanding my many
years as a student, I was motivated to learn as much as I could about effective
teaching and learning in colleges and universities. In fact, because I once was a
student, now I saw myself becoming a teacher and needing to learn about that
role in detail. In this way, my initial expectations were that I would focus on
the delivery of course material. However, the realization that my work as an
educator-scholar encompassed both teaching and learning was an eye-opener,
and I found the prospect of guiding students in their learning far more interest-
ing and exciting. (Chapters in Part 3 will address this topic.)
As a scholar, I learned how various venues for sharing research work, from
publications to conferences. I also learned about the importance of building my
network of peers in my field so that I could make friends, obtain advice, develop
research projects, and participate in field-based organizations, such as the PRSA’s
Educators Academy and the NCA’s Public Relations Division. In this way, my
teaching responsibilities and research interests intersected with each other, plus
they intersected with service opportunities that pertained to my field and my
institution’s performance expectations. Being the faculty adviser for the Public
Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapters for 14 years was another
way for me to integrate my teaching and research with service, and I participated
in local PRSA Chapters in addition to and because of my PRSSA duties.
Over the years, thanks to the combination of support structures at UWW
and, particularly, my present institution, Illinois State University (ISU), I made
sound transitions into and solid progress at both institutions. My transition to
ISU was easier because it is my alma mater and, most important, I had six years
of full-time experience in academia already, during which I developed a very
strong track record in teaching, research, and service that allowed me to be ten-
ured and promoted at UWW in 2006, which was before the mandatory time
I would have applied. When I started at ISU in 2008, I went back on the tenure
track for three years (the last three years of my UWW record were “credited”
to me so that I did not have to go through a whole new seven-year cycle) and
was again an assistant professor. I continued building a stronger track record
and was promoted with tenure at ISU in 2011. Four years after that, I was
eligible to apply for a promotion to (full) professor and was successful in being
44 Career Matters for PR Educators

awarded that rank in 2016. The interconnections among teaching, research,

and service are very natural and beneficial to each other, making someone all
the better as an educator, scholar, and citizen.

References
American Association of University Professors. (2018). Tenure. Retrieved from https://
www.aaup.org/issues/tenure
Bandow, D., Minsky, B. D., & Voss, R. (2007). Reinventing the future: Investigating career
transitions from industry to academia. Journal of Human Resource Education, 1, 23–37.
Bastedo, M. N. (2012). The organization of higher education: Managing colleges for a new era.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). American higher education in the 21st
century: Social, political & economic challenges (4th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Becker, S. A., Brown, M., Dahlstrom, E., Davis, A., DePaul, K., Diaz, V., & Pomerantz, J.
(2018). NMC Horizon Report: 2018 higher education. Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE.
Retrieved from https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2018/8/2018hori
zonreport.pdf
Bess, J. L., & Dee., J. R. (2012). Understanding college and university organization: Theories for
effective policy and practice (2 vols.). Sterling,VA: Stylus Publishing.
Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing. Stillwater, OK:
New Forums.
Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members: Nihil Nimus. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Booth,W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
Gunsalus, C. K. (2006). The college administrator’s survival guide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Kretovics, M. A. (2011). Business practices in higher education: A guide for today’s administrators.
New York: Routledge.
Lombardi, J. V. (2013). How universities work. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University
Press.
Moxley, J. M. (1992). Publish, don’t perish: The scholar’s guide to academic writing and publishing.
Westport, CT: Praeger.
Part II

Public Relations Education

(PRE) in Context

This second part of the book covers key matters about the what, how, and why
of public relations curricula in higher education.
4
AN OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
EDUCATION

This chapter covers the emergence, growth, and direction of public relations
education, primarily in the U.S. Particular touchpoints are higher-ed PR pro-
grams’ development and evolution that coincided with growing industry
needs. Especially important are the recommendations for strengthening PR
education for undergraduate and graduate programs and what those rec-
ommendations portend for the further success of higher-ed PR programs.

Public relations practices, as we conceive of them today, can be identified as far

back as ancient civilizations that provided information for people about achiev-
ing high crop yields (see Cutlip, 1994, 1997; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 1994).
In U.S. history, the Boston Tea Party can be seen as a publicity stunt, and
The Federalist Papers, which were instrumental in securing the ratification of
the United States Constitution, can be viewed as public relations. Yet the for-
mal profession did not emerge until the end of the nineteenth century, when
journalists became the first PR pros because corporations hired them to obtain
more favorable stories in the newspapers, which the former journalists knew
well from the inside. Public relations also grew out from the labor movements
in the early 1900s, primarily within the steel, oil, meat-packing, and railroad
industries, and were fertilized by the muckraking journalistic practices about
what was going on; thus, both business and government alike adopted aggres-
sive practices of public communication and defense (Cutlip, 1997, p. 23). Again,
journalists were early PR professionals in corporations that hired them because
they knew the news business and how to get coverage far better than corporate
executives and their staffs.
48 PRE in Context

The Origin of Public Relations Education

Formal education in public relations was not formulated and offered until the
1920s. Wright’s (2011) valuable account of the development of public relations
education in the U.S. and Canada (also see Welch, 2015) shows that the first PR
course in higher education was offered at the University of Illinois in 1920 and
led by Joseph P. Wright, who was the university’s publicity director. Edward L.
Bernays led a PR course in 1923 and 1924 at New York University. The first
degree program (for a master’s degree) in public relations was offered at Boston
University in 1947, and the program was part of the university’s School of Public
Relations, which now is the College of Communication and covers more sub-
jects than just PR. The 1970s featured growth of PR education programs in
North America, especially in the U.S. In fact, “most of the early university-
based public relations education programs in the USA were based at major,
research-oriented universities ... [, but] much of this 1970s expansion took place
within smaller, regional and mid-major institutions. And although most of the
original public relations degree programs in the USA were based in journalism
colleges, schools or departments, a good number of these new programs were
located in speech-communication departments, many of which would later
drop ‘speech’ from their titles and become known as communication depart-
ments” (Wright, 2011, p. 244). The expansion of PR education programs in
higher education has continued since the 1980s, with more programs emerg-
ing precipitously that offer a fairly common core of courses (i.e., overview of
PR, writing, research, campaigns, and internship) with a variety of electives.
Today there are 1,273 higher-ed institutions offering baccalaureate degree pro-
grams in “communications/public relations” (Commission on Public Relations
Education, 2018, p. 96).
Naturally, the earliest PR programs served as models for other U.S. insti-
tutions that wanted their own PR programs, which perpetuated a particular
orientation about the practice and how to teach it. And the amalgamation of
U.S. undergraduate or graduate public relations programs became the stan-
dard for such programs in other countries. The key characteristic of the U.S.
model long has been offering PR programs in journalism schools, which,
although understandable given the history of the field, has proven not to be
consistent with the demands of society and business (Wright, 2011). The rapid
growth of the field and, in turn, higher-ed academic programs to support the
growing PR profession resulted in undergraduate programs that were housed
in departments of speech communication and sometimes business, where the
majors were treated as “concentrations,” “sequences,” or “tracks” (depend-
ing on an institution’s terminology) within an already-existing major, such
as communication or marketing. That spread of PR programs in various
departments (including departments of mass media, business, social sciences,
humanities) remains today and adversely contributes to understanding what
 An Overview of Public Relations Education 49

public relations is and involves. Ideally, PR educators have long preferred

being in their own departments or schools, where they can control their
own destinies by managing all the necessary resources and making decisions
about curricula accordingly. As things are now, generally, enrollment in
existing public relations programs is significant, being strong contributors to
departmental matriculation rates and, thereby, tuition, which means PR pro-
grams are unlikely to be moved, diminished, or cut (Commission on Public
Relations Education, 2012, pp. 95–96).

“Standards” for Public Relations Education

Public relations once relied on deep associations with news organizations
and fostered one-way communication, but this situation has been displaced,
especially over the last couple of decades, by multiple and converging media
that span the globe and feature two-way communication (Wright, 2011).
In fact, a consortium of public relations industry groups and scholars assem-
bled in 1973, named the Commission on Public Relations Education, saw
the dynamics changing in the 1970s. Over the ensuing years the Commission
sought the input of industry leaders, educators, hiring managers, and entry-
level professionals to produce several crucial and instrumental reports
(1975, 2001, 2006, 2012, 2015, and 2018) about the state and the future of
undergraduate public relations education. Additional papers by Tench and
Deflagbe (2008), Toth and Aldoory (2010), the Canadian Public Relations
Society (2010), and Jain (2017) examined undergraduate PR programs in
and beyond North America. Plus, in examinations of graduate curricula in
public relations, the Commission on Graduate Study in Public Relations
(1985); Aldoory and Toth (2000); Hon, Fitzpatrick, and Hall (2004); Shen
and Toth (2008); and the Commission on Public Relations Education (2012)
produced insightful analyses and guidance about public relations education
at this advanced level.
One important take-away from all these reports is that, over the last few
decades, the public relations profession has become especially introspective
and rigorous about how people can best become educated and prepared for
the demands of the field. Scanning the contents of the reports published over
time shows the evolution of public relations education as always responsive to the
dynamics of society, industry, and technology, and always applying the ever-
building knowledge about these and other arenas of life and their intersections
with the profession. The reports present concrete realities of the PR profession
and strong prescriptions for making education about PR more potent so that
greater value is added to organizations and society through good, competent PR
professionals who ethically produce excellent work.
These reports about public relations education serve as portals to the past
that show how far the field has come in a fairly short span of time. Checking to
50 PRE in Context

see whether and how much any predictions and prescriptions for future PR
education (PRE) came to pass from report to report further shows how well
curricula have aligned with the changing needs of society, business, and other
arenas of life (see Kim & Johnson, 2011; for independent examinations of PRE
also see Crooks [2017] and Xie, Schauster, & Neill [2018]). Although an analysis
of those predictions and prescriptions across all these reports certainly would
be interesting, for our purposes here, the focus is on the most recent assessment
for PRE.
That recent outlook comes from the Commission on Public Relations
Education (2018), which is the most-recent and the most-thorough report on
the state and future of undergraduate PRE. In its 168 pages, the report’s principal
content presents detailed data description, analysis, and recommendations from
a “summit” of industry leaders and educators and an omnibus survey of man-
agers who hire entry-level PR employees and of educators—all to investigate
15 areas material to undergraduate PRE and excellent PR practice that matter
now and, particularly, in the future. Those areas are learning objectives, under-
graduate curriculum, ethics, theory, research, technology, academic structure
and governance, educator credentials, online education, program certification
and accreditation, internships, professional and preprofessional organizations,
diversity and inclusion, global perspectives on PRE, and future matters for
PRE. Table 4.1 presents a composite view of the report’s findings-based recom-
mendations organized by each PRE area.
In terms of graduate PRE, the Commission on Public Relations Education’s
(2012) report presents the most-recent specific findings and recommenda-
tions for curricula leading to a master’s degree in public relations. Again, using
input from industry leaders, educators, hiring managers, and PR profession-
als, the content of this report addresses five dimensions: curriculum, admis-
sion standards, program delivery, necessary resources, and global graduate PRE
standards. Table 4.2 presents a composite view of the findings-based recom-
mendations in that report.
While these composite views of PRE have great utility in providing a usable
and useful framework for creating, maintaining, scrutinizing, and improving
PR programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, these same views (and
the reports that generated them) are only just suggestions. Even so, as sugges-
tions, these composite views are robust, being based on sound research that
gathered the requisite information to advance them at all, which underscores
their great value and utility. At the same time, the Commission on Public
Relations Education (2018) presents this important reminder: “The needs
of industry are complex and changing, and there’s no one-size-fits-all list of knowl-
edge, abilities, and skills that is applicable for every job in every public relations setting.
This is today’s reality for students aspiring to a career in public relations, those
who seek to educate and prepare them, and those who want to hire them”
(p. 25; italics in original).
TABLE 4.1 Composite view of undergraduate PRE from the Commission on Public Relations Education (2018)

Undergraduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Learning objectives Among practitioners and educators, multiple knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) were ranked, and the top five in
each area are as follows: knowledge (ethics, diversity and inclusion, cultural perspective, business acumen, and social
issues), skills (writing, communication, social media management, research and analytics, and editing), and abilities
(creative thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, analytical thinking, and strategic planning). Of the KSAs, skills
and abilities are most demanded. Learning objectives in PRE courses, then, should foster learning that builds
competence in the following: diversity and inclusion, social issues, ethics, social media, research and analytics,
communication and storytelling, and all abilities areas.
Undergraduate curriculum The traditional undergraduate PR curriculum comprises five core courses of introduction to PR, research methods,
writing, campaigns (case studies), and internships. Practitioners and educators, recognizing varying resource differences
among institutions, recommend that the five-course core should include ethics. Additional subjects could include
business literacy, content creation for any medium, data analytics, digital technology, and measurement/evaluation for
effectiveness and value added.
Ethics Ethics issues of truthfulness in any communication and organizational transparency, especially during decision-making,
are at the heart of this area. Because competence in ethics is essential to the field, practitioners and educators primarily
recommend PRE programs include a course specifically on PR ethics, and they recommend ethics be integrated in all
PR courses and include moral philosophy, cases, and simulations.
Theory The importance of theory is high, as knowledge and application of them prove instrumental in real situations, from the
micro level (individual audience members) to the macro level (society as a whole). Practitioners and educators recommend
the teaching of the practical importance and utility of theory, the explication of theoretical material for practitioners in
their contexts to meet their needs, the connection of principles and practices in organizational contexts, the integration of
business and management theories that apply to PR, and the emphasis on the dynamics of change in theory.
Research Entry-level employees are not sufficiently competent in conducting research and analyzing data. Students must master
fundamental research methods and skills, not merely be exposed to them through lecture and secondary sources.
Practitioners and educators recommend the topics of The Barcelona Principles for PR research and the nature,
purpose, types, methods, and analysis of research be part of PRE curriculum.
(Continued)
TABLE 4.1 (Continued)

Undergraduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Technology The range of technology available for public relations is vast, and entry-level employees must be sufficiently competent
in the range of devices, platforms, and methods available for creating and curating content. Practitioners and educators
recommend that students understand quantitative analysis of business data, know how to write for every venue (digital
and analog), have experience using technology in courses, learn how technology concepts matter in nontechnology
courses, and have instructors who are up-to-date on technology, especially as users.
Academic structure and Inconsistency of where PR programs are housed contributes to confusion about PR as a profession. Practitioners and
governance educators recommend working with practitioners on industry-current content, teaching always under the moniker of
“public relations,” having unwavering support for the program at the university level, involving alumni and
practitioners for financial and other support for PR programs, assembling advisory boards to counsel the program for
its curriculum and course updates, establishing partnerships with the on-campus PR office, and collaborating with
other relevant academic departments.
Educator credentials Executives report that the best entry-level employees come from PR programs that have professors who have industry
experience and academic credentials—they bridge well theory and practice by who they are and what they have
accomplished. Educators and practitioners recommend that PR educators be adept at teaching in a dynamic field of
education, stay up to date on technology, collaborate and exchange ideas with those in industry, have ample industry
experience, participate in university committees and advocate effective PR, conduct research, become Accredited in
Public Relations (APR), hold leadership positions in PR industry organizations, pursue occasional internships for
themselves, and serve as judges in competitions or speakers for on-campus events.
Online education The appeal and growth of online education opportunities cannot be ignored, and PR programs have been making
strides in offering online courses and degree programs. Educators and practitioners recommend making financial
investments necessary for robust online learning, ensuring online educational experiences are as rigorous as traditional
on-site classes, and have and apply effective assessment methods to determine online program quality from learning
outcomes to job placement.
(Continued)
TABLE 4.1 (Continued)

Undergraduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Program certification and Upholding set standards for educational excellence in the teaching and learning of PR is key to demonstrating the
accreditation quality, rigor, and value of PR programs in higher ed. Educators and practitioners recommend increased promotions
about the importance and value of program certification/accreditation, expanded efforts to recruit and train evaluators
of programs seeking certification/accreditation, tailored certification/accreditation for nondegree programs, and
expanded roles on the certification/accreditation organizations’ boards.
Internships Hands-on, real-world experiences in PR organizations is considered crucial to learning about the profession and
developing skills and abilities in PR. Educators and practitioners recommend all internships be paid; all interns be
supervised by PR professionals who actively direct their learning; all internships should be evaluated by both the
intern and the supervisor; internship programs should be led by a dedicated coordinator; internships should be
required in PR programs; internship courses should be subject to regular assessments for educational quality; everyone
involved in internships understand the legal, institutional, and program requirements; interns must have completed all
prerequisite courses; and fostering diversity among students enrolling in internships.
Professional and Profession-focused organizations for practitioners and for students are instrumental in helping students to actively make
preprofessional their ways into the PR careers. Educators and practitioners recommend exposure to the practice of PR outside of
organizations classes in student-run firms or PR departments/organizations on and off campus, guest speakers from industry in
classes or student-run organizations, establishment of and participation in chapters of PRSSA or IABC on campus,
and gaining a Certificate in the Principles of Public Relations.
(Continued)
TABLE 4.1 (Continued)

Undergraduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Diversity Diversity and inclusion (D&I) are central to effective professional, organizational, and social successfulness, and
changes in PRE are needed to reap the value of D&I. The key matter is enabling students from diverse backgrounds
to see themselves in the PR profession. (See Kern-Foxworth [2015], Landis [2019], and Tsetsura [2011] for
curriculum-specific ideas.) Educators and practitioners recommend focusing on the role of leaders in making
D&I work successfully, securing necessary resources and support to help students from underrepresented groups,
recruiting diverse pool of candidates for faculty positions and student enrollment, retaining students and faculty from
underrepresented groups, teaching diversity and multicultural perspectives in courses, advocating for D&I being
a true organizational value, and moving quickly and effectively on all D&I matters.
Global perspectives on PRE The exchange of ideas, principles, and practices for effective PR spans the globe just as the profession itself spans the
globe. Educators and practitioners recommend emphasis on global interconnectedness, active exchange of ideas among
PR professionals and educators, increased dialog with institution administration about PR’s global significance,
creation of international accreditation for PRE programs, focused instruction about global PR, and promotion of
international exchange and study-abroad programs.
Future matters for PRE The biggest challenge is turning the recommendations into reality. The Council on Public Relations Education
(CPRE) presents the following action steps: conducting additional research on teaching preparation and professional
experience for faculty of all ranks, full- and part-time; creating a framework for helping PRE programs to add a sixth
core course on ethics into their curricula; exploring effective online education; defining PR educators’ role in
fostering diversity in the profession; measuring the progress toward realizing CPRE’s recommendations from this and
the previous report; improving entry-level employees’ writing quality; and continuing industry-educator dialog about
all PRE matters.
TABLE 4.2 Composite view of graduate PRE from the Commission on Public Relations Education (2012)

Graduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Curriculum Graduate programs in PR follow one of two pathways. The first is to lead to a doctorate and, in this case, the
recommendations are that such programs offer additional courses on research and require a thesis as the capstone to
the degree program. The second leads to industry and, in this case, the recommendations are for courses focused in
specialization areas of PR (e.g., healthcare, sports and entertainment, social services) and for internship/practicum/
cooperative education.
Admission standards Students may enter a graduate program with or without a bachelor’s degree in PR. In the former case, students are
in a better position to advance in their KSAs than those in the latter case who lack exposure to the fundamentals
from a PRE program. Those without a PR degree but have had industry experience and accreditation as a
communication professional (APR or ABC) can make up for the difference. Completing study of the core courses
for PR programs still would be essential. Students should be good people with strong personal character; work
ethic; intelligent; positive attitudes toward the field, learning, and scholarship; and genuine respectfulness of others.
Program delivery Graduate degree programs can be offered as traditional on-campus courses (with or without web-facilitated learning
tools), blended/hybrid courses that incorporate both online and face-to-face/on-campus experiences, and online
courses that do not have physical face-to-face meetings. Recommendations for program delivery are: adhering to
highest standards for effective teaching and learning no matter what mode is used, and students perform due
diligence in choosing the mode that works for them; employing the rigor, advanced learning, and fostering of
scholarly competence expected of graduate programs; managing expectations about graduate study as well beyond
the experiences of baccalaureate programs; setting and upholding high performance standards of students so they
contribute well to the field, share knowledge with the next generation, conduct value-added research or creative
projects, apply theory and best practices to their work, and serve the profession and society well.
(Continued)
TABLE 4.2 (Continued)

Graduate PRE area Findings-based recommendations

Necessary resources Several categories of resources are covered and given recommendations. For faculty, they should hold a doctorate and
professional experience, but at minimum they should hold a master’s degree and professional experience, depending
on a professional’s background and credentials. Faculty also should hold an official accreditation credential and
actively pursue ongoing professional development as an educator and scholar. For finance and facilities, graduate
PR programs should have more autonomy for facilities and budget management, attract external funding for the
program and its students, and benefit from support for global initiatives for faculty and students. For marketing
support, graduate programs should employ strategically appropriate and effective methods for promoting the
program, attracting diverse students and faculty, and asserting the value of a graduate degree in PR.
For internships/professional field experiences, programs should promote them to all students, even if it is to
encourage students who already hold PR positions to link their professional work with their studies.
For technology, ensure current technology is deployed and updated that is comparable to what is used in the field,
and all should perform well the work required for advancing in learning and competence in PR, from ideation to
measurement/evaluation. For industry-academe interaction, leaders in the profession counsel educators about PRE
programs, both help practitioners to become educators, and practitioners and their organizations collaborate on
educational or scholarly efforts.
Global graduate PRE standards Although one standard for graduate education that would apply in all countries is an ideal, the practical matter is that
such a standard is elusive because of the culture and various forces at play in any given nation and its educational
system. Particular nations’ approaches, like those developed in the U.S.A. and Canada, can serve as models for
institutions in other nations that they can tailor to their circumstances and requirements. The Global Alliance for
Public Relations and Communication Management was established in 2000 to help develop a “world standard for
public relations curricula” in higher education.
 An Overview of Public Relations Education 57

Future Matters for PRE

The continuing evolution of the field of public relations in industry and academe
includes all its principles, practices, tools, and methods. PRE is instrumental
in this evolution and the preparation of competent, conscientious, self-aware
(attitudes and behaviors), and ethical public relations professionals—these are
Good people inspiring cooperation well between organizations and their pub-
lics. Thanks to the many decades of hard, expert work and the successfulness
of professionals and scholars the world over, the image and reputation of pub-
lic relations as a vital, ethical, and valuable organizational and social function
has improved greatly and is being well-established in society (see Coombs &
Holladay, 2014; Edwards & Hodges, 2011; L’Etang, 2004/2012; Pieczka &
L’Etang, 2001; Taylor, 2010; Yang & Taylor, 2013). Fundamentally, public rela-
tions requires a high degree of professionalism among all practitioners at any
level, and this professionalism involves doing the right thing in the right way at
the right time for the right people for the right reasons.
Successful new and seasoned public relations professionals, who come
through higher-ed PR programs, will be those who uphold and are recognized
for high degrees of professionalism and ethics that they began to develop in
their studies and refined and passed along during their careers. PRE in the
future naturally will address matters of changes in society and economy, busi-
ness and industry, environment, technology, and others. The particulars of
what the changes may be already have been addressed in the composite views of
undergraduate and graduate PRE. Human nature, however, seems to be con-
sistent enough to point to future directions in PRE. In this way, as Duhé (2016)
suggests, PRE will need to guide students in their thinking in the future tense
and do so with a strategic bias and business awareness. Duhé further explains
that students will also have to value and participate in multidimensional and
interdisciplinary thinking and doing that adds value to organizations and soci-
ety, amass sufficient (or better) abilities in working with data of all kinds to
derive meaning, and propose viable actions for the greater good. Additionally,
as Gallup and Bates College (2019) argue, students will need to find the kind of
personal and professional purpose that is deeply fulfilling to them so they thrive
in their careers in all these dimensions and beyond, wherever their careers
take them.

A Question for You

As you consider becoming a new PR professor, what do you know about public
relations education?
For what it is worth, when I became a full-time professor of public relations in
the fall semester of 2002, I truly didn’t know very much about public relations
education. The best I knew was about individual courses I either led, which
58 PRE in Context

only intersected with PR because they were classes in a business writing pro-
gram and one graduate course in PR, or knew about because I knew people
enrolled in or leading them. I did not have a holistic, systematic understanding
of PRE, and it would have been nice at least to have a high-level view like this
book. So, I had to research PR programs and their courses at the universities
I sought to join, and in the process I discovered a wide variety of topics along
with a fairly stable set of core courses across institutions’ PR programs. Because
of my independent research about teaching and learning, which I described
at the end of Chapter 3, I was able to develop my own knowledge, skills, and
abilities for being a PR educator. I also met and got to know many successful
PR educators and attended conference sessions that introduced me to resources
(published, organizational, and interpersonal) and shared ideas about effective
teaching and learning in PR curricula.
One of the most important experiences I had in the formation of my think-
ing and doing in PRE was connecting the dots among my industry experi-
ences, my philosophy of teaching and learning, and my plans and experiences
leading PR classes. The more I learned about education from the perspec-
tives of teaching and of learning, the more I understood how and why things
work (or don’t) and how and why I can make things better for my students
and myself. The micro and macro levels of principles and practices were very
intertwined and easy enough to account for appropriately. There were far more
trial-and-error approaches in my teaching at the beginning, but it was tem-
pered by the guidance of experienced peers and mentors. Along the way, with
deeper immersion into the dimensions of effective teaching and learning in
general and, also, in specific for public relations, I came to appreciate the dyna-
mism of teaching and learning plus the creation and administration of a PR
program in higher education. PRE has proven to be far more rewarding than
I could have imagined, and the next chapters address salient matters for starting
out well as an educator—being one focused on PR.

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5
GENERAL POINTS OF TEACHING AND
LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This chapter gives a general and concise overview of selected theories and
perspectives of teaching and learning that pertain to educational programs
in colleges and universities.

Teaching is as much an art as it is a science. It is an art because of the personal

and creative aspects that go into helping others learn well in subjects that mat-
ter to them. It is a science because of the ocean of scholarship about pedagogy
(i.e., youth education) and andragogy (i.e., adult education) that demonstrates
what, how, and why teaching and learning are so intertwined and can be so
effective (or not). “Preparation” or “prep” is the work teachers do before they
teach, making sure their personal frames of mind and plans for class are ready
along with any material and activities that will be used. For teachers, key aspects
that play into how they engage with students include personality, enthusiasm,
leadership, management, relationships with students, and organization. For stu-
dents, key aspects that play into how they engage with their teacher and each
other include attitude toward learning, attendance, attentiveness, completing
readings and assignments, note-taking, participating in class activities, asking
good questions, and making appropriate and relevant comments. Students have
implicit theories of learning and teaching that often do not fit with what teach-
ers think, feel, and do. So teachers must explain what is going on, why, and
the benefits to be earned. This dynamic between teachers and students is at
the heart of education, which means having a basic understanding of teaching
62 PRE in Context

and learning is so important to being a professor of public relations. From here,

then, what are some useful and usable ways to prepare as a professor and engage
well with students?

Managing Your Work

Being new to higher education and, especially, being a new professor at the
rank you accept, there is a healthy volume of scholarly journals, trade publica-
tions, and full-length books with sage guidance about “the nuts and bolts” of
effective teaching in all its dimensions in higher education. A few sources in
particular are especially noteworthy, and having copies of them would be best
because they are complementary to each other, especially as they matter to your
preparations and expectations for any class. Boice (1996) presents 10 “first-order
principles (FOP)” that are a great place to start because they are especially
useful and valuable to new professors. For Boice, the FOPs are approaches to
teaching in higher education that result in “documented changes of things
that matter and endure in college teaching,” producing “impressive outcomes”
among those who have used them (pp. xiii–xiv). In summary form, the FOPs,
which he also calls “rules,” are covered here. Admittedly, the following sum-
mary is inadequate for what Boice presents, but the point is really to introduce
the rules to get you started soundly and, especially, see how they intertwine
for the better.

• Moderate classroom incivilities with prosocial immediacies—Misbehaviors can

come from students and teachers, especially the latter. Top misbehaviors
are students talking that disrupts class meetings; negative utterances or
noises in response to teachers; students with very low emotional compe-
tence who unpredictably release outbursts that agitate other students or
the class; teachers perceived as aloof, intimidating, or uncaring; teachers
assigning surprise assignments; and teachers arriving late or leading class
beyond the scheduled end time. Professors can manage classroom inci-
vilities best by observing and understanding behaviors, arriving early and
chatting with students before class, and using pauses, pacing, and checks for
understanding of material. Reflect, then, on how well these things work
for you and the class and adjust for the better.
• Wait—In students’ minds, new information needs to be connected with
old, existing information and cognitive structures. Waiting is a matter of
patience in arriving at deep learning, not trying to get to the big idea or
mastery of material immediately. Learning takes time. In this way, wait-
ing is active and is key to students’ cognitive processing. Active waiting
is a student-focused approach to presenting material clearly, concretely,
and methodically. Professors can engage in active waiting before and during
classes by pausing reflectively to identify connections and pondering them
and their implications.
 General Points of Teaching and Learning 63

• Begin before feeling ready—There is no need to wait until you have every-
thing you need to do what you need to do. Taking initiative can spark
inspiration that can result in discovery, invention, and progress on teach-
ing plans. Pausing along the way to take stock of what you created and
determine whether it is sufficient and engaging to work well for students
is instrumental.
• Work and teach in brief, regular sessions—How do you eat an elephant? One
bite at a time! The key is moderation. Working on, teaching about, or
learning about something through short, regular periods of focused atten-
tion works better than prolonged immersion. The process for making sense
of something for one’s self and for others is easier to manage, resulting in
better preparedness and learning. Do not be afraid of risk-taking that is
based on sound consideration. Discipline in this regimen is key, especially
at the outset.
• Stop—Know when enough is enough so that new matters can be under-
taken. Stopping, then, must be planned so that cognitive processing and
personal interests are supported and ready to re-engage next time. Stopping
is as much a matter of temporarily wrapping up as it is priming yourself and
students for what is next. Stopping a session early is not a bad thing either.
• Moderate overattachment to content and overreaction to criticism—Taking things
personally leads to trouble, primarily (if not exclusively) to yourself.
Everyone enjoys compliments and loathes complaints. Remember that
everyone is a work in progress. Moderating your personal emotional
responses to the spectrum of positive to negative experiences maintains
perspective on what truly matters. Teaching everything you know is
not important. Students already recognize teachers’ expertise, and what
they need and want is guidance to get them going well in a subject of
field. When born out of love—love for others and for the profession—
certain attitudes like patience, tolerance, perseverance, discipline, and
diligence enable healthy, authentic reactions to yourself or others, sim-
plicity or complexity, old information or new information, acceptance or
rejection, graciousness or rudeness.
• Moderate negative thinking and strong emotions—The enemy of effective
teaching (or whatever you do) is the adverse effects of certain thoughts
and emotions. Dwelling on anxieties, regrets, and other negative mat-
ters undermines your mood, effectiveness, and relationships. Positive self-
talk reverses the affects these things have on you. Recognize negative
thoughts and emotions for what they are and why they are, then apply
love, patience, tolerance, perseverance, discipline, and diligence to yourself
in constructive and optimistic ways that improve yourself as a person and
an educator-scholar.
• Let others do some of the work—Educators share knowledge as much as they
help others discover knowledge. Knowing students’ needs and wants,
64 PRE in Context

especially in context of the outside world from academia, is essential to

engaging students in their learning and growth. As a teacher, you can let
go of some control and benefits of teaching by priming students with just
enough background and a challenging problem they must solve. Other
faculty may be willing and available to lead a session about one or more
topics in which they are experts. Collaborative learning techniques are
many and can foster inspired learning environments. Help from peers and
students goes a long way.
• Welcome learning and change—As an educator, you are involved in teaching
and learning, and you should learn about teaching and learning together.
Scholarship about teaching and learning is a very strong and active area
of research. It is full of insights, inspiration, and ingenuity about effec-
tive teaching along with deep learning. Whether on site or online, the
literature on teaching and learning in higher ed can enliven your zeal for
educating the next generation of public relations professionals.
• Build resilience by limiting wasted efforts—Successes will outnumber fail-
ures, and the latter must not deter your continued quest for the former.
Thomas Edison said that, when inventing the incandescent lamp, he was
a success as he found 10,000 things that did not work and one that did.
Working moderately—not out of greedy intensity—can make the most
of the work you do while being on guard for work that does not add
the value you need or want. Disappointments and failures are challenges
to rise above not collapse under. Learn from the triumphs and the trag-
edies and everything in between. Remember you have knowledge, skills,
abilities, and experiences in other areas that can help you be the best
educator-scholar you can be.

The watchword in Boice’s rules is moderation. The principle of moderation is

not specialized for higher education but, rather, is common sense. That is, each
person must discern what levels of thinking, feeling, and action are optimum
or most sensible to become the best educator-scholar possible. In this way,
Boice’s (2000) later book, Advice for New Faculty Members, is a great extension
of his FOPs that are specifically oriented to new faculty. Most important in
this later book is Boice’s advice about managing work for the two other pil-
lars of scholarship/creative works and service. In addition to Boice’s work, a
highly useful and valuable manual for effective teaching in colleges and uni-
versities is McKeachies’s Teaching Tips, which is in its 14th edition (Svinicki &
McKeachie, 2014). It features 22 chapters, some written by other education
experts, that address essential matters in effective teaching in colleges and uni-
versities. The overarching matter to these (and other such) works is that, while
you work out what and how you want to engage students, you must know and
be honest with yourself in every regard for yourself and your students. Be a
lifelong learner about yourself plus your fields of PR and education.
 General Points of Teaching and Learning 65

Of the many sources about what works best when teaching in higher edu-
cation (see Appendix C), one particular book by Bain (2004) also is especially
worth a look as you set out on a career as a college professor at any rank.
The book, What the Best College Teachers Do, summarizes findings from Bain’s
long-term research about effective teaching in higher education. Bain’s work
also is very helpful with class preparation. Like Boice and like Svinicki and
McKeachie, Bain addresses the full range of habits good professors have for all
aspects of their work as educators. Two points about classroom management are
well worth specific treatment here because it is in classrooms/learning environ-
ments that who you are as a teacher and scholar, what you do, and how you do it
are on final display. The first point is the hallmarks of the craft of teaching: fos-
tering good talk (conversational, not theatrical; good intentions); using warm
language (inviting mental engagement; narrative in nature); making explana-
tions (deductive or inductive views of the thing to elicit understanding); and
getting students to talk (provide students with challenging things to discuss,
dissect, discover). From these hallmarks, a professor should apply the next,
second point of unifying principles for conducting class, which are as follows:

• Create a natural critical learning environment

• Have an intriguing question (perhaps embedded in a story)
• Help students understand the significance of the question (connect it to
larger questions or raise it in a provocative way, noting implications)
• Encourage students to compare, apply, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize in
addition to listening and remembering
• Answer the intriguing question (frame and present it as a well-formed
argument; not necessarily the professor’s answers)
• Leave the students asking, “What’s the next question?”
• Get students’ attention and keep it (the intriguing question or provocative
problem is key)
• Start with the students rather than the discipline (backward planning for
learning)
• Seek commitments (invite promises to perform at the level that is expected)
• Help students learn outside of class (not all material has to be covered in
class, especially unanswered questions that are valuable to pursue)
• Engage students in disciplinary thinking (model and guide students
through the ways professionals think about and handle matters of any kind)
• Create diverse learning experiences (allow students to channel their learn-
ing styles)

Notice how well all these principles are really essential to have considered in
class preparations that would payoff in class meetings. Given this background
about the nuts and bolts of being a professor, what actually goes on cognitively
in teaching and learning? Those two things, after all, are the two sides of the
66 PRE in Context

same coin of education. The literature about both sides of that coin and the coin
itself is extensive. In the little space of this chapter, a super concise overview of
foundational principles of teaching and learning can serve well when getting
into the particulars of leading PR classes.

Overview of Teaching Theories

When we look into what happens during one’s education about something,
we are looking especially into matters of memory and learning. The cen-
tral question, then, is how do students learn, and how do they remember?
(Detailed matters of motivations, behaviors, biology, and others, including
the ones this chapter addresses, can be explored in Kauchak & Eggen [2014]
and Slavin [2012].) The key to effective learning is time—time for memory to
establish lasting neural pathways that enable ready and accurate recall.
Three principles are at play in memory: (1) crammed material (e.g., infor-
mation, ideas, verbal knowledge) is mostly forgotten because its useful life is
extremely short; (2) material distributed over time is recalled better, especially
as it is learned over repeated attempts; and (3) material that is processed deeply
(i.e., made meaningful by connecting to prior experiences, knowledge, atti-
tudes, and emotions; experienced directly; and practiced on multiple occasions)
is recalled the longest. Material that is forgotten easily tends to be what we
receive passively, perceive as irrelevant, cram into memory, and never use again
(Velde, 2003). Teaching, then, involves purposeful activity meant to foster the
growing of neural pathways about particular things.
An important point to remember about learning is that brains change over
time, both quantitatively (mass) and qualitatively (how it works). In this way,
understanding where students are developmentally helps teachers to frame les-
sons and courses appropriately (see Paloş, Costea, Munteanu, & Drobot, 2010).
Many theories of learning have been proffered, and certain ones are worth
introducing.
Jean Piaget (1968) explains human cognitive development for children
in terms of periods of figurative and operative structures, where concrete-
operational thinking and, especially, formal-operational thinking are essential
in the college years (Plymale & Jarrell, 1981; Velde, 2003). For example, students
developmentally may have trouble with ambiguity—that topics or situations
can have multiple answers (i.e., there are many more shades of gray than just
black and white). Instructors help students learn how to negotiate ambigu-
ity so they can ascertain the best answer from among many possible ones (see
Klyukovski & Medlock-Klyukovski, 2016; Wright, 2019). Students, thereby,
learn how to make decisions about what and how to do their best work within
some learning-centered context/framework.
Particularly for college-age students, Chickering and Reisser (1993) exam-
ine seven developmental aspects that are instrumental but do not emerge
 General Points of Teaching and Learning 67

sequentially. The first four aspects of the seven are foundational for the rest:
developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy
toward independence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, estab-
lishing identity, developing purpose, and developing integrity (Black &
Allen, 2017).
William Perry (1998) presents a theory of cognitive and ethical development
for students during their college years. The implications of his work are that
students’ cognitive and ethical development is congruent with primary college
goals, explains much of students’ work quality, and reveals how effective teach-
ing needs to respond to a student’s stage of development (Black & Allen, 2017;
Culver & Hackos, 1982; Felder & Brent, 2004).
In their model of cognitive development, Kuhn and Dean (2004) explain
how people naturally move from absolutist views of knowledge (e.g., only one
correct answer is possible) to multiplist views (e.g., options exist for answers
from which the best can be derived). Teachers, then, guide students in coming
to terms with ambiguity in the world, evaluate knowledge and evidence effec-
tively, and make sound judgments (Black & Allen, 2017).
Leon Festinger (1957) addresses how people come to alter their perspec-
tives (or not) when faced with cognitively dissonant experiences or knowl-
edge (i.e., psychologically uncomfortable inputs). They hold onto their
perspectives until they achieve cognitive consonance by reducing the dis-
sonance, which minimizes the amount or forcefulness of inputs and main-
tains all or nearly all of the original view; avoiding problem inputs, which
means ignoring such inputs so that the original view is not threatened; or
accommodating the inputs, which means the original view is changed in
significant ways. Learning, then, is facilitated by a teaching approach that
imposes certain kinds and amounts of dissonance that is meant to inspire
growth in a student’s knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, attitudes, etc.
(Chabrak & Craig, 2013).
A prominent perspective on learning focuses on “learning styles.” In this
perspective, people arguably have one dominant way in which they learn, and
these styles can be put into two categories. One category is sense-dominant
learning styles, which involve sight (e.g., demonstrations), touch (e.g., complet-
ing an activity), hearing (e.g., lectures), and taste (e.g., talking). Someone may
say, then, “I’m a visual learner, so I need to see what something means or how
it works.” Or someone else may say, “I’m a tactile learner, so I need to ‘get my
hands dirty’ and work with the material.” An auditory learner would prefer
to absorb and process information gained by listening to sources about a given
subject. An oral learner is someone who prefers to discuss a subject with some-
one knowledgeable. The second category for learning styles is non-sensory,
and it includes logical (i.e., how much something makes sense and conforms to
particular organizational schemes that pertain), social/interpersonal (i.e., learn-
ing gained by interacting with others), and solitary/intrapersonal (i.e., learning
68 PRE in Context

gained by engaging in material on one’s own) modes. The reality about learn-
ing styles is that everyone learns through all of them, often in varying combi-
nations even if it seems one style dominates more often than the others. In fact,
research about learning styles is inconclusive about whether and how much
dominant or preferred styles matter (Ellis, 2001; Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, &
Bjork, 2009). Because learning is a matter of the amount and the quality of
time, practice, and success one has with something, the more one “plays” with
it in varying ways and successfully, the better.
Another view of learning focuses on the variety of “intelligences” people
have. Gardner (1993, 1999) argues that people live and operate by eight dif-
ferent kinds or categories of intelligence that pertain to the variety of things
people can do in any given situation and the particular needs for human devel-
opment, creativity, and successfulness. The intelligences are:

• Linguistic (e.g., language/symbol creation, use, and misuse)

• Musical (e.g., appreciation, composition, and performance)
• Logical-mathematical (e.g., abstract reasoning and problem analysis)
• Spatial (e.g., relationships of things to other things in space)
• Bodily-kinesthetic (e.g., sensory-motor and rudimentary to advanced)
• Personal (e.g., developmental, “personhood,” interpersonal/intrapersonal,
and emotions)
• Naturalistic (e.g., comfortable and talented in the world of organisms)
• Existential (e.g., concern with “ultimate” issues, spirituality, and religion)

Additional intelligences have been offered for emotions (Goleman, 2005)

and spirituality (Zohar & Marshall, 2000). Among them all, however, the
key is not so much intelligence but, rather, competence, because the latter term
encompasses much more of the intellectual, affectual, and behavioral facets
they each embody individually and collectively. For teaching and learning,
“multiple intelligences can serve as ‘delivery routes’ to personalize impor-
tant cognitive and emotional processes underlying learning such as attention,
memory, motivation, creative cognition, problem solving, and understanding”
(Shearer, 2018, p. 4).
If learning is viewed as a personal activity that someone constructs for
himself/herself, teaching is a means for facilitating learning through frame-
works that encourage personal discovery that connects old and new ideas,
concepts, information, and knowledge. Bruner (1960, 1996) presented this
constructivistic approach as a theoretical framework that capitalizes on the way
the brain constructs mental models to achieve organization and meaning for
past, present, and, especially, future experiences. Teachers provide students
with enough material to get them started. That material is structured within
the context of the body of knowledge that is involved, including dialog,
 General Points of Teaching and Learning 69

so that students are enabled to proceed in discovering principles (successfully

and unsuccessfully, including rewards and punishments respectively) on their
own but with the teacher guiding them as needed. The result is learning that
occurs more deeply as students actively connect the dots between what they
know and what they are coming to know, especially when extrapolating what
they learn and filling in gaps in knowledge or information. Constructivism is
active learning that begins with the questions that need answers (or problems
that need solutions), which entails a process of investigation about why the
questions matter and then leads to discovery of answers that are all the more
personally meaningful and deeply understood than merely finding or being
given the answers alone.

A Continuum of Teaching Approaches

Taking in these and other perspectives, and in very general terms, a continuum
of teaching approaches is defined by its poles. On one pole is the traditional,
“direct” approach. This approach is teacher-centered, using the metaphor of
“the sage on the stage,” pontificating about all that a subject is to students pres-
ent and, presumably, enraptured by the professor’s performance. This approach
is authoritarian in nature, with the teacher in charge and students reporting
to her or him in a top-down relationship. The teacher selects the content and
disseminates information in lecture, and the students work independently and
are mostly passive receivers of information and knowledge. Students survive by
attending lecture, taking notes, reading, engaging in drills and practice, suc-
ceeding in memorization, completing papers, and taking exams. The other pole
of the teaching-approaches continuum is humanistic. It is student-centered and
applies the metaphor of “the guide on the side,” who initiates investigation into
a subject so that the students apply material from the course to achieve specific
learning objectives. This approach allows for many degrees of freedom, choice,
direction, and demonstration of knowledge. It also allows for collaboration,
active engagement in material that is treated in context, and personal owner-
ship of one’s learning.
While there are teachers who operate on either pole of the continuum
of teaching approaches, the reality is that, depending on many factors that
matter to effective teaching and learning, combinations of teacher-centered
and student-centered approaches are more often employed. The perspectives
presented in this chapter easily address the needs of teachers and of students
so that the experience of learning is fruitful for everyone involved. After all,
everyone in the experience is a student, and the person who is orchestrating
the educational experience is the lead student who possesses the kinds of
credentials, background, and attitude that students and fellow educators and
society expect.
70 PRE in Context

A Question for You

What are your 10 most important principles for teaching and learning in college?
For myself, in my academic career I reflected greatly on what I learned about
teaching and learning, which I summarized in Chapter 4. Much of the fruit
from that reflection is in my philosophy of teaching and learning (a subject in
Chapter 7), which has matured and expanded very much over the years to a
point that it is stable now. After my first two years of being a PR professor, I
developed my top-ten list of principles of college teaching. In so many ways,
this list has been a guide to me in my prep work for my classes and is important
to me to ensuring I lead my classes well. Perhaps these can get you started on
your own top-ten list.

1. Bridge theory and practice, using problem-solving through case examples

to help students make things meaningful by helping them connect the dots
and begin with big questions on the way to sound answers.
2. Have high expectations and spell them out, including explaining them or
reminding students of them from time to time, especially before giving
and after grading assignments.
3. Be respectful of students as well as being fair and consistent in grading and
in fulfilling the responsibilities of the roles of student and teacher.
4. Cultivate a positive learning environment in and out of class, including
being true to my own positive attitude toward learning and teaching.
5. Coach students so they learn material mostly on their own and be a clear
leader to keep the class on track, focusing on students’ needs and enacting
course policies consistently.
6. Find out and tune into students’ expectations for the class early and explain
the course design, objectives, and outcomes in basic and inspirational
terms.
7. Establish a context for learning with objectives and outcomes for assign-
ments. To this end, weave key concepts, information, and knowledge
periodically through a course’s content during class discussions and
assignments.
8. Measure (formally and informally) how well students think the class is
going, perhaps using a simplified SWOT analysis.
9. Recognize the general nature of students’ disposition toward college—
how do students think, what are their demographics, and what are prevail-
ing values, attitudes, goals, etc.
10. Be selective about what I teach—subjects that “speak” to and excite me so
that I can amplify my experiences, knowledge, abilities, skills, etc. I am
just as much a student as they are, and I have the credentials to be the lead
student, not just a teacher.
 General Points of Teaching and Learning 71

Even given this top-10 list, a few other principles arise in my work as a
professor more often and tie to these. They are (in no particular order): Be
yourself. Always enforce your syllabus policies consistently. Communicate
high expectations and maintain rigor. Be compassionate. Admit mistakes,
apologize sincerely, and make corrections right away. Remember that stu-
dents are not looking for a friend but a friendly and competent leader for
their learning.

References
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Black, S., & Allen, J. D. (2017). Insights from educational psychology: Part 3: College
student development. The Reference Librarian, 58, 214–228.
Boice, R. (1996). First-order principles for college teachers: Ten basic ways to improve the teaching
process. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members: Nihil nimus. Needham Heights, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.
Bruner, J. (1960). The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chabrak, N., & Craig, R. (2013). Student imaginings, cognitive dissonance and critical
thinking. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 24(2), 91–104.
Chickering, A. W., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Culver, R. S., & Hackos, J. T. (1982). Perry’s model of intellectual development. Engineering
Education, 72, 221–226.
Ellis, A. K. (2001). Research on educational innovations (3rd ed.). Poughkeepsie, NY: Eye on
Education.
Felder, R. M., & Brent, R. (2004).The intellectual development of science and engineering
students. Part 1: Models and challenges. Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 269–277.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences (10th anniversary ed.).
New York, NY: Basic Books.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York, NY:
Basic Books.
Goleman, D. (2005). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ (10th anniver-
sary ed.). New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Kauchak, D., & Eggen, P. (2014). Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional (5th ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson.
Klyukovski, A. A., & Medlock-Klyukovski, A. L. (2016). Instructor strategic ambiguity:
Delineation of the construct and development of a measure. Communication
Education, 65(3), 253–271. doi:10.1080/03634523.2016.1142097
Kuhn, D., & Dean Jr., D. J. (2004). Metacognition: A bridge between cognitive psychology
and educational practice. Theory into Practice, 43, 268–273.
Paloş, R., Costea, I., Munteanu, A., & Drobot, L. (2010). The necessity to adapt instruc-
tion to the students’ intellectual development. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5,
323–327.
72 PRE in Context

Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2009). Learning styles: Concepts &
evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119.
Perry, W. O. (1998). Intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme (updated &
reissued). New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (Original work published in 1968)
Piaget, J. (1968). Memory and intelligence (A. J. Pomerans, trans.). New York, NY: Basic Books.
Plymale, S. H., & Jarrell, B. J. (1981). A comparison of community college and college
education sophomores using Piaget’s cognitive development model. Community College
Review, 9(3), 19–21.
Shearer, B. (2018). Multiple intelligences in teaching and education: Lessons learned from
neuroscience. Journal of Intelligence, 6(3), 38 [8 page PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.
mdpi.com/2079-3200/6/3/38
Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.
Svinicki, M. D., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and
theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.
Velde, G. (2003, June 3–5). Teaching & learning 101: What every college teacher should know.
Workshops held during the University of Wisconsin System Faculty College, University
of Wisconsin-Richland, Richland, WI.
Wright, A. M. (2019). Let’s be perfectly clear about ambiguity: Exploring instructor use of strategic
ambiguity to enhance student work and learning (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Illinois
State University, Normal, IL.
Zohar, D., & Marshall, I. (2000). Spiritual intelligence: The ultimate intelligence. London:
Bloomsbury Publishing.
6
FRAMEWORKS AND OUTCOMES
FOR TEACHING PR

This chapter presents a very concise treatment of one orientation to teach-

ing public relations that is highly appropriate. That orientation is construc-
tivism, which was introduced in the previous chapter, focuses on student
learning, and is enhanced by problem-based and experiential learning.
This chapter gives guidance about helping students to learn well by bal-
ancing theory and practice that, in turn, advances the profession for bud-
ding PR professionals.

Are there “standard” teaching methods for public relations that any PR pro-
fessor of any rank and background can use? The short answer is no; there is
no one best approach to teach public relations. The better answer: There are
research-based insights about sound teaching practices for public relations con-
tent, and this chapter will introduce them, building upon Chapter 5. In addi-
tion, there are research-based recommendations for what seem to be optimal
constructions for public relations programs in higher education, and Chapter 4
presented pertinent example frameworks for the substance of undergraduate
and graduate degrees in PR. Additional “standards” are those used to accredit
PR programs based on their substance. The best one is the Public Relations
Society of America’s (PRSA) Certification in Education for Public Relations
(CEPR), which is solely focused on public relations program content, learning,
and outcomes that particularly blends the expectations from both industry and
academia. Another program is the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) academic accreditation for an institution’s
entire department or school of journalism, mass media, or communication in
74 PRE in Context

which a PR program may be offered, and the accreditation criteria cover all of
the department’s/school’s degree programs. The grounding, criteria, and pro-
cess for these accreditation programs can be found easily enough online, and
these programs can be useful as general guides for effective PR education even
if a program does not seek accreditation.
The real point here is not to seek prefabricated teaching methods or pro-
grams for PRE but, rather, identify sound educational frameworks (i.e., orienta-
tions to teaching and learning) that pertain well to the work of PR educators
and their students. Certainly there are ample ideas for teaching individual ele-
ments of public relations in sources like the Journal of Public Relations Education;
the journals Communication Teacher, Public Relations Journal, and Public Relations
Review; and the PRSA’s book, Learning to Teach (Neff & Johnson, 2015). What
is truly useful is a general framework for teaching and learning, like one from
Chapter 5, to guide any PR educator in her or his own work with students.
The key, then, for any orientation for teaching PR and achieving the intended
outcomes, therefore, is this: bridging theory and practice that both the professor
and the field possess for the benefit of students who want and need to master
PR principles and practices for themselves. Concrete experiences, problems, or
examples (i.e., the “what”) plus abstract principles for effective and ethical action
(i.e., the “why” and the “how”) yields knowledge and—through successful
practice and learned perseverance—mastery and excellence.

Constructivism for Teaching Public Relations

Many times we educators integrate real-world experiences into our courses when
we introduce real/realistic situations to address our classes, ask our students to
review real/realistic public relations by others, or prepare realistic public relations
discourse assignments. All are good things, and the kinds of realistic, hands-
on work that students are involved in help them learn about the substance of
the subjects we teach. In this way, learning is viewed as a personal activity that
someone constructs for himself/herself, and teaching facilitates learning through
frameworks that encourage personal discovery that connects old and new ideas,
concepts, information, and knowledge (Bruner, 1960, 1996). More pedagogi-
cally (even adragogically) speaking, these examples of real/realistic public rela-
tions, such as the discourse examples we use from companies, are “educational
objects” (Friesen, 2001) that serve multiple uses and have great instructional
value. We instructors invoke kinds of virtual experiences based on those objects
(including related discussion and assignments) that function at a constructivistic
level and require students to actively solve complex and realistic problems using
multiple perspectives and be aware of their own stake in the knowledge-creation
process (Reiser, 2001, p. 63). Such experiences could be part of authentic learning
tasks that reflect the complex nature of real-world, real/realistic public relations
in which students would eventually engage in their careers.
 Frameworks and Outcomes for PRE 75

A learner-centric bias is key to constructivistic education, whose principal

proponent is Vygotsky (1978, 1986; also see Wertsch, 1988). According
to Vygotsky and constructivist pedagogy, learning is based on human
communication—“language, mnemonic techniques, formulae, concepts,
symbols, signs, and so on” (Karpov & Bransford, 1995, p. 61). Learning,
then, precedes the development of students’ skills, and an instructor’s guid-
ance is similar to a master-apprentice relationship (Karpov & Bransford,
1995, p. 61); whereas, “socially shared activities [transform] into internalized
processes” ( John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996, p. 192). Such an approach is one
that allows students to participate in knowledge building under the guid-
ance of an instructor or other more competent person (i.e., working within
what Vygotsky [1978] called their “zone of proximal development”) that is
at once social and individual. Learning is social as students collaborate with
one another, and an instructor guides students’ learning through structured
activities involving complex and realistic problems and discovery about con-
stituent aspects or basic skills (i.e., top-down processing). Learning is indi-
vidual as students, through their discoveries, foster a sense of ownership of
their learning and can monitor their own knowledge growth. Students are
intimately involved in the co-creation of knowledge in the problem-solving
process, which, as Vygotsky (1978) explains, is facilitated by “scaffolding.”
That is, students examine a problem in a real-life, authentic context; are given
just enough instructional guidance to help them along in their tasks; then
arrive at an appropriate solution on their own (see Slavin, 2012, pp. 222–223).
In summary, basic tenets of constructivism are:

• Humans use language to learn, then behaviors develop thereafter.

• Humans learn best when lessons build one upon the other, using selected
instructional objects (scaffolding).
• Humans’ best time to learn something is at the moment when they are
most open to possibilities (zone of proximal development); problem-based,
“authentic” learning facilitates creation of such zones.
• Human education is possible through communication between instructor
and student, where the instructor enables students to assume ownership of
his/her learning through discovery.

An ideal constructivistic learning environment in courses (see Driscoll, 2005,

pp. 393–402) would take advantage of the complexity of educational objects
to demonstrate realistic and relevant situations from which students can dive
into and learn how to handle at an appropriate level (i.e., beginner, interme-
diate, and advanced). Class discussions or small-group work would facilitate
a communal dimension for learning, as students’ perspectives on theoretical
and practical issues are wrestled with socially and collaboratively. The learn-
ing environment would be stimulating and fun, as everyone encounters the
76 PRE in Context

subject collaboratively and actively, engaging their minds, hearts, and bodies
in the experience (Ali & Cech, 2017). Students would be encouraged to enter-
tain multiple perspectives to understand real/realistic public relations situations
because multiple views of what can be done can stem from multiple models and
research about what is effective real/realistic public relations. Students, in turn,
can use their multiple perspectives to explain their responses in class assign-
ments. Students also learn to take responsibility or “ownership” for their own
development as knowledgeable real/realistic public relations folks and achieve
the learning goals for the course. As a result, students become increasingly
aware of their developing knowledge and can help themselves in constructing
new “mental structures” about subjects and situations throughout their lives.
Old and new “mental structures” about subjects—especially in context—
would be formed, explicated, and tested until satisfactory ones emerge
(see Driscoll, 2005, pp. 387–388). The ultimate goal is that students develop
knowledge about human relations and public relations practice and theory
that can be applied in congruent contexts. More specific goals would focus
on building students’ abilities on matters like making sound ethical decisions,
developing particular forms of discourse, and analyzing specific case examples
of public relations.
Instructors would give students direction and feedback about their thinking
related to both the theoretical and the practical dimensions of real/realistic pub-
lic relations as dramatized in educational objects. In this manner, an instruc-
tor fosters a constructivist learning environment, where students are actively
involved in the process that is framed by prerequisite skills and knowledge, an
assignment, class discussions, and experience gained by personal engagement
with the problem, question, or case. With effective contextualization of real/
realistic public relations into lessons plans, students can confront specific chal-
lenges that require them to understand and apply certain concepts. Research on
this kind of approach has demonstrated significant student learning in math and
science courses plus non-math and non-science courses (Bransford, Brown, &
Cocking, 2000, pp. 208–209). Selected educational objects facilitate students’
learning by capitalizing on varied learning styles, and video is one example
that emphasizes visual and auditory dimensions for critical thinking and appli-
cation. The focus of this critical thinking involves problem-based learning
( Jarvis, 2002; Jarvis, Holford, & Griffin, 2000, pp. 117–118), especially in a
constructivist approach about “real-life” situations, affecting both teaching and
learning outcomes.
The constructivist instructional method emphasizes student reasoning, criti-
cal thinking, concept understanding, cognitive flexibility in weighing mul-
tiple perspectives, ownership of one’s learning development, and self-reflection
about one’s knowledge construction. This approach allows students to bridge
theory and practice in ways that empower them to—with the instructor’s
guidance—take charge of their own learning, achieve learning goals, “connect
 Frameworks and Outcomes for PRE 77

the dots” between what they have come to know and what they are coming to
know, and construct effective ways of thinking about real/realistic public rela-
tions that will serve them in their careers as real public relations professionals.

Constructivistic Course Content Possibilities

Stories and case examples from the broad realm of public relations that we share
in our classes in video or any medium are beneficial in many ways, especially at
a cognitive level (see Freburg, Remund, & Keltner-Previs, 2013; Jaques, 2008;
Pauly & Hutchison, 2001; Sisson & Mortensen, 2017; Smudde & Luecke, 2005).
We engage our students in authentic problem-solving that requires various lev-
els of cognitive processing at different stages in our real/realistic public relations
curricula. By the time our students graduate, they should be well-prepared
to solve the complex, ill-structured real/realistic PR problems that may have
many solutions. Such an approach also can be referred to as involving “high-
impact practices,” which foster deep learning through multiple avenues for
learning (Berrett, 2019). From individual writing assignments about situations,
to the creation of complex real/realistic public relations projects, to the analyses
of case examples, the problems we give our students approximate the demands
of human relations in the “real world.” As Jonassen and Hernandez-Serrano
(2002) put it, “Novices in school are trained only to work on problems that are,
by nature, decontextualized and well structured, while problems in everyday
and professional contexts are complex and ill structured” (p. 68).
Realizing that the choice of media used for instructional purposes has an
effect on cognitive processing, Cobb (1997) argues that the most efficient
instructional media are those that “do some of the learners’ cognitive work for
them” (p. 32). This idea means that the way information is presented through
a chosen medium gives the learner some amount of data to work from beyond
what is in memory, and the learner builds knowledge about the task and subject
by working through the problem-solving process at increasingly deeper levels.
This “cognitive efficiency” with which someone works with information in
a given medium is based on the rationale that, “while different media may
not create different cognitive products, such as concepts, schemas, and mental
models, … they clearly do create different cognitive processes at different levels
of efficiency (with regard to speed, ease, effectiveness). In other words, the form
in which information is presented can determine how it is processed in a mind,
and hence how it can be learned” (Cobb, 1997, p. 27).
When it comes to real-world experience gained through a higher-ed pro-
gram in public relations, “experiential learning” has proven highly valuable
and valued. In this realm of constructivistism are work-related internships (i.e.,
fixed-time job assignments for college credit or for pre-entry-level employ-
ment, preferably with pay), service learning (i.e., individual, group, or class
projects to work with real clients to solve defined problems), community-based
78 PRE in Context

research (i.e., projects to identify, understand, and recommend solutions for

problem situations), study-abroad programs, and student-driven research (i.e.,
independent study on topics of interest to students who want to investigate and
improve a situation for the better) (see Moore, 2013). Private, public, civic,
government, industry, institutional, or other organizations can be the sources
of these opportunities. Experiential learning is constructivistic because it ful-
fills constructivism’s principles and practices. The yield is students who have
extended their knowledge, skills, and abilities beyond their courses through
actual problem-solving in situ, in an actual public relations workplace, which
means these experiences are most appealing to employers who want entry-level
PR pros with sound experience that garnered solid results.

People Matters
Imbued throughout any constructivistic framework to teaching and learning
for public relations is human relationships. Indeed, the matters of diversity and
inclusion are instrumental, from the gregarious to the shy, from ethnic back-
ground to socioeconomic status, from age to gender, from joyful to stressed,
from the prominent to the marginalized—from these and beyond. Human
relations are multidimensional, complex, dynamic, fragile, and integral mat-
ters for people living, working, and playing with other people and all aspects of
the planet. Constructivistic learning, then, involves diversity and inclusion as
relevant matters to experience and through which to grow as people engaged
in the PR profession and society. Active learning about the diversity of people,
ideas, contexts, and so on plus the need to be inclusive of multiple views, atti-
tudes, cultures, and so on must be included in PRE (see Chapter 4, Table 4.1)
so that students can connect better with each other and their professors during
their education and then, later, connect with coworkers, publics, and others
during their PR careers (Kern-Foxworth, 2015; Tsetsura, 2011).
Professors inspire students in their pursuit for intellectual, attitudinal, and
behavioral growth, and problem-based lessons about human relations, particu-
larly diversity and inclusion, are essential. Students must be able to truly see
themselves as PR professionals. From the design of a course to interpersonal
interactions during and outside of class, diversity and inclusion can and should
be authentically modeled well from the professor and through learning objects.
Keys to inclusivity are acknowledging your own implicit biases, creating and
maintaining a genuinely positive learning environment, encouraging partici-
pation, offering support when students need help, using various examples and
teaching strategies, and obtaining students’ feedback about a class (“Inclusive
Teaching,” 2018). Getting to know students individually and collectively is
important so that teaching and learning can be effective and fruitful. People
may or may not remember something of what someone said, but they will
definitely remember details about how someone made them feel.
 Frameworks and Outcomes for PRE 79

Technology and Constructivism

Whether a class is held on campus or online, constructivistic, problem-based,
and experiential learning is possible. For any classes, technology is a primary
means for teaching and learning, as so much of what pertains to PRE is avail-
able in digital and analog media. From personal digital devices to printed
books, material needed for public relations classes abound, and printed matter
can be transformed into digital files so that they are accessible on electronic
devices that have the capabilities to open them. The technological promises
and possibilities of online learning are well-documented (e.g., Allen, Seaman,
Poulin, & Straut, 2016; Bailey, Vaduganathan, Henry, Laverdiere, & Pugliese,
2018; Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2010; Nguyen, 2015; Parker,
Lenhart, & Moore, 2011). What is important to recognize is that, in a construc-
tivistic view, technology is an enabler of personal learning—students use tech-
nology for themselves and with others to analyze complex and realistic problems
in a well-defined and relevant context, discuss and collaborate (i.e., whole class
or small groups) on salient matters for deciding upon a solution, explore errors
and missteps along the way, and benefit from instructional guidance when
needed (Tam, 2000). Particular keys to the constructivistic use of technology in
online classes are allowing “distance learners to be more reflective, to give per-
sonal views on topics, to debate and argue their points of view, to question infor-
mation given by the instructor and textbooks, based on personal observations
and knowledge acquired elsewhere” (Tam, 2000, p. 58). Personal ownership of
learning is the primary objective, done so in a community of learners who are
connected to one another electronically but also intellectually and attitudinally
so that they capitalize on the dynamics of individual and collective discovery
under the guidance of an effective, sensitive, and expert teacher.
Online learning’s greatest advantage is convenience; whereas, an online
course’s content is always available whenever students wish to engage with
it. Online learning’s greatest challenge is discipline; whereas, students must
regularly focus on the material and truly absorb it on their own within the
timeframe of the course. Instructors structure online course content in ways
that guide students through a subject with self-directed learning strategies
and measure students’ learning of the material through formal and informal
learning assessments. At an individual level, the instructor’s feedback about
and grades for work completed in the course provide each student with a
record of his or her performance and learning progress. Students, then, have
great ownership of their learning as they work though the material individu-
ally with primarily (if not only) virtual interaction with the instructor and
other students.
Learning involves process and product—input, throughput, and out-
put. Students individually can achieve similar results but expend different
amounts of effort. Creativity is key, not merely following recipes to complete
80 PRE in Context

coursework. Course material, assignments, the instructor, peers, research, and

personal knowledge and experiences are all resources for students’ creativity.
Students then apply their creativity to solve problems within learning-centered
contexts/frameworks. Teaching and learning, then, involve “connecting the
dots” between the input of theory and practice and the throughput of mental,
psychological, and physical effort, including the instructor’s feedback along
the way. A student’s output is the culmination of all the cognitive, physical,
and emotional effort that went into its creation. Further learning results from
reflection and discussion about how well one’s work came out and later applica-
tion of learned principles and practices.

A Question for You

What do think you would do to teach any class in public relations?
For myself, because I had long wanted to become a professor, I collected many
examples that I found from my own professional work, news stories, case stud-
ies, peers’ presentations at conferences and meetings, and anywhere else I could
get them. By the time I started teaching full time in higher ed, I had a deep well
from which to draw, but some of the examples were dated or just not as usable
as I hoped. Those problematic examples could be explained by giving a lot of
context, but that extra explanation would take away from the instructional
usefulness and effective learning. When thinking more about my students, it
was obvious that examples with which they could identify (prominence or
notoriety helps) worked better and more efficiently. So, with the counsel of my
new academic peers and deeper reflection about the instructional possibilities
of any example, I got better at selecting and applying examples in my classes.
The important point in this collecting of examples is recognizing the
importance of what goes on in the “real world.” Very important to that
recognition is something about the nature of the profession of public relations
and what goes on “behind the scenes”—what is the core matter, who is involved,
what is the process, how are decisions made, why is an outcome successful or
not, and whether the same or a similar approach ought to be used again.
In this way, my role as a teacher was augmented by another role as storyteller.
Problem-analysis, critical-analytical thinking, and decision-making drive the
processes for the many kinds of public relations efforts on which PR pros work.
It is never enough to show an example of public relations because that example
is mostly (if not completely) the output of certain inputs and numerous kinds
of throughputs contributed by many people. The story about the piece and
its place in the bigger picture is important. In class, I could develop realistic,
mock scenarios in which students would have to confront and solve similar
problems so that we, in turn, could discuss strengths, weaknesses, next steps,
and lessons learned.
 Frameworks and Outcomes for PRE 81

Taking advantage of my personal experiences in industry and merging

insights from research, my leading of students about public relations became
more engaging. Not only could I present principles and practices, but I could
also make them come alive and have students somewhat live them. Internships
and service-learning projects would go the extra mile in application toward
mastery. The principles behind problem-based learning and constructivism
appealed to me immediately and were exactly what I needed to help me design
my courses and their content for solid student learning. Admittedly, my suc-
cessfulness in guiding students was not always great, but I could recover for the
moment and certainly learn to make things better next time. Next time could
mean the next class meeting or the next semester I lead the same course. In any
case, “keeping it real” for students by sharing and guiding them through real
or realistic examples of public relations has always gone a long way to prepar-
ing them for their careers by developing their knowledge, skills, and abilities
concretely and constructivistically.

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Part III

Approaches for Teaching and

Learning Befitting Public
Relations Education (PRE)

This section extends material from preceding chapters to present very specific
ways of being a teacher and teaching well for student learning about PR.
7
KNOW YOURSELF, BE YOURSELF

This chapter addresses what it takes to honestly assess yourself, why and
how those traits matter, and what to do about being the best teacher you
can be. Key related topics include realizing your teaching persona, mak-
ing the most of students’ feedback about your classes, and constructing
a teaching portfolio. An additional topic of participating in recruitment
efforts is given as a culminating point about knowing and being yourself in
ways that matter to others who want to study under you.

As you may have heard many times, “attitude is everything.” Truly, attitude
is linguistically constructed, central in human activity, and assumes guiding
principles (e.g., orientation, world view, personal philosophy) are the founda-
tion of an attitude that is behind an action. The first three chapters of this book
are meant to spur greater self-reflection and self-understanding about becom-
ing and being an educator-scholar in a college or university. For educators,
attitude and action begin with a philosophy of teaching and learning. As Bain
(2004) explains, based on his study of effective teaching in higher education,
“Professors who believe that teaching is primarily transmitting knowledge may
think that success depends on fixed personality traits [or intelligence abilities]
over which they have little control (‘some people are just born good lecturers,
but I’m not’). Because others—like the people we studied—conceive of teach-
ing as fostering learning, they believe that if they understand their students and
the nature and processes of learning better, they can create more successful
environments” (p. 174). Education is dynamic between teacher and students.
88 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

Your Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

Anyone who goes into education already has a view of teaching and learning.
The question is, “What is that view?” The content from the preceding
two chapters, then, becomes all the more valuable and useful on top of the
content of the first three chapters. A philosophy of teaching and learning is a
personal statement about what education is/is not, does/does not do, involves/
skips over, etc. Such a philosophy is personal and should be formalized in
a document. A philosophy of teaching and learning fulfills personal and
pedagogical/andragogical purposes (Brookfield, 2015; see also Montrell, 2003).
The point of a personal philosophy of teaching and learning is not necessarily
to crystallize principles in the theory and practice of education, although it can
do that. A personal philosophy of teaching and learning also is not merely an
exercise in theorizing, although it is largely theoretical in content.
A philosophy of teaching and learning is necessary and should include at
least statements about the nature of learning; the centrality of language; the
importance of process toward learning goals; the background, readiness, and
intellectual and emotional needs of students; the difference teaching makes;
the value of active and attentive students; and the love of being an educa-
tor (Leamnson, 1999, pp. 7–8). Additional statements should demonstrate your
own reflections on your teaching, including topics that address evidence of
teaching effectiveness; the value of and commitment to teaching; attentive-
ness to student learning and the differences among students’ knowledge, skills,
abilities, and backgrounds (O’Neal, Meizlish, & Kaplan, 2007, p. 3); views of
how people learn, especially in college; your goals for student learning; ways of
enacting your teaching goals for student learning though classroom practices;
and learning how well you are doing (Ramani, 2009, p. 18). There is a lot to
cover in this personal statement about teaching and learning, but you get to
gage how to say what you need and want to say to make your philosophy real
and useful for yourself and your students.
A personal philosophy of teaching and learning is truly a practical mat-
ter of “knowing thyself.” After all, so much of what we believe about teach-
ing is a function of how we ourselves learn (Haave, 2014). Various sources
on the Internet, especially articles in publications like The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Faculty Focus, and Inside Higher Education, offer advice about creat-
ing a philosophy of teaching and learning and being yourself in your teach-
ing persona. A philosophy of teaching and learning is something that liberates
one’s attitudes, knowledge, experiences, biases, and behaviors. It liberates these
things for an educator because it allows someone to know herself or himself
first, and this is important to understand before designing a lesson or course and
delivering it to students. A personal philosophy of teaching and learning also is
liberating for students because it reveals the same things to them and serves as a
touchstone for discussions about teaching and learning in life.
 Know Yourself, Be Yourself 89

A philosophy of teaching and learning is not just one about particular

“truths.” It is a formal codification of what an educator values, believes, and
acts upon within learning environments, which could be anywhere with any-
one. Those reviewing philosophies of teaching and learning may evaluate
them on the grounds of the person’s goals for student learning and how well
those goals are enacted and assessed, evidence of the person creating inclusive
learning environments, and the structure, tone, and framing of the philosophy
through the language used (see O’Neal et al., 2007). A philosophy of teach-
ing and learning also can be specialized for specific learners and learning (e.g.,
first-year students; see Leamnson, 1999). The idea that learning is constructed
linguistically is central to education, and a personal philosophy that establishes
an educator’s orientation toward teaching and learning goes a long way in her
or his careful crafting of learning opportunities and the facilitation of learning
among students who seek the instructor’s guidance. Once you know your atti-
tude toward and perspective about education through a personal philosophy of
teaching and learning, the next step is to put that philosophy to work.

Enacting Your Philosophy

Your teaching persona is the manifestation of your philosophy of teaching and
learning. As you think about it, the relationship between students and a teacher
is a mutually respectful and trusting one, like apprentices to a master. A teacher
demonstrates his or her values in words and actions, lives as a moral example
to students, and leads students and makes decisions on sound ethical grounds.
A teacher is a leader who is not authoritarian nor totally laissez-faire. A teacher
serves best as a guide on a journey through extant knowledge and beyond,
giving students (including the instructor) opportunities to discover what they
know and are coming to know, especially through real-world/realistic learning
objects and assignments. Teacher and students co-create the learning environ-
ment. All are students ultimately. Instructors, then, are truly “lead students” who
fulfill that particular role because of their credentials and background to do so.
So, as a function of your philosophy of teaching and learning, your teaching
persona is thoughtful and intentional, not accidental or coincidental; it must be
consistent and genuine, not variable and phony.
What can you do to realize your teaching persona? Good advice can be
gained from successful colleagues, and useful tips can be found in published
sources (e.g., Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 1995; Lang, 2007; Schaberg & Yakich, 2015;
Shadiow & Weimer, 2015a, 2015b). A good place to start is building a rapport with
students. You can do this by sharing some personal background about yourself,
which shows who you are both on and away from the job. You could think about
what you would want as a student, at least because you were in their seats once and
can certainly identify with students’ needs and wants. Reading analyses of today’s
90 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

college students can be especially helpful too, so you generally know something
about how they think and feel (see Levine & Dean, 2012; Twenge, 2014, 2017).
Consider the strengths of someone whom, to you, is a model teacher, then discern
what habits of theirs fit yourself so that you might consider using them in your
own ways. In this regard, genuinely be yourself, which should naturally differen-
tiate yourself from your colleagues while also showing how you fit well among
them. Also, remember the importance of humor because, when used skillfully and
appropriately, humor can fulfill various rhetorical and intellectual needs, ranging
from putting something in sharp relief to relieving tension or stress. Bring the out-
side world into the class so that what is going on becomes real and integral to the
content of your course and material to a day’s topics. Embrace experimentation in
class when you are particularly inspired to try something with your students that
fits a course and your learning objectives. Also, in this same vein, thrive on new
directions students may take or inspire based on a day’s class meeting.
Perhaps the most important matter of your teaching persona is communication.
A key term in this area is “immediacy behaviors,” which refers to the dynam-
ics between a teacher and students (individually and as a group) that affect learn-
ing and other performance-related factors. In particular, as Comadena, Hunt, and
Simonds (2007; also see Myers, 2003) show, three categories of behaviors matter
most and affect student learning. The first is teacher immediacy, which means a
teacher is personally focused mentally and emotionally on students while in their
presence, using verbal and nonverbal communication that supports that presence
and, thereby, reduces physical and psychological distance between teacher and stu-
dents. The second is teacher clarity, which means teachers cover course content
in understandable terms, in organized ways, and with definitive expectations for
student motivation, learning, and performance. And the third is teacher caring,
which means teachers demonstrate genuine interest in the welfare and well-being
of students. An additional, partially mediating factor to these three is instructor
credibility (i.e., students’ impressions of a teacher as competent, trustworthy, and
caring), which means students can give a teacher the benefit of the doubt if she or he
has an occasion of being not as effective in the other immediacy behaviors (Schrodt
et al., 2009). Throughout the course of a semester, the dynamics of any individual
class will wax and wane—there will be good days and not-so-good days. Being
effective means, while being true to yourself, you can manage the ways things ebb
and flow for a class by using appropriate communication skillfully so that your rela-
tionships with students is largely positive and the learning environment works well
for all (Worley, Titsworth, Worley, & Cornett-DeVito, 2007).

Student Feedback
Evidence of students’ impressions of a professor’s teaching is typically gathered
through surveys given in each class at the end of a term. These surveys col-
lect students’ feedback about their classes. In this way, these surveys produce
 Know Yourself, Be Yourself 91

data about students’ responses to instruction (SRI) and are not evaluations
of any professor’s teaching effectiveness or of a given course. In fact, ample
research shows that students’ feedback, both quantitative and qualitative,
should not be taken as “evaluative,” because, at best, they are truly descrip-
tions of subjective student experiences in particular classes (e.g., Benton &
Young, 2018; Berk, 2005; Hornstein, 2017). Indeed, the most important use
of SRIs is gathering student feedback about their experiences in individual
classes so that professors may choose how to strengthen their strengths and
address any weaknesses.
Critical topics for research on SRIs concern their design, use, and validity.
There are very real concerns about SRIs perpetuating biases (e.g., gender, race,
implicit, explicit), overvaluing of quantitative data as the primary measure of
teaching effectiveness, recognizing they are fully tied to individual classes and
by themselves are not good predictors of instructor effectiveness, and being
problematic in making comparisons among instructors and for making deci-
sions about retention, promotion, and pay (Benton & Cashin, 2014; Boring,
Ottoboni, & Stark, 2016; Franklin, 2001; Huston, 2005; Linse, 2017; Mitry &
Smith, 2014; Spooren & Mortelmans, 2006; Spooren, Brockx, & Mortelmans,
2013; Spooren, Vandermoere, Banderstraeten, & Pepermans, 2017; Steiner,
Gerdes, Holley, & Campbell, 2006; Uttl, White, & Gonzales, 2017). Even so,
giving students a voice about their experiences and listening to that voice is paramount.
Overall, multiple sources of information are the most useful for both forma-
tive and summative evaluations of teaching, and most experts suggest the use
of three kinds of data: self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and data about student
experience. Open-ended questions about students’ experiences in classes yield
more useful information for instructors than other methods, and such ques-
tions are especially useful at midterm rather than solely at the end of a term
(Flaherty, 2018; Signorini & Abuan, 2019). Obtaining students’ feedback by
midterm rather than at the term’s end is better for both teacher and students
because matters can be addressed for the students’ and the teacher’s benefits
since there is still time in the term to do something, building upon immediacy
behaviors. Ultimately, professors are ethically obligated to seriously consider
using students’ feedback to improve their teaching and their courses, perhaps
including formal plans for making such personal or pedagogical/anagogical
improvements.

Teaching Portfolios
Any feedback and, especially, demonstrated improvement in teaching is
very valuable and necessary to show your growth and successfulness as an
educator-scholar. Feedback data and analyses about your classes are, then,
instrumental to your case about your effectiveness as a faculty member, and
that case is usually made in a teaching portfolio. Teaching portfolios are
92 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

highly useful, deliberate collections of material for an individual professor

that show what, how, and why she or he teaches (Pelger & Larsson, 2018; also
see Carden & Smudde, 2015). Their utility applies to the person and to the
institution. Murray (1995) explains that teaching portfolios document one’s
proficiency in teaching (i.e., classes led, assignments given, student feedback
collected), function as organizing tools for and about the work they com-
pleted (i.e., teaching, research, and service), demonstrate to institutions the
depth and breadth of teaching and learning that takes place (i.e., evidence
that the institution’s mission is being fulfilled well), and chronicle one’s pro-
fessional and personal development as an educator-scholar (i.e., examples of
value-added and measured self-improvement efforts). Knapper and Wright
(2001, pp. 22–24) present a list of the principal items used in teaching portfo-
lios, according to survey research:

• A philosophy of teaching and learning

• A brief biographical statement to place the portfolio in context, includ-
ing a thorough yet concise reflection on one’s teaching abilities and effec-
tiveness, especially showing how the philosophy is enacted and a plan for
aligning behaviors and attitudes with that philosophy
• A statement about all teaching-related responsibilities, including advising
extracurricular student organizations or programs that complement the
curriculum (e.g., PRSSA)
• Any statements from students and alumni about how they benefitted from
one’s teaching
• Student feedback about courses and teaching and reflections about improve-
ments made
• List of course titles and numbers, unit values or credits, enrollments with
brief elaboration
• List of course materials prepared for students, including syllabi and
example assignments, especially service-learning and civic-engagement
projects
• Examples of effective teaching, such as student essays, creative work, proj-
ects or field-work reports, and awards
• Participation in seminars, workshops, and professional meetings intended
to improve teaching
• Attempts at instructional innovations and evaluations of their effectiveness
• Statements from colleagues who have observed teaching either as (a) mem-
bers of a teaching team or as independent observers of a particular course
or (b) those who teach other sections of the same course
• Participating in course or curriculum development, showing actual con-
tributions made
• Evidence of effective supervision on students’ independent research proj-
ects (honors or not), master’s theses, or PhD dissertations
 Know Yourself, Be Yourself 93

Much of what should be included in a teaching portfolio is based on what case

a teacher wishes to make about her or his record and successfulness as an educa-
tor, which can include scholarship on teaching and learning (see Huber, 2004;
McKinney, 2013). Teaching portfolios are necessary for obtaining academic
positions during your job search and, at different later points in your career,
applying for tenure and promotions. Additional parameters for the contents
of a portfolio also come from one’s institution and, perhaps, one’s field, and
the contents and organization of the contents may be specifically proscribed
(see Seldin, Miller, & Seldin, 2010). On balance, however, a portfolio sum-
marizes someone’s identity and competence as an educator-scholar and does
so in compelling, evidence-based, and self-reflective ways that show compe-
tence and, especially, plans for improvement. Having a mentor and examples
of others’ portfolios are especially important because the process for creating
a portfolio is long and involved as you collect what you need and organize the
entire product.

Student Recruitment
The sum of everything you are and do is one important part of what stu-
dents are interested in when they enroll in an institution. Sometimes students
(and their parents/guardians) fastidiously examine colleges and universities and
their programs, including finding out who is on a program’s faculty and what
they teach and research. In these cases, students are very intentionally target-
ing particular institutions because of what they are, how strong a certain pro-
gram is, who the faculty are, and other factors. Most times, students (and their
parents/guardians) identify institutions based on factors ranging from whether
the parents are alumni, to proximity from home (near or distant), to available
funding sources, to friends enrolling there. No matter what may interest any
student and, ultimately, inspire a student to enroll in a college or university,
the faculty matter in the decision. Students expect faculty to be experts in their
fields, excellent in their teaching, outstanding in their service to them and the
field, and approachable and friendly. An unstated matter for faculty, then, is
the important role they have in recruitment of new and transferring students.
When students (and their parents/guardians) visit a campus, meeting and
conversing with faculty is highly valuable. If a campus has days during the
semester or summer when prospective students visit to tour the institution,
get questions answered, and perhaps enroll in classes, meeting one or more
faculty members can be a game-changer. Engaging in good conversation with
prospective students (and their parents/guardians) is the key because you are
taking care to make a personal connection with them (i.e., good immediacy
behaviors). Through your presence, you show the humanity and the profession-
alism of being a faculty member, and that matters greatly to students who want
and need to feel they are making the right decision to enroll. Depending on
94 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

how a department handles recruitment efforts, being involved in and employ-

ing your PR skills can be a great asset to building and maintaining a strong
program that carries a solid reputation on and beyond the campus. You help
the students see themselves being enrolled in your program, they can pass along
their good impressions to others, and they are eager to come to your institution.

A Question for You

What is your own perspective of teaching and learning, and how do you see yourself
enacting it in a philosophical statement and in the person you are?

For myself, all my reading and research and thinking about teaching and learn-
ing in higher education led me to devise a means for keeping track of what I
was learning and, most important, what stood out to me as inspirational and
usable principles and practices for being a professor. What began as a simple list
of concepts, insights, observations, and realizations from both scholarship and
my lived experience became a detailed statement of what I genuinely believe
and act on as an educator-scholar. My personal philosophy of teaching and
learning has proven valuable for my students, for whom I always share it, so
they know why and how I do what I do. My philosophy also has been vital
for my career, as I needed to include it in my portfolios for being promoted to
associate professor with tenure and, later, full professor. My philosophy also has
been useful in nominations for teaching awards.
One of the most important realizations I had about myself as a teacher is that
it is contingent on my personality, industry experience, my academic experi-
ences as a student, and my growing understanding of teaching and learning. As
a result, I found that certain values undergird my teaching persona. I do my
work out of love for teaching and learning, my fields of study, and people. I
believe we are all works in progress—personally, professionally, intellectually,
emotionally, behaviorally, and spiritually. I am a model of enthusiasm, disci-
pline, compassion, and friendliness. And I am tough and fair and like to have
fun. Like anyone, I have good days and bad days, but most days are somewhere
in between. Being highly self-aware matters in the moment with students and
overall about myself—being something other than who I am at any time is
ridiculous and a lie.
I came into teaching after many years in industry, and my knowledge and
experiences in industry are key in my approach to teaching. In my courses, then,
I apply many of the practices and demands of the “real world” so students can learn
about and become prepared for how they will be managed in their careers. When
students do well, I rejoice with them. When students perform poorly, I share their
disappointment. Either way (and in between), I am here to help students in their
learning. This vocation—teaching, researching, and serving in the field I enjoy—
has been the realization of a long-term personal and professional goal.
 Know Yourself, Be Yourself 95

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8
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
AND COURSE DESIGN

This chapter summarizes how individual programs and their courses come
into being through a curriculum-development process, resulting in a full
program of required and elective courses that fulfills big-picture objectives
from the student to the department to the institution.

When most people think of the word, “curriculum,” they easily think about a set
series of courses to be taken to earn some credential, such as a certificate of mas-
tery or diploma. Curricula are, indeed, that, but they are more. Curricula must
be learning-centered, which “requires we know our students as fully as possible”
(Mackh, 2018, p. 9), while leveraging the resources of the institution to offer and
sustain them. The reason why curricula are more than mere series of courses is
that they come into being through thorough planning and analysis, are sustained
through innovations, and are evaluated for successfulness, pertinence, and improve-
ments. This reason points to the fact that any curriculum is developed through a
concerted, collaborative, and learning-centric process that examines the what, how,
why, who, where, when, and whether it should come into being and exist over time.

Curriculum Development Process

The curriculum-development process, as Mackh (2018) explains, can be
envisioned generally as progressing through four phases, with each phase rely-
ing on the results of the previous phases: identify (conduct thorough research and
empathetic analysis about students’ needs for effective learning, generally among
students and specifically for students who would enroll in a program), ideate
 Curriculum Development and Course Design 99

(brainstorm about what and how a curriculum could be), implement (create the
best version of the curriculum possible and the resources it needs, secure neces-
sary approvals, offer it, and measure its effectiveness), and iterate (use facts, experi-
ences, and other relevant data to improve the curriculum to any degree to effect
student learning for the better). “Curriculum development thus becomes a more
holistic event, starting with academic content, learning outcomes, and intended
learners, and accompanies by delivery mode, type of program, and assessment
model as tools to achieve these goals” (Kaufman & Weiner, 2015, p. 105).
An institution’s entire portfolio of programs can be thought of as a curriculum
as much as an individual major or minor program in a department or school.
“The purpose of the curriculum is to provide a set of experiences that will ensure
that each student’s development occurs in an orderly, balanced, and thorough
fashion. The curriculum should provide both appropriate challenge and support
to produce diverse types of cognitive, affective, and motor development and pro-
fessional abilities appropriate to each person” (Gardiner, 2005, p. 94). Figure 8.1
illustrates how curricula nest from the program level (the smallest and dark circles
denoting programs), to the department/school (the squares that encompass the
programs), to the college (the larger squares that encompass certain departments/
schools), then to the institution (the container of all the units contained). In this
way, then, curriculum development involves a process very similar to strategic
planning in business. The institution’s top administration articulates the vision,
mission, and objectives, and the academic units determine the ways they can live
up to the vision, fulfill the mission, and execute on the objectives.
As Figure 8.1 shows, departments and schools can vary in the number of
programs they have based on how they decide to address disciplines in their

INSTITUTION

Departments
or Schools
Majors &
Minors
Colleges

FIGURE 8.1 Nested academic curricula for a hypothetical institution

100 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

respective fields. For example, recalling Chapter 4, depending on the department

of origin, public relations can be one program among others in a department of
communication, English, journalism, or marketing. Alternatively, public rela-
tions could be a department that houses majors that focus on discreet disciplines
in the field, perhaps ranging from message design, to communication analyt-
ics, to management. Departments and schools are organized into colleges using
either traditional groupings in higher education or institution-based grouping
rules or both. In a given institution, certain colleges (an alternative name for this
organizational level is “division”) can be larger than others because they house
many departments/schools, as often happens with colleges of arts and sciences
that can include biology, chemistry, communication, English, history, math-
ematics, philosophy, physics, psychology, and sociology. The size of colleges, in
turn, also can be seen by the size of enrollments and graduates.
Using rules set by the university and, possibly, accrediting bodies, individual
curricula in departments and schools are developed by committees of academ-
ics who teach, research, and serve in the field. A committee is typically led by a
professor who has the vision and expertise to lead the effort to create a curricu-
lum plan and has the support of the unit’s administration. At the outset, the two
most basic questions to be answered concern program or degree type and deliv-
ery mode. For the type of program or degree, a curriculum must be designated
as a major (requiring the greatest amount of courses and credit hours toward
graduation with a bachelor’s degree), minor (requiring core requirements of a
major but not all that supplements credit hours required for a bachelor’s degree),
sequence/concentration/track (a designated series of courses in a major that
allow for a particular specialization in that major), certificate (a highly focused
and short series of courses in a specialized area of a discipline to achieve a cre-
dential of proficiency), professional (a program of courses designed to support
development of professionals in a discipline, perhaps useful to maintain licen-
sure or accreditation), or graduate (a plan of courses leading to a master’s or
doctoral degree). For mode of delivery, courses would be provided for students
face-to-face, fully online, hybrid/blended, or some form of synchronous or
asynchronous means (Kaufman & Weiner, 2015, p. 105).
The committee developing a curriculum works to create a program that
fits within the general framework for all curricula required by the institu-
tion, which aligns with the institution’s vision and mission. Individual courses
in a curriculum, as will be addressed later in this chapter, must uphold cer-
tain requirements, depending on various factors ranging from being purpose-
based (e.g., labs, lectures, seminars, internships) to being government-required
(e.g., teacher certification or professional licensure). The curriculum must also
address matters of outside accreditation organizations when it matters, such as
the requirements for a PR program being CEPR by the PRSA. Curricula, once
approved by their individual academic units, undergo reviews at the college level
then the university level to ensure the programs meet all pertinent requirements
 Curriculum Development and Course Design 101

and students’ informational needs. Once fully and finally approved, the cur-
riculum can be enacted, including its evaluation mechanisms.
Lattuca and Stark (2009) show that any curriculum, which emerges through
an institution’s system based on the social, cultural, and historical context, is
“an academic plan [that]…identif[ies] the critical decision points that, if effec-
tively addressed, will enhance the academic experience of students” (p. 4).
The development of a curriculum plan must, according to Lattuca and Stark,
present a solid argument for it that substantiates:

1. PURPOSES: knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be learned.

2. CONTENT: subject matter selected to convey specific knowledge, skills,
and attitudes.
3. SEQUENCE: an arrangement of the subject matter and experiences
intended to lead to specific outcomes for learners.
4. LEARNERS: how the plan will address a specific group of learners.
5. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESSES: the instructional activities by which
learning may be achieved.
6. INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES: the [people, technology,] materials
and settings to be used in the learning process.
7. EVALUATION: the strategies used to determine whether decisions about
the elements of the academic plan are optimal.
8. ADJUSTMENT: enhancements to the plan based on experience and eval-
uation (pp. 4–5).

These eight elements are material to the substance of any curriculum that is
designed, and the resulting curriculum is necessarily contingent on internal
and, especially, external forces. Lattuca and Stark further explain that inter-
nal and external forces are at play. Internal forces are present on two levels:
(1) institution, which includes vision, mission, resources, and governance; and
(2) unit, which includes faculty, student body’s characteristics, and discipline/
field advances (especially with trends in industry, scholarship, and teaching).
External forces include market pressures in higher education, existing examples
of curricula (competitors, scholarship, and accreditors), government require-
ments and regulations, and organizations serving particular disciplines/fields.
For public relations, curricula also should consider the recommendations from
reports shown in Chapter 4 and give particular attention to matters of enroll-
ment demand, diversity and inclusion (Kern-Foxworth, 2015; Landis, 2019;
Tsetsura, 2011), service and experiential learning (Moore, 2013), civic engage-
ment (Woolard, 2017), ethics and law (Gower, 2008), and leadership and busi-
ness management (Smudde, 2015).
When curricula are developed and implemented with student learning as
their nexus, the benefits are that students know what to expect and achieve
so they can organize their time and work, anyone can know a curriculum’s
102 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

objectives meaningfully, learning can be measured, courses can be revised or

created accordingly, and instructors are guided in their teaching (Hubball &
Burt, 2004, p. 53). The enactment of a curriculum through the work of fac-
ulty and unit administration yields the proof of its successfulness. Evaluating a
curriculum’s outcomes, then, based on achieving student-learning objectives
in individual courses and, thereby, the whole curriculum, plus other measures
(e.g., alumni career performance) provides data about which adjustments in any
or all eight matters in the plan should be made for improvements. This topic of
evaluation, also referred to assessment, is the focus of the next chapter.

Instructional Design for Courses

At this point, the development of individual courses for a curriculum is impor-
tant to address as a matter of “instructional design.” Instructional design “is a
discipline in which practitioners constantly look to the findings of other dis-
ciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, communication) to study and improve
methods of developing, delivering, and evaluating instruction and instructional
processes” (Brown & Green, 2011, p. 5). At a personal level, instructional
design also enables one to apply her or his personal philosophy toward effective
teaching and learning about specific material. There are multiple models for
instructional design, and educators choose to use the one that suits their needs
best. Because instructional design models vary in kind and in usability, it is
appropriate to account for the common ground among all models. This com-
mon ground is captured in the metamodel, “ADDIE.” This acronym stands
for each of the five phases of instructional design and “is actually a means
for describing the essential components of any instructional design model”
(Brown & Green, 2011, p. 10; also see Bichelmeyer, 2005; Molenda, 2003,
2004; Peterson, 2003; Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014). A thorough and useful
explanation of the ADDIE model is Welty’s (2007), which is the basis for this
application of the model.
The first phase of the ADDIE metamodel is analyze. This phase “identifies
a performance gap” between what students actually know and what they must
or should know but do not. The best way to begin thinking about closing the
gap is to use an example course: compare students’ current competency in PR
writing to industry demands (e.g., Lane & Johnston, 2016). Research on and
resources for PR writing abound, and an educator can lean on them, her or
his own knowledge and experience, plus the counsel of industry professionals.
The PRE reports summarized in Chapter 4 would be especially useful here.
Depending on where in a curriculum sequence a particular course fits, analysis
should consider prior learning and experience students would have and not have
coming into the course under development/revision. In this phase, too, is the
need to consider the mode of delivery—face-to-face, online, blended, hybrid,
etc.—which matters in all the following phases. Another important aspect
 Curriculum Development and Course Design 103

of this phase is envisioning a dialectic learning environment where students

and teacher collaborate, and where students and the teacher identify with
each other and the subject matter of the principles, practices, and expecta-
tions for writing in the PR industry. For example, a beginning PR writing
course, especially designed constructivistically, would address certain matters
differently or instead of those in an advanced writing course. Specific data and
colleagues’ opinions about student performance in relevant courses (especially
prerequisites) will be needed to gauge the span of the gap between students’
competence and industry demands.
The second phase of the ADDIE metamodel is design, and it involves “a
planned approach to addressing the performance gap [that] is outlined and
approved” because “the learning product [fits] into the larger curriculum.”
The best way to engage in this phase is to use the findings from the analysis
phase to specify desired learning outcomes from the course in PR writing and
work backwards. Fink’s (2013) approach to the design phase is especially use-
ful. His “backward design” process includes five steps: (1) identify situational
factors among the subject, students, teacher, and environment that can help
or hurt learning; (2) establish objectives for student learning by a course’s end
(i.e., addressing the six areas of foundational knowledge, application, inte-
gration, human dimensions, caring, and learning how to learn) so that the
combination of these goals results in significant learning; (3) consider feed-
back and assessment procedures to guide students during their learning; (4)
find appropriate teaching and learning activities that will move the students
progressively and significantly toward fulfilling learning objectives (i.e., the
richer the learning the better); and (5) integrate all these components into a
system that contribute to and support each other. One key result from this
design phase should be a draft syllabus and schedule for the course that lays
out the range of things that will be covered and completed (see Appendix A).
Institutions should have a policy about the minimum content for a syllabus,
and such content would include the following:

• Course number, name, and catalog description

• Instructor’s name, office hours and location, and contact information
• Overview of the course
• Learning objectives
• Instructional material needed (textbook, readings, technology, etc.)
• Reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities or medical/
mental health condition
• Assignments summary
• Course schedule
• Evaluation approach for final grades
• Syllabus change policy
• Policies about attendance, plagiarism, and others as needed
104 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

Creang
A student is able to put together various elements to form a func onal whole,
crea ng a new product or viewpoint. Applicable Verbs: assemble, construct,
design, develop, devise, generate, formulate, organize, rearrange, rewrite, revise

Evaluang
A student can make judgments and jus fy decisions. Applicable Verbs: appraise,
argue, debate, defend, evaluate, judge, measure, select, support, test, verify

Analyzing
A student can dis nguish among parts, how they interrelate, and how they are part of an
overall structure that fulfills a par cular purpose. Applicable Verbs: classify, compare,
contrast, cri cize, differen ate, discriminate, dis nguish, experiment, ques on

Applying
A student can use informa on in a new way. Applicable Verbs: convert, demonstrate,
discover, discuss, drama ze, interpret, illustrate, prepare, solve, use

Understanding
A student can construct meaning from oral, wrien, and visual/graphic messages.
Applicable Verbs: classify, compare, discuss, explain, exemplify, infer, interpret,
paraphrase, summarize

Remembering
A student can recognize and recall relevant knowledge from long-term memory. Applicable
Verbs: define, duplicate, list, memorize, repeat, reproduce

FIGURE 8.2 Bloom’s updated taxonomy

Instrumental in this phase is Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy for organizing learn-

ing objectives from the most basic to most complex (Mackh, 2018). Figure 8.2
illustrates the taxonomy, which is an updated version of the original he created
in 1956 (see Anderson et al., 2001). The taxonomy’s value in course design
is, parallel to and complementary with Fink’s (2013) taxonomy that will be
addressed in Chapter 9, its usefulness in writing specific and measurable learn-
ing objectives based on the level of knowledge, skills, and abilities students
are to build in a course. At each level in Bloom’s taxonomy (see Figure 8.2),
there are particular verbs that would be used to express the specific way learn-
ing outcomes would be recognized when measuring student learning through
assignments. In the figure sample, verbs are listed to spur the writing of learn-
ing objectives. (Larger lists of verbs that are helpful in writing objectives are
findable online too.) For example, essential or foundational learning is at the
most basic level of “remembering” certain things. As Figure 8.2 shows, effec-
tive learning objectives express the learning outcomes in particular terms that
pertain to memory and recall. The next level up is “understanding,” which
requires more complex cognitive activity when constructing meaning about
something and, thereby, can be expressed in a learning objective that focuses
on students truly “getting it.” The approach is very similar as you go up success
 Curriculum Development and Course Design 105

levels in the taxonomy, realizing that the knowledge, skills, and abilities built in
lower levels are essential for extending them and gaining success in higher lev-
els. The trick is making sure the levels targeted for student learning are appro-
priate. Not every level in the taxonomy may be appropriate for every course,
so an instructor must diligently begin with the ultimate learning outcomes for
a curriculum sought and work backwards to connect them with the course’s
learning objectives stated, lessons conducted, and assignments completed.
Meeting learning objectives through well-designed learning objects is next
in the design phase. Specific lessons and assignments that build upon the lessons
are necessary to give students opportunities to play with the course’s content
and learn what they should. The objectives point to the outcomes that students
should realize through their learning under your guidance with instructional
material. For a lesson, begin with what students already know and progressively
build upon it (called “scaffolding”) with new knowledge, skills, and abilities
that pertain through combinations of lecture, discussion, case analysis, prac-
tice/experiment, or other method. In scaffolding (Mackh, 2018, p. 108), after
a teacher situates a learning object in context, she or he demonstrates a topic
through a model or example the students are to understand; facilitates student
learning through a guided activity that can be done individually, in pairs, or in
small groups (see Barkley [2010] and Barkley, Cross, & Major [2005] for exam-
ples); then evaluates how well students did in the activity that, if applied, leads to
an out-of-class assignment. For example, real-world or realistic writing assign-
ments and work situations reveal dimensions about the dynamics and demands
of public relations writing that may otherwise remain hidden (especially because
of any ingrained bad habits) and illustrates the importance of particular points
or orientations about the roles of professional writing in today’s organizations
through a story or two that relates. An excellent source of examples for leading
particular topic-focused lessons is given in Neff and Johnson (2015).
The mode of delivery, as decided in the analyze phase, is addressed in this
design phase. For example, leading a class face-to-face on campus will require
very different approaches than leading a class that is fully online. Designing a
course for any mode still would follow the ADDIE model, yet particular guid-
ance still would be needed for online learning. An excellent framework for
designing courses for effective online learning is offered by Quality Matters
(QM, 2018), which is “an international, U.S.-based, non-profit organization
specializing in standards, processes and professional development for qual-
ity assurance in online and blended learning” (p. 2). By applying research
about effective online teaching and learning, QM has identified best prac-
tices (called “standards”) for online and blended courses in higher education
that are applied according to rubrics that guide course development, facilitate
peer reviews of online courses, and culminate in certification in online course
design. Faculty may enroll in QM programs where they are offered, which can
be directly on institution’s campuses.
106 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

The third phase of the ADDIE metamodel is develop, which includes all
activity needed to bring a learning product (i.e., anything from a whole course
to individual assignments) into being for an educational opportunity. With the
syllabus in hand, the teacher devises the actual learning objects/products, from
lectures, class activities, and experiences to quizzes/tests, assignments, and scor-
ing rubrics. Organizing course material into modules or a similar approach is a
good way to help students in their work and learning while you stay on track.
Given the mode of delivery, this phase can be lengthy because it involves the
development and revision of the very material the teacher and students will use
based on the results of the analyze and design phases (Mackh, 2018). Certain
revisions of the syllabus and course content may be necessary as the teacher
considers situational constraints that may affect the course design and schedule.
For example, the naming of a concept can be key to helping students unlock
the secrets of the writing process in industry settings, and technical terms can
similarly help students become competent in analyzing the writing process as
critics and participants. The essence of the writing process in organizations can
be revealed through various kinds of examples, testimonials, or cases. Framing
selected public relations actions can help students understand their own and
organizations’ orientations toward writing and see how those orientations can
be strengthened or corrected. Assignments must address matters of form so that
students understand and apply the conventions for PR discourse meant for vari-
ous purposes and audiences.
The fourth phase of the ADDIE metamodel is implement. This phase is the
enactment of learning products between a teacher and students. Given what
was prepared for the chosen mode of delivery, all the planning and creating
comes together and should pay off in learning that moves students closer to ful-
filling one or more learning objectives. In a PR writing class, lecture and class
discussion or activities lead to new levels of knowing about industry expec-
tations in process and people management, writing quality, text production
and distribution, reader usability, and continuous improvement procedures for
future texts. Assignments specifically challenge students to think about and
solve specific problems in one or more of these areas, and each assignment
builds in complexity and challenge from its predecessors. Assignments should
require students to demonstrate their command of subject matter by using the
key terms and concepts in context. Assignments should also challenge students
to demonstrate their command of and problem-solving abilities for particular
writing situations and how audiences would respond to the finished work.
The final phase of the ADDIE metamodel is evaluate, and it involves measur-
ing and analyzing the findings about both student learning and the effectiveness/
appropriateness of a learning product. Knowledge about how well students are
learning is gained through various methods, such as direct/indirect, authentic,
and embedded assessment techniques in courses and programs (cf. Allen, 2004;
Barkley & Major, 2016; Kuh et al., 2015). Based on that knowledge, if things could
 Curriculum Development and Course Design 107

be better, educators can make adjustments; and if things work well, educators know
where to capitalize on success. Scoring rubrics can be used for all assignments to
present assessment criteria, such as specific skill sets, effectiveness expectations, and
other requirements with numerical values to indicate varied levels of successful-
ness in meeting learning expectations.When coupled with a teacher’s written and
oral comments, these rubrics are useful tools for showing students how well they
are learning on assignment specific dimensions and according to course-general
learning goals. Such assessments of student proficiency should result in significant
learning during and outside of class, giving students ways to improve their own
work, discuss their performance with the teacher, and talk with their peers about
the work they are doing. Matters of form, following instructions, and applying
discourse conventions would show how well students are progressing in their
mastery of course content through assignments, class participation, etc.
Education is not an either-or business; it is a both-and business (Berry, 2010).
Very broadly speaking, the predominant matters of education concern purpose,
curriculum, teachers’ and students’ roles, learning environment, and measure-
ments of teaching and learning effectiveness. The first matter of purpose varies,
depending on multiple factors, and must be defined for the process of designing
curricula and individual courses. One example of purpose is to bridge theory
and practice. Other purposes can be more specific and detailed, such as those
that enable students to develop appropriate research methods to analyze given
communication situations. The second matter of curriculum concerns what will
be taught and learned in a program of courses leading to a degree. The third
matter of teachers’ and students’ roles focuses on how the two will work together
and the personal expectations in the educational enterprise in which they
engage themselves. The fourth matter of the learning environment covers the
setting and structure in which a teacher and the students will engage in learn-
ing, and that environment is not restricted to a classroom, branching off to
any formal or informal out-of-class engagement in learning. The fifth matter
of measuring teaching and learning (see Chapter 9) concerns obtaining feedback
about teachers teaching and students learning. Such assessments can span the
levels of micro (person) to the mezzo (program curriculum or department) to
the macro (institution).

A Question for You

What are your expectations for being involved in the development of a public relations
curriculum and individual PR courses?

For myself, my only sense of a curriculum in higher education came from the
majors I completed as an undergraduate and my degree programs for my master’s
and doctoral degrees. So, I knew my departments had collections of courses, where
certain ones were arranged in definitive ways to make up particular programs of
108 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

study for the degree levels offered. There also were coursework and credit-hour
requirements to be met at the university level and the department level. So, the
catalog of courses that my universities published and the supplemental material
from my departments guided me in what I needed to do to graduate. I had no
idea about how curricula and their courses were developed and enacted before I
became a full-time academic.
Since I moved into academia full time in 2002, I learned how thorough
the development process is for curricula and individual courses, including
making changes in existing ones let alone creating new ones. In my aca-
demic career, I developed courses myself, benefitting from the guidance of
my department chairs, senior faculty, and my own research and education in
teaching and learning about what I needed to do to have successful course
designs. As I progressed in my academic career, I worked on curriculum
review committees at the department, college, and university levels. Each
level examines curriculum and course proposals according to the purview
it has, but they all tend to the same matters about what a curriculum or
new/revised course must have, say, and achieve. In these committees, I
learned well about the organizational processes. Even though an institu-
tion’s bureaucracy can seem unwieldy, these processes are truly meant to be
helpful at every step of the way and are reasonable and, occasionally, time
consuming.
The more I developed as an educator-scholar and designed and reviewed
curricula and courses, the more I came to see the wisdom of the work and the
process involved. The parallels with strategic planning and resource allocations
that are undertaken in industry were very helpful in doing the right things for
student learning, the departments, and the institutions for which I worked.
Clearly, the analytical thinking and transferrable skills from industry, plus my
own work in curricula at various levels, paid off well.

References
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Anderson, L.W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich,
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9
ASSESSING LEARNING

This chapter addresses the importance of measuring the effectiveness

of teaching and student learning—as a matter as much as for individual
students and professors as well as for whole programs. Assessment likely
may be mandated. A basic approach to academic assessment is presented
as a framework for measuring student learning and the effectiveness of
a public relations program and its courses.

An old saying in business is, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
The same is true in academia, and assessment measures for student learning
are essential. Technically speaking, teachers at all levels have always had to
measure their students’ learning, but only since 1985, with the First National
Conference on Assessment in Higher Education, has assessment of learning
become a formal process (Krider, 2015). Note that assessment of student learn-
ing is not grading. Grading is a mark of a student’s achievement against defined
performance criteria on any given assignment. Assessment examines the effec-
tiveness of a course’s assignments, a whole course, and/or a larger curriculum
in a particular discipline measured against defined learning objectives and out-
comes so that student learning can be documented and improved. The formal
process of academic assessment involves the collection, analysis, reporting, and
application of evidence of student learning gained about academic activity in a
program of study, from the assignment level to the curriculum level (Angelo,
1999; Bollag, 2006; Brown, Bucklow, & Clark, 2002; McDaniel, 2006). Given
the internal and external forces that are at play in the development and sustain-
ing of any academic curriculum (see Chapter 8), the proof that students have
112 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

gained the knowledge, skills, and abilities that institutions and their program
say they gain is necessary because there is little to no acknowledgment of what
they do with what they learn, especially after graduation.

Importance of Assessment
What is unsettling to most faculty is the idea of having to engage in an assess-
ment effort at the operational level that rolls up to the institutional level (see
McDaniel, 2006). The connections between what one does in her/his course
and one’s department are clearer than the connections between one’s course
and the entire institution. The links, however, are there, and administration
and faculty must work together to understand that workability. Figure 9.1
shows an example of the interrelationships among an institution’s levels con-
cerning student learning. The administration must help the faculty “connect
the dots” about how and why assessment done at operational levels must be
aligned and synchronized with institutional-level objectives and goals. Again,
we can’t manage what we don’t measure, and if we don’t measure student learn-
ing effectively from the classroom to the institution, we can’t manage what we
do and how we define the value we contribute as educators and institutions.

INSTITUTION
Graduates of this instuon will be able to
analyze arguments, create and test models,
solve problems, evaluate ideas, and verify
the reasonableness of conclusions.

DEPARTMENT
Upon compleon of the core curriculum,
students will be able to be crical consumers
and sources of informaon in verbal and
visual media across varied contexts.

COURSE
Upon compleon of the course, students
will become credible message creators and
communicaon counselors about parcular
subjects important to their organizaons,
their leaders, and their constuents.

FIGURE 9.1 Institution- to course-level student learning outcomes (Based on

Barkley, E.F. and Major, C.H., Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college
faculty, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 2016, p. 16.)
 Assessing Learning 113

An institution’s strategic plan is the key, and all operating units have their
own ways to fit into that plan that they are responsible to articulate and enact.
Assessment as a formal process applies to a program of study’s role in institu-
tional success. A general approach to assessment by Allen (2004, p. 10), for
example, involves a six-step process:

1. Develop learning objectives.

2. Check for alignment between the curriculum and the objectives.
3. Develop an assessment plan.
4. Collect assessment data.
5. Use results to improve the program.
6. Routinely examine the assessment process and correct, as needed.

This six-step process is a useful framework at an institutional level as it is at a

course or program level. In this process, steps one and two must be designed
to complement the institution’s strategic plan and performance measures like
retention, academic performance, etc. Making assessment more a part of the
daily business of higher-ed institutions makes it easier to do.
Many books, conference papers, and journal articles address approaches
for assessment. That fact is important because we educators must know how
to determine how well students are learning what we plan for them to learn.
This knowledge about student learning is gained through various methods, such
as direct/indirect, authentic, and embedded assessment techniques in courses and
programs (see Allen, 2004; Barkley & Major, 2016; Huba & Freed, 2000; Kuh et al.,
2015; Maki, 2004; Shavelson, 2010; Walvoord, 2004). Based on that knowledge, if
things could be better, educators can and must make adjustments; and if things
work well, educators know where to capitalize on success and avoid problems.
For public relations education, specific treatments of assessment are few.
Chapter 4 showed guidelines for public relations programs at undergraduate
and graduate levels, and those guidelines include references to measuring stu-
dent learning on selected dimensions. Individual scholarship published about
assessment for PRE include measuring student learning through service learn-
ing work completed in the traditional campaigns capstone course (Werder &
Strand, 2011), through evaluating PR students’ value added on the job after
completing specific work-related content (Swart, 2014), through a summary
treatment of salient assessment matters for PRE (Krider, 2015), and through
reflective thinking and feedback about PR gained through a program of study
(Mules, 2018). Assessment is very much a collaborative thing, as all faculty
(especially in a given program) must work well together to plan, measure, ana-
lyze, and improve academic offerings. Assessment also is an individual thing,
as each faculty member must be intellectually, attitudinally, and behaviorally
committed to knowing what works, why, and how to improve it for one’s self,
for students, for the program, for the department, and for the institution.
114 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

Making Assessment Work

Assessment of student learning and program effectiveness at any scale (from
assignment to course to curriculum to institution) is not a one-size-fits-all
thing. Because of the factors involved and covered in the preceding chapters,
any assessment approach must be custom-made. For example, an institution’s
overall objectives for student learning and success are part of the context for
preparing all aspects of a program of study, and, if they apply, external accredi-
tation standards may apply in the context as well. Additionally and centrally,
a curriculum or program of study, such as one for public relations, would
articulate vision, mission, learning objectives, program content, data gathering
and analysis, and other matters. So, a program’s assessment plan, which must
support the institutional (and accreditation) standards, would be necessary to
ensure that individual courses individually and collectively are living up to
expectations and open for improvements as needed.
Even so, there are general principles that are highly useful to devise an
assessment approach that can be suited to the level(s) to be measured—
assignment, course, curriculum, and so on. Although there are multiple
approaches (and many are similar but with subtle differences based on their
authors’ treatments of assessment), Allen’s (2004) process approach for devel-
oping assessment is a solid, general one for assessing student learning and
program effectiveness in public relations education. The process for devel-
oping any assessment approach must be collaborative, especially as multiple
professors can be assigned to lead multiple sections of a given course, which
makes coordinating assessments challenging in larger programs. Following
Allen’s model, there are six steps.

1. Develop learning objectives.

These statements, as the starting point in any assessment approach, are
foundational to all other subsequent matters and activities of assessment,
since they are the criteria upon which success in student learning would be
measured. Learning objectives (introduced in Chapter 8) at the program
level and at the course level are developed and supported among program
faculty. At the program level, any course required in it must fulfill one or
more program-based learning objectives. Program-based learning objec-
tives are holistic for what students should become by the end of their stud-
ies in a curriculum. The following learning objectives come from the PR
program at Illinois State:
• Recall foundational knowledge about the practice, management,
value, and history of public relations.
• Demonstrate competence through application of foundational and
specialized knowledge in particular public relations problems and
discourse.
 Assessing Learning 115

• Construct a view of the profession and its future that integrates lessons
across all realms of experience about public relations.
• Navigate organizational structures and processes for public relations
and beyond.
• Inspire students to care about and value ethical work in a professional
setting in every respect and about the general roles of public relations
technicians and managers/leaders.
• Introduce resources and strategies for life-long learning about effective
and ethical public relations.
• Foster sound skills for effective project management within the public
relations process.
• Apply principles/rules for argumentation, discourse, grammar,
AP style, and APA style correctly and appropriately in written work.
At the course level, while an individual instructor may take the lead in
articulating learning objectives, all program faculty ought to weigh in on
the pertinence of a course’s learning objectives as both a matter of achiev-
ing particular learning objectives among students in and for that course
and as a matter of contributing to the fulfillment of the program’s learn-
ing objectives. An example of course-level learning objectives is given in
Appendix A and are listed here:
• Identify characteristics and practices of internal communications in
organizations.
• Recall and apply key concepts, terms, and principles for the operations
and management of internal communications functions.
• Analyze effective communications functions and recognize “best
practices.”
• Demonstrate command of the process and use of language by analyzing
cases and solving specific communication problems.
• Connect principles and practices about successful communications
within this course and across other courses and students’ experiences.
• Prepare students for work in a professional setting in terms of how
they will be expected to think and act when given internal commu-
nications challenges.
• Nurture an attitude of and introduce resources for life-long learning
about effective internal communications.
How would you arrive at any learning objective? In the writing of learning
objectives, anything reasonable and defensible within the context and pur-
pose of a course or curriculum can be selected and then measured validly and
reliably. In this way, as in the two examples above, the best place to start writ-
ing any learning objective is to think backwards, with the end in mind—the
outcome from student learning through whatever is used, assigned, engaged,
and so on. This technique works whether you are devising a lesson, an
116 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

assignment, a course, or a curriculum. This “backward design” approach,

which as Fink (2013) prescribes, focuses on deep processing. For Fink, learn-
ing is possible only when change occurs in a learner, and learning involves
deep processing such that “significant learning requires that there be some
kind of lasting change that is important in terms of the learner’s life” (p. 34).
The deep processing is possible through six kinds of significant learning,
which are shown and defined concisely in Figure 9.2. Each kind of learning
works individually and, especially, interactively so that significant learning
can be obtained in one or more ways, engaging deep processing of mate-
rial synergistically through one or more kinds of learning at once. Writing
learning objectives, which, in turn, directs how teacher and students engage,
needs pertinent verbs that suit each of the six kinds of significant learning
(e.g., the lists of verbs about Bloom’s taxonomy in Figure 8.2 and available
online can help in this regard) so that learning objectives can be articulated
clearly, concisely, and concretely.

LEARNING
FOUNDATIONAL
HOW TO LEARN
KNOWLEDGE
Becoming a beer Understanding and
student
Inquiring about a subject remembering:
Self-direcng learners Informaon
Ideas

APPLICATION
CARING Skills
Developing new
Feelings SIGNIFICANT Thinking: Crical,
creave, & praccal
Interests LEARNING thinking
Values Managing projects

HUMAN INTEGRATION
DIMENSION Connecng:
Learning about: Ideas
Oneself Learning experiences
Others Realms of life

FIGURE 9.2 Fink’s (2013, p. 35) taxonomy of significant learning

 Assessing Learning 117

To illustrate how assessment can be designed, Appendix A contains

three documents that matter in assessment for a particular course: a syl-
labus, an “assessment manual,” and a sample assignment. The first part of
Appendix A is the syllabus, which includes all the pertinent content men-
tioned in Chapter 8. In terms of assessment, the syllabus shows learning
objectives that are written according to Fink’s taxonomy, cross applying
verbs for Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson et al., 2001; Bloom, 1956) that fit
Fink’s taxonomy (see Fink, 2013, p. 34). The first two objectives pertain
to foundational knowledge, and each of the rest pertain to each of the
remaining kinds of significant learning in Figure 9.2. A diagram of the
course’s design is given to extend these learning objectives into three par-
ticular areas of public relations that matter to the course. Central to the
diagram (Fredstrom, 2012) is the dark box that shows a “transformational
goal,” which is the vision that the learning objectives are to realize for each
student. The transformational goal, similar to a “learning outcome,” is a
vision statement for how a student would be changed when emerging from
the course. Tied to that transformational goal are three categories of study
that pertain to the course and are defined accordingly. Each category of
study ties to multiple learning assessments that are formal (i.e., assigned)
and informal (i.e., observed). The assessment manual addresses each of
these assessment points, and individual assignments are given separately
for formal assessments that enact what is stated for them in the assessment
manual. The syllabus, too, summarizes the utility and importance of for-
mal and informal means of assessment.
Also in Appendix A is an assessment manual, which presents the dia-
gram and the definitions of formal and informal assessments that are in
the syllabus. Most important, the assessment manual summaries of all
the formal and informal points for measuring student learning that sup-
port the learning objectives. Each assessment point is structured simi-
larly, stating an assessment point’s purpose; the outcome in terms of
knowledge, skill, or ability acquired; the input required of the student
from one or more kinds of significant learning employed; and the output
expected. These summaries guide the creation of individual assignments
that are presented in detail separately to students. The manual also helps
students grasp the core matters about how their learning develops from
the work they do.
The last part of Appendix A includes one example assignment that
connects with the assessment manual and the syllabus, and the assign-
ment includes a rubric of the evaluation criteria to measure learning
based on the output created that supports the course’s learning objectives
and reflects on the program’s learning objectives. In terms of background
on the assignment and why it is used, it is a real-world case that, along
with others, was used in class to spur discussion about any given day’s
118 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

concepts, principles, or practices. The assignment is designed to build

upon the students’ learning experiences throughout the course to culmi-
nate in a final product they submit at the end of the semester. The sched-
ule in the syllabus shows when the assignment is given so students could,
at the close of each class meeting, write notes and ideas about the day’s
(and previous days’) material that would apply to solving the problem in
this case. This case was the only part given to the students without any
further information about the assignment. Definitions of key terms about
the subject were also given to the students the first day it was assigned.
Later on, the full assignment would be given to all students, and they
would form teams of four (or so) students to complete the project by its
due date at the semester’s end. In terms of assessment, the rubric measures
how well a student learned and executed on the salient matters of the
course that are sought in the assignment because it is a capstone project
for the course. In this way, the assignment would be seen to fulfill one
or more learning objectives for the course. The assignment itself, when
examined for its fit with program learning objectives, would be mea-
sured for the degree to which it fulfills one or more program learning
objectives.
Depending on how a department or school is organized, a program
may have a coordinator who manages all aspects of the program, from
leading course design efforts to scheduling of classes. Alternatively, the
department/school chair may be the point person for managing the pro-
gram. And in either case, there likely will be a review process among fac-
ulty to decide whether to approve or deny course and program changes.
Such a process would be articulated in the unit’s policies and procedures
documents.
2. Check for alignment between the curriculum and the objectives.
With the objectives articulated, the next step is to make sure what is
planned to be covered in a course or a curriculum meets those objectives.
An easy way to check for alignment between what is offered and what
is expected can be done, for example, at the curriculum level (i.e.,
organizing courses versus program learning objectives) or at the course
level (i.e., organizing assignments versus the course’s learning objec-
tives). Figure 9.3 shows a very general design for a matrix to determine
where and how learning objectives align among a curriculum’s courses
or among a course’s assignments, depending on which level of assess-
ment is the subject. For each course or assignment, a learning objective
can be shown simply as addressed or, if more detail is desired, shown for
the level of proficiency (i.e., introduced in concept, applied in a form of
practice, or demonstrated in problem-based outputs) with a correspond-
ing code for each level.
 Assessing Learning 119

Course or LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Assignment 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Title 1 X X X
Title 2 X X
Title 3 X X X
Title 4 X X
Title 5 X X X X X

FIGURE 9.3 Assessment matrix example (simple approach)

With the matrix in place, the content of individual courses can

be accomplished, focusing on in-class and out-of-class work that
enables student learning in tune with one or more learning objectives.
The assessment manual in Appendix A is one way of making such con-
nections during course planning and implementation. All along the way,
linkages to support services for student learning, facilities, technologies,
and other matters can be identified and applied. Additionally, particular
aspects about teaching methods, grading approaches, and other relevant
matters can be discussed among faculty to make improvements based on
their shared experiences leading courses.
3. Develop an assessment plan.
Whether the subject of focus is one course or a whole curriculum/
program, a plan to assess its effectiveness—its successfulness in fulfilling
learning objectives—is needed. Example assessment plans can be found
easily enough on the Internet and be quite helpful in designing an appro-
priate plan for a given program. The framework for an assessment plan can
be whatever works within the context of the institution’s requirements,
accreditation standards, and program vision and mission. Indeed, the most
basic contents for an assessment plan are vision, mission, learning objec-
tives, program content, data gathering and analysis, and other necessary
matters.
The crux of an assessment plan is to articulate how pertinent data about
student learning and program effectiveness at any level will be gathered
and, then, analyzed. From individual samples of students’ completed
assignments in courses, to focus groups of alumni, to surveys of employers
of program graduates, to analyses of competing institutions’ programs, the
data can be anything that is reasonable and defensible, plus the methodol-
ogy must be valid (i.e., measure only what is supposed to be measured)
and reliable (i.e., measures what is supposed to be measured every time).
If your institution has a unit that is focused on assessment, it would be
best to work with it from the outset, as that unit will know well what the
requirements are and the “best practices” that can help you. The experts
in this unit or other appropriate unit, such as institutional research, would
120 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

also provide guidance about any ethical and legal matters that may be nec-
essary to address, such as if the data and findings gained through human
subjects was to be published in some way. As long as data are used solely
in any effort to improve an academic program, the work is exempt from
institutional review for involving human subjects.
4. Collect assessment data.
The assessment data come from two kinds of measurements: direct and
indirect assessments of student learning. These measurements taken at the
course and student levels are necessary for measuring program effectiveness
as well. There are various ways to apply these assessments of student learn-
ing (in synch with standards for public relations education; see Chapter 4),
with direct assessment being the most essential.
Data gathered from direct assessments of students’ work come
from tangible evidence of what students have and have not learned
(see “Assessment Manual” in Appendix A). Methods for direct assessment
include tests and quizzes, comprehensive exams, oral exams, interviews,
papers, projects, case analyses, performances, exhibitions, and portfo-
lios. These direct assessments at the course and student levels (“micro-
level”) would reveal the following evidence that course objectives are
met; prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are retained and
applied from prior coursework; foundational knowledge is covered and
applied; areas for continuous improvement are identified and addressed
(strengths, weaknesses, recommendations); and assignments cultivate
many/most KSAs that are necessary and sufficient for new professionals
(see Chapter 4 for standards for PRE and, if they apply, accreditation
standards). The use of rubrics in direct assessments (see example assign-
ment in Appendix A) would be instrumental in codifying the criteria
on which students’ work would be evaluated within the specific con-
text of given assignments and within the broader context of an overall
course and its learning objectives. Faculty would need to retain copies
of all rubrics for all students’ assignments (i.e., digital copies preferred)
so that data about student performance can be used to drill down into
what works and what doesn’t work in courses and the PR program by
tracking performance over time, at least in terms of standards for PRE
presented in Chapter 4.
Data gathered from indirect assessments of student learning (see
“Assessment Manual” in Appendix A) are “proxy signs” outside of course-
based assignments that show students probably learned content, especially
through the reference points in standards given in Chapter 4. Methods for
indirect assessment include student and alumni surveys, interviews, focus
groups, and reflective essays; feedback about interns’ performance (also
can serve as direct evidence when coupled with a specific performance
rubric); program reputation and quality; selected items from faculty course
 Assessing Learning 121

evaluations; retention and graduation rates; job placements; career advance-

ments; honors and awards; and anecdotal information from individuals related
to the program in any way. Depending on a course’s design and learning
objectives, certain stakeholders would serve as assessors of student learning
through direct and indirect measures of students’ work, and those assessors
can be faculty (of course the class instructor), students, class clients (i.e., in
service learning context), internship/field experience supervisors, alumni,
and employers of graduates.
5. Use results to improve the program.
With all the data collected and sorted, now is the time to make them make
sense and add value by improving things where possible. So, this fifth step
is all about data analysis and reporting. The best mindset for this step is
simplicity in the approach and temper it with effectiveness in examining
what is being measured and directness in drawing inferences and mak-
ing recommendations. The ultimate goal in this step is to make complex
information about student learning and program effectiveness—all of
which reflect back on the pertinent learning objectives—meaningful in
concise, concrete, and compelling ways. An important concern in this step
is deciding in advance how any outcomes (especially negative ones) would
be addressed so there is not a personal attack on anyone.
Data for analysis come from the sources used in the previous step in
the assessment process. Depending on the methods used for gathering
data, multiple assessment techniques are permissible that illuminate what
the data mean in comparison to the learning objective(s) they measure.
Examples of such data-analysis techniques are content analyses of verbal
data gained in surveys, interviews, and focus groups; and another is scoring
rubrics about whether or how well course content fulfills stated learning
objectives.
Any approach for coding data (called a “coding scheme”) ought to be
tested before it is employed. Such a “pilot test” involves, for example,
people working in teams of two or three to discuss a sample of data with
the coding scheme to arrive at consensus about findings from the sample.
Any discrepancies that team members have can be remedied through
discussion about problems and agreement on solutions, resulting in any
adjustments in the coding scheme for when it is actually used to analyze
data. In such data-analysis techniques, the reliability of the people cod-
ing the data must be measured. The reason is that subjective judgments
are made based on stated criteria (i.e., learning objectives), which are
the substance of the data analysis. So, the pilot test functions to deter-
mine inter-rater reliability (IRR) to demonstrate whether there is a high
degree of consistency (i.e., what is being measured is measured each time
by whomever is involved) in everyone’s use of the analysis method on the
dataset being analyzed.
122 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

Very simply, IRR can be determined by having coders rate a small sam-
ple of data with the pertinent coding scheme. The number of times coders
gave identical ratings in a sample of data is compared to the number of times
they gave differing ratings by, say, one point and by two points and so on,
depending on the rating scale. A simple calculation for IRR is based on the
coders’ agreements versus disagreements (see Statistics How To, 2019), and
the result is a percentage, the closer it is to 1.0 (perfect agreement) the better,
with any IRR score in the .90s indicating high reliability. (Depending on
the kind of data used and the number of coders, a more complex calculation,
like Cohen’s Kappa, can be used instead.) If the IRR is not satisfactory, the
method needs some correction to the coding scheme to remove the incon-
sistencies between coders, then coders need to be retrained, and the scheme
needs to be retested, making changes in the scheme as needed. Once IRR
is shown to be satisfactory and the method for applying the coding scheme
is robust, the full analysis of all data can begin.
With the data analyzed, a report on the findings is needed. Such a report
should be simple and direct, summarizing the assessment’s purpose(s) in the
context of the assessment plan, method(s) in obtaining data, approach(s) for
analyzing data, and findings, recommendations for action, and any outcomes
obtained from implementing recommendations. The master organizational
approach for the report’s section about findings, recommendations, and out-
comes should be the learning objectives that pertain to the level at which
the assessment was conducted (i.e., assignment, course, or curriculum/
program). Explanations about what data were collected and used for each
learning objective put the findings in context so that meaningful inferences
can be drawn that support sound recommendations for corrective action,
if such action is needed. Again, great care should be taken in advance in
being ready to handle negative outcomes/findings so that the possibility
of personal attacks is eliminated and the greater good for students and the
program is addressed.
6. Routinely examine the assessment process and correct, as needed.
Continuous improvement is a key concept in education as much as in indus-
try. Having an assessment plan and using it well matter. From individual
instructors to program faculty to department/school leaders, to university
administration, there must be a positive and supportive environment and
infrastructure for assessment. Programs for orientation to and training in
assessment of student learning are essential so that anyone who wants and
needs to measure the effectiveness of programs, courses, and assignments
can do it well. Assessment, then, should be routine, as instructors collect
needed data that suit their assessment plans and, most important, discuss
what they see and prepare for the next periodic round of formal analysis
and reporting of assessment data. Overall, the point to assessment is to
 Assessing Learning 123

ensure student learning results on the order of the stated learning objectives
related to assignments, courses, and programs. Stagnation and complacency
are not options! As factors change in a field—much like communication
technology changes affect the work of public relations professionals—the
purposes, content, and approaches to educating students can change and be
measured for effectiveness through a revised assessment plan. And so the
cycle continues.

A Question for You

What are your feelings about and expectations for assessing students’ learning?

In my experience, the complexity of academic assessment is like anything else

of such importance, and it becomes internalized over time. I found early on
that many faculty detest assessment because they see it as a major interruption
to what they were hired to do—teach, produce scholarship or creative works,
and serve the greater good on and off campus. Plus many believe what they
do is enough for their classes, and the whole idea of academic assessment is
(at best) window dressing and (at worst) some dastardly effort to find out who
is not working hard enough so programs and their respective personnel can be
cut. The lure of conspiracy theories exists in academia too. To me, having come
from industry, I could understand the impetus for such negative attitudes but
disavow them for a more prudent perspective about why assessment matters, for
example, from the micro level (individual students and faculty) to the macro
levels (alumni success and institutional reputation).
The raw idea of measuring student learning and the effectiveness of assign-
ments, courses, and programs/curricula was intriguing to me because it par-
alleled what I knew from industry, but I had never thought of that before
becoming a full-time academic. Participating in workshops about, reading
sources on, and designing and working through academic assessments was
highly valuable. The importance for truly knowing how good something is and
demonstrating that goodness to others is very important, especially to outside
constituents. Outsiders to academia tend to think they know what goes on in
colleges and universities, operating on vague assumptions as if they are truths
of the reality of higher education. (Recall the content of Chapter 3.) Even
insiders to our own institutions can assume too much, if they choose to live by
assumptions alone.
The upshot, then, is that assessment of student learning and program/
curriculum effectiveness results in tangible, meaningful, actionable, and com-
pelling demonstrations of what educators and students do together that results in
significant learning and, thereby, added value to society. Assessment also shows
how we can become better and stronger and with what resources to help us get
124 Approaches for Teaching and Learning PRE

there, thereby being essential to the business case for whatever is needed. So,
assessment is just as much an educational effort as anything else teachers do. As
long as professors are the ones who are enabling student learning, their work in
demonstrating that outcome is essential.

References
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P. R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M. C. (Eds.) (2001). A taxonomy of learning, teaching, and
assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives (Complete ed.). New York:
Longman.
Angelo, T. A. (1999). Doing assessment as if learning matters most. AAHE Bulletin, 51(9),
3–6.
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college
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of teaching, improving the experience of learning and supporting innovation in higher
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Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing
college courses (revised & updated ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fredstrom, T. (2012). Reinvent your course. Normal, IL: Illinois State University.
Huba, M. E., & Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on college campuses. Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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(Eds.), Learning to teach: What you need to know to develop a successful career as a public
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America.
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Kinzie, J. (Eds.) (2015). Using evidence of student learning to improve higher education. San
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 Assessing Learning 125

Swart, C. (2014). An assessment of work-integrated learning or public relations in an open

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APPENDIX A: EXAMPLE
COURSE-MANAGEMENT
DOCUMENTS

This appendix presents selected documents that can help in designing and
assessing assignments, courses, or curricula. A companion website for this book
would have the documents here and others for download.

COM 373 INTERNAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

School of Communication
Illinois State University
Fall Semester

Class Meetings: TT 3:35-4:50 in Fell 148

Lead Student: Peter M. Smudde, PhD, APR
Office: 449 Fell Hall
Office Hours: M-Th 1-3 and by appointment
Office Phone: (309) 438-7339
E-mail: psmudde@ilstu.edu

Catalog Course Description

Principles and practices for communicating with organizations’ internal
audiences. Investigation includes nonprofit, profit, government, and non-
government organizations. Can be taken for graduate credit. Prerequisites:
COM 111; COM 229 strongly recommended.
(Continued)
128 Appendix A

Course’s Specific Focus

This course is an elective for public relations majors and, for graduate stu-
dents, can be taken for graduate credit. The course is focused on internal
communications, which follows accepted practices in public relations for com-
municating with organizational members, employees, retirees, and others
deemed “internal” or members of an organization’s “family.” In this way, we
also explore globalization communication within organizations’ communities.
Accordingly, this course will examine the purposes, processes, and products
of internal communications efforts within many types of organizations, includ-
ing companies/corporations, nonprofits, non-governmental organizations,
and so on. Theory and practice from the interrelated fields of public relations,
human resources, and organizational communication will be bridged through
class discussions, readings, and assignments. Course material will be managed
largely through ReggieNet and linked with Web-based resources.

Learning Objectives
1. Identify characteristics and practices of internal communications in
organizations.
2. Recall and apply key concepts, terms and principles for the operations
and management of internal communications functions.
3. Analyze effective communications functions and recognize “best
practices.”
4. Demonstrate command of the process and use of language by analyz-
ing cases and solving specific communication problems.
5. Connect principles and practices about successful communications
within this course, across other courses and students’ experiences.
6. Prepare students for work in a professional setting in terms of how they
will be expected to think and act when given internal communications
challenges.
7. Nurture an attitude of and introduce resources for life-long learning
about effective internal communications.

These learning objectives will be fulfilled by focusing on three dimen-

sions of internal public relations (iPR): operations understanding, strate-
gic planning, and professionalism. The combination of these dimensions
and the realization of learning objectives will result in one transforma-
tional goal for the course. To meet the course’s transformational goal,
(Continued)
 Appendix A 129

work in the three dimensions (shown in the ovals in the diagram below)
has its own series of assessments of your learning. Each of the three
dimensions involves measuring your learning in various ways, some of
which are used in more than one dimension. Specific instructions about
each assignment are given separately in ReggieNet, and any additional
guidance shall be given in class and individually as needed. (See the
“Learning Assessments” section below.) The following diagram shows
how the dimensions (and their associated learning objectives) lead into
the transformational goal.

Discourse
Research Examples & iPR Project
Paper Analysis (team-based)

Class
Job Cizenship
Descripon
Paper Operaons Understanding:
Discriminate among the Exams
various operaonal
Learning demands of iPR.
Growth APA Style Quiz

Aendance COM 373

Transformaonal Goal:
Research
Become a valuable and
Class Paper Discourse
valued internal PR (iPR)
Cizenship Examples &
counselor for any
organizaon. Analysis

Deadlines Professionalism: Strategic Planning:

Met Prepare self to represent Organize material and
and defend iPR inside an informaon for effecve iPR Project
organizaon. iPRstrategic planning. (team-based)
Job Descripon
Paper
iPR Project
(team-based) Class Learning
Exams Life-long Cizenship Growth
Exams
Learning

Continued Enrollment
Your enrollment in this class constitutes agreement with all aspects of
this syllabus and any additions or alterations that may be made to it
during the course of the semester. Additions and alterations include
announcements I post for the class in ReggieNet or announce in class,
and additions and alternations include e-mail sent to class members.
Such additions and alterations include information about the course,
assignments, and so on. These announcements and e-mail are equally
important when it comes to evaluating your work because announce-
ments may contain clarifications or other help that fit within assign-
ments’ requirements.
(Continued)
130 Appendix A

Required Texts
• American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of
the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC:
Author. [NOTE: Purchase the second or later printing]
• Associated Press. (2011). The Associated Press stylebook and briefing
on media law. New York, NY: Author. [Also available as an iPhone/
iPad app.]
• D’Aprix, R. (2009). The credible company: Communicating with today’s
skeptical workforce. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Quirke, B. (2008). Making the connections: Using internal communication
to turn strategy into action (2nd ed.). Burlington, VT: Gower.

Required Readings (accessible through ReggieNet)

• Berger, B. K. (2011, October 11). Employee communication: Let’s
move from knowing to doing. The 2011 Grunig Lecture given at the
PRSA International Conference, Orlando, FL. [manuscript]
• Burton, K., Grates, G., & Learch, C. (2013). Best-in-class practices in
employee communication: Through the lens of 10 global leaders. Gainesville,
FL: Institute for Public Relations. Retrieved from http://www.institute-
forpr.org/best-in-class-practices-in-employee-communication/
• Clampitt, P. G. (2010). Scrutinizing ethical issues. In P. G. Clampitt
(Ed.), Communicating for managerial effectiveness: Problems, strategies,
solutions (4th ed., pp. 45–70). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
• Heyman Associates (2006, December). New technology primer. Positioning.
New York, NY: Author. Retrieved from http://heymanassociates.com/sites/
heyman/files/themes/files/web/images/Positioning_Dec2006.pdf
• Holtz, S. (2004). Types of employee communications. In S. Holtz (Ed.),
Corporate conversations: A guide to crafting effective and appropriate
internal communications (pp. 35–53). New York, NY: AMACOM.
• Jensen, B. (1995, August). Are we necessary? The case for dismantling
corporate communication. Communication World, 14–18, 30.
• Morris, T., & Goldsworthy, S. (2008). Internal communications: A case
of PR or propaganda? In T. Morris & S. Goldsworthy (Eds.), PR: A per-
suasive industry?: Spin, public relations, and the shaping of the modern
media (pp. 129–135). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan
• Nevill, C. (2011). New values for a new workplace. In T. L. Gillis (Ed.),
The IABC handbook of organizational communication: A guide to inter-
nal communication, public relations, marketing, and leadership (2nd ed.,
pp. 471–478). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 131

• Parkinson, M. G., Ekachai, D., & Hetherington, L. T. (2001). Public rela-

tions law. In R. L. Heath & G. Vasquez (Eds.), Handbook of public rela-
tions (pp. 247–257). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Ruck, K., & Welch, M. (2012). Valuing internal communication:
Management and employee perspectives. Public Relations Review, 38,
294–302.
• Smudde, P. M., & Courtright, J. L. (2010). Public relations and power.
In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Handbook of public relations (2nd ed., pp. 177–189).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Smudde, P. M., & Courtright, J. L. (2012). A foreword about “generic”
public relations. In P. M. Smudde & J. L. Courtright (Eds.), Inspiring
cooperation & celebrating organizations: Genres, message design & strat-
egy in public relations (pp. 1–14). New York, NY: Hampton Press.
• Smudde, P. M., & Courtright, J. L. (2012). Framework: Reasons for a
generic perspective. In P. M. Smudde & J. L. Courtright (Eds.), Inspiring
cooperation & celebrating organizations: Genres, message design & strat-
egy in public relations (pp. 15–38). New York, NY: Hampton Press.
• Smudde, P. M., & Courtright, J. L. (2012). Appendix: Families of pub-
lic relations discourse genres. In P. M. Smudde & J. L. Courtright (Eds.),
Inspiring cooperation & celebrating organizations: Genres, message design &
strategy in public relations (pp. 219–220). New York, NY: Hampton Press.
• Whitworth, B. (2011). Internal communication. In T. L. Gillis (Ed.),
The IABC handbook of organizational communication: A guide to inter-
nal communication, public relations, marketing, and leadership (2nd ed.,
pp. 195–206). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Woodall, K. (2011). The future of business communication. In T. L. Gillis
(Ed.), The IABC handbook of organizational communication: A guide to
internal communication, public relations, marketing, and leadership (2nd
ed., pp. 514–529). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Outside Preparation
Plan on spending between six to nine hours (or more, depending on how
you learn) each week outside of class on your work for this course. (See
ISU’s Credit Hour Policy 4.1.19. Also see “Time Management/Credit Hour
Policy” for weekly and daily breakdown.) You will need this time to com-
plete assigned readings, prepare for class, write papers, develop team proj-
ects, and study for exams. You are expected to read, think critically about,
and prepare three to five comments or questions about the material before
coming to each class meeting. See my “Welcome” note in ReggieNet.
(Continued)
132 Appendix A

Learning Assessments
Assessment of students’ learning against the course’s objectives shall be
done through a combination of learning assessments:

• Informal/Ungraded Assessments—I can measure how well you are

learning in process by observing, listening to, and talking with you.
These data reveal your personal processes, attitudes, and other mat-
ters that are part of how and how well you learn. Examples include
chatting about course material before and during class, the quality
of questions and discussion in class, the amount of sharing/disclo-
sure, learning ownership, assignment discussion, visits with me, and
attitude.
• Formal/Graded Assessments—I can measure how well you can apply
your learning by evaluating the work you produce in response to spe-
cific assignments. This work is what is graded and used to determine
your final, overall level of mastery of the course’s material by course’s
end. Graded assessments will be presented separately but summarized
below. They also are listed in the grading policy.
✓ APA Style Quiz: One 50-point quiz of 25 questions; take-home;
open book.
✓ Papers: One 100-point and one 200-point paper will be assigned
in this course. They are due on the dates shown in the “Course
Schedule.” You must apply critical thinking skills about the con-
cepts covered in this course to specifically and thoroughly address
the problems given in the assignments. The papers will be assigned
separately in class. I encourage you to visit with me early and often
to make sure you’re “on track” with the papers. Research papers
must conform to APA style as stated above.
✓ iPR Discourse Examples: You will collect a number of real-world,
different, and individual examples of internal public relations
(iPR) discourse for use in class. The examples will be due on the
date in the course schedule when we cover “Discourse approach
to iPR.” The collection of examples will be scored based on
several factors that will be explained separately in the formal
assignment.
✓ iPR Project: You will work in small teams on an internal public rela-
tions project worth 200 points. The project will entail research and
(Continued)
 Appendix A 133

problem-solving analysis that will lead to the formulation of a sound

iPR solution, featuring “real-world” business writing components.
This project will be assigned separately in class. As with anything in
the class, I encourage you to visit with me early and often to make
sure you’re “on track.”
✓ Exams: Two 50-question, 100-point exams will be given—one
at midterm and one during finals week. The exams will cover
selected material from the readings and class meetings up to
their respective points in the semester and are designed to
assess your learning in terms of your recall of concepts and their
application. The exams will have multiple-choice and true-false
items. Exam items will feature short scenarios that require you
to think critically about what’s going on and how to approach
communications opportunities as a project leader or depart-
ment/agency manager.

Graduate Students
In addition to the assignments listed in the “Learning Assessments” sec-
tion, graduate students will develop a research project germane to the
content of this course and suitable for submission to an academic conven-
tion. I must approve topics. Details are given separately on ReggieNet,
and the basic assignment includes three parts that will be graded indi-
vidually: a written proposal (2–3 pages), literature review (6–7 pages),
and final paper (17–19 pages), which are due at different points in the
semester (i.e., each third of the semester), and the student will work with
me to determine due dates.

Course Grading Policy

Final grades are assigned on the basis of accumulation of points compared
to the set scale below, not percentages. I do not “curve” grades on any
assignment or exam, nor do I “curve” final course grades. I evaluate the end
products of your work, not effort. Students are encouraged to keep track
of the points they have accumulated, and your grades will be posted on
ReggieNet so you can monitor your performance, which I encourage you to
do frequently. If I make an error in grading, I’ll always apologize and make
(Continued)
134 Appendix A

things right. Here is a breakdown of the point values for the assignments
in this course:

Assignment Available points Earned points

APA Quiz 50
iPR Jobs Survey Paper 100
Research Paper 200
iPR Discourse Examples 50
iPR Project 200
Exam #1 100
Exam #2 100
GRADUATE STUDENTS:
Project Proposal 50
Lit Review 100
Final Product 200
High-tech Device Violations 0 (–5 ea.)
Perfect Attendance Bonus 20
Total Points U’grads 800
Total Points Grads 1,150

I will reveal scores in the ReggieNet grade book only after I return the graded
assignments. If you disagree with my evaluation of your work, please see
me during office hours within one week after I have returned your work.
I will not discuss grades at any other time thereafter.
I do not “round up” or “round down” points toward final course grades,
except in cases for fractions of points, and at that rate, I use conventional
rounding procedures, e.g., 839.5 could be rounded to 840, but 839.3
would be rounded to 839. The following scale will be used to determine
final grades for undergraduate students:

A = 728–800 B = 648–727 C = 568–647 D = 488–567 F = 0–487

The following scale will be used to determine final grades for graduate
students:

A = 1047–1150 B = 932–1046 C = 817–931 D = 702–816 F = 0–701

For both scales note that the lowest “A” was calculated at 91% of the total
possible points and rounded up, the lowest “B” at 81% and rounded up, and
(Continued)
 Appendix A 135

so on. I reserve the right to revise all or part of this grading scale, and any
revisions would be announced in class. You are responsible for obtaining any
such revisions.
If the calculation for your final grade is within 0.02 points of the
next-highest grade, I will consider lifting your final letter grade to the next
letter, if and only if your scores on all assignments since the beginning of
the semester have consistently improved. If you earned a grade of “F” on
any assignment at any time in the semester, this policy will not be applied.
Incompletes will be granted only when a documented emergency pre-
vents you from completing the class, you contacted the Dean of Students
Office, and you have successfully completed at least approximately two-
thirds (66%) of the course’s assignments.

Special Needs
Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a docu-
mented disability should contact Disability Concerns, Fell 350, 438-5853
(voice), 438-8620 (TDD).

Course Outline [R] = ReggieNet

Date Topics & assignments Readings & assignments due

8/23 Introduction to course. “Learning Visit ReggieNet. Print & read

to learn.” syllabus. Get books.
8/25 APA style, research papers & APA manual familiarity. “Essential
English usage. Assign APA quiz Skills for PR Majors” (in-class
Q&A)
8/30 What is internal PR? Whitworth [R]. D’Aprix
Assign job description paper prologue & ch. 1
9/1 What is internal PR’s value to APA quiz due. Jensen [R];
organizations? Quirke ch. 1.
Give out iPR project case only for
note-taking.
9/6 Role & Approaches of Persuasion “Persuasion Campaign
(HHH) Models” [R]
9/8 What are ethical, legal & power Clampitt [R]; Parkinson et al. [R];
dimensions? Smudde & Courtright (2010) [R]
9/13 How does internal PR fit Quirke ch. 2; “IPR Best
strategically? Writing Objectives, In Class” [R]
Strategies & Tactics. Assign
research paper
(Continued)
136 Appendix A

Date Topics & assignments Readings & assignments due

9/15 D’Aprix’s INFORMS model for D’Aprix ch 2–3

internal PR
9/20 D’Aprix’s INFORMS model for Job description paper due.
internal PR D’Aprix ch 4–5
9/22 D’Aprix’s INFORMS model for D’Aprix ch 6–7
internal PR
ME study guide. Assign iPR discourse
examples.
9/27 Personal meetings on paper (by Draft paper
appointment)
9/29 Personal meetings on paper (by Draft paper
appointment)
10/4 D’Aprix’s INFORMS model for D’Aprix ch 8 & Epilogue; Ruck &
internal PR Welch [R]
Exam Prep Discussion
10/6 Guest Speaker: Jennifer Detweiler
10/11 Discourse approach to internal Research paper due. Smudde &
PR, including class exercise on Courtright (2012) [R]; Holtz
discourse types and uses. (2004) [R]; Heyman Associates
(2006) [R]
10/13 Midterm Exam (8/30–10/4)
10/18 Midterm Exam Redemption Bring all course material
10/20 Going global & restructuring. Quirke ch 3
Assign the rest of the iPR project.
10/25 Leading engagement Quirke ch 4
10/27 Making change happen iPR discourse examples due.
Quirke ch 5
11/1 Guest Speaker: Rachel Moore Burton, Grates & Learch [R]
11/3 Business Writing. FE study guide. “Business Writing Truths” [R];
“Elements of Business
Writing” [R]; “Seven Cs of
Effective Communication” [R];
Quirke ch. 4.
11/8 Personal meetings on iPR project (by appointment)
11/10 Personal meetings on iPR project (by appointment)
11/15 Engaging employees face-to-face Quirke ch 6
11/17 Communication initiatives/ Quirke ch 7
projects &
11/21–25 Thanksgiving Holiday Break
11/29 Planning and managing Quirke ch 8
communication
(Continued)
 Appendix A 137

Date Topics & assignments Readings & assignments due

12/1 Repositioning the role of internal PR Quirke ch 9; Berger [R]

12/6 Measuring impact iPR project due. Quirke ch 10;
Ruck & Welch [R]
12/8 Future of internal PR Morris & Goldsworthy [R];
Exam Prep Discussion Nevill [R]; Woodall [R]
12/13 Final Exam (7:50–9:50 a.m.)

NOTE: We may alter this course schedule and other aspects of this syllabus as the course
­progresses. You are responsible for noting any such changes, which will be announced in class
and/or posted on ReggieNet.

COURSE POLICIES

In this course, I challenge you to strive for perfection (or at least near per-
fection) in your work. Why? The answer is that your bosses, peers, and,
especially, clients will expect that from you throughout your career. So, this
course, like the others you’ve taken, is designed to extend your knowledge,
strengthen your analytical skills, and refine your work habits. This course,
then, challenges you to think, work, and produce discourse that would rival
that of full-time professionals. To manage matters in this course, the several
policy areas given below.

Class Civility
The following 12 points are habits that, should you choose to employ them,
can help you become successful in this course and contribute to a great
learning environment for all of us. The 12 points are not individually or col-
lectively any kind of guarantee about grades you may earn for the course.
They make up a prescription for you to effectively manage your work and
learn the material in this course.

1. Read, take notes on, develop comments and questions about, and seri-
ously think about the assigned readings before coming to class.
2. Print the appropriate PowerPoint slides (multiple slides per sheet) for
note taking—what we say between the lines and graphics is more
meaningful. And truly use the relevant resources on ReggieNet prior to
attending class. It’s also okay to do additional reading and research!
(Continued)
138 Appendix A

3. Complete assignments/activities to prepare for class.

4. Arrive on-time and attend all classes.
5. Offer helpful comments during discussions and activities and encour-
age comments from your fellow classmates.
6. Treat everyone with respect.
7. Participate in course activities with enthusiasm and interest. Attitude is key.
8. Be attentive while others are talking or presenting.
9. Only engage in class activities during class.
10. Ensure all electronic devices are turned off during class.
11. Take good notes during class meetings.
12. Visit with me, work with each other, and seek help from students
who’ve taken the class before to learn the material outside of class.

You also are expected to be familiar with ISU’s Code of Student Conduct.
Concerning online course content, you also are expected to be familiar with
and apply principles of Communication/Netiquette.

Cell Phones, Laptops, and Other Devices

Very recent research shows that taking notes by hand with pen/pencil and
paper results in far better learning than when taking notes on a digital
devise. Even so, you may bring and use a laptop or tablet computer with
wireless connectivity during class, but please use it only to help you in
your learning this class’ content and not surf the Web, check e-mail, or
do any other non-class-related stuff. If you find something useful, please
share it with the class. Turn off the volume, and no ear phones are allowed.
Please turn off all other electronic devices while attending class. If your
phone or pager goes off in class, or if you are using a high-tech device that I
have not approved for use in this class, you will automatically lose 5 points for
each occurrence. See me before class if you must have your cell phone on
because of a legitimate need to do so. You may use a device only with my
approval.

Class Format
We all are students. This class bridges theory and practice, and it relies
heavily on discussion and your participation. Topics and appropriate read-
ings are planned for each meeting, and we may pursue other avenues in our
(Continued)
 Appendix A 139

investigation of public relations. You are expected to read and think critically
about the material for each class, which will be important to succeeding in the
assignments and exams. See our “Welcome” note and our philosophies of teach-
ing and learning in ReggieNet.
In this course, I like to connect the dots between theory and practice
because they inform and rely on each other. Also, in the design of this
course, I apply many of the practices and demands of the “real world”
so you can become prepared for how you will be managed in your jobs.
Lessons and skills in writing, critical thinking, and communication from
other classes will be important.

Class Meetings
The following are policies about specific matters for class meetings.

• Starting On Time—The official starting time for class meetings is not

your arrival time. Come early! We will begin on time, and this is why
your assignments are due before/by the official starting time of class as
stated in the semester schedule. Remember this and act on it: “Early is
on time. On time is late. Late is unacceptable.”
• Finishing Early—Whenever we finish our class meetings early, this still
can be an important time for you to help your own learning at an indi-
vidual level. Visit with me, talk with each other, or get things organized
for yourself in that time. You may leave, if you wish. But remember
that because we all have our class meetings already blocked off in our
schedules, the time can be used well for your individual needs. And you
can still visit with one of us during office hours and make appointments.
• Continued/Open Topic Days—A few days on the Course Schedule may
be open-ended so that we can discuss subjects and issues that need
extra time to cover or matters you want to cover not in the Course
Schedule that are directly related to this course. For those days, you
should submit ideas a week or more in advance so suitable prepara-
tion can be made for the class. Alternatively, if no ideas are offered,
I will choose to address a topic that was raised in a prior class meeting
that is worthy of more exploration. Anyone who submits ideas will
be expected to play a lead role in class discussion, but I will assemble
material for the class. Plan on being accountable for the material cov-
ered during these days on exams and assignments.
(Continued)
140 Appendix A

• Late Start to Class—On the very rare possibility that I am not in class
promptly at the official starting time (or early), rest assured that I am
on my way. Please remain in the classroom until I arrive. I will take
attendance. We’ll cover what material we can that is scheduled for that
day. Any homework that is due will be collected. Any exam scheduled
for that day will be given as planned.
• Class Cancellation—Only two conditions are likely to exist when
classes are cancelled: (1) ISU’s president has closed the university
for a weather-related or another reason, or (2) I am unable to make
it to ISU because of an illness, jury duty, or another situation. Either
way, if class is cancelled, you will receive an official notice by e-mail.
If I must cancel class, a notice will be posted in the classroom and/or
on the doorway. Any assignment due or exam scheduled for a day
when class is cancelled will be due or done at the next class meet-
ing. If classes are cancelled and no assignment or exam is scheduled,
we will forego covering the material we planned for that day and
continue with material scheduled for the next class period. Any ques-
tions about material planned for a cancelled class meeting can be
handled by visiting with me in my offices, sending an e-mail, using
ReggieNet chat, or answering questions at the next class meeting.
In either situation, expect me to hold class online through ReggieNet
during an announced day and time to cover planned material, and
attendance will be optional.

Attendance
Much of the material is only available through lecture and discussion. So,
I expect to see you on a regular basis, and attendance will be taken daily.
Students with “perfect” attendance (i.e., students who do not miss any class
meetings and/or have excused absences) will earn 20 extra-credit points at the
end of the semester. For an absence to be considered “excused,” you must
inform me prior to class, if at all possible. Excused absences include par-
ticipation in a university-sanctioned event, the death of a family member
(see University Policy and Procedures 2.1.27 Student Bereavement Policy
online), incapacitating illness, and natural disaster. Other absences (e.g.,
cold/flu, weddings, babies, car trouble, house/apartment problem, etc.) will
be considered individually. For any absence to be excused, I require written
verification. If your absence will be extensive, contact the Dean of Students.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 141

Six or more unexcused absences will result in one full letter-grade reduction
for your final grade for the course.
My main objective with my attendance policy is to inspire you to take
responsibility for “reporting to work” and, if you cannot, take responsi-
bility for telling me why and having documentation whenever possible.
This objective and policy is based on industry practices. “Blowing off” class/
work is bad behavior.
Absences because of personal/vacation travel I typically will not excuse
because the university’s academic calendar has been out and everyone
should have used it when planning such travel so that it doesn’t interfere
with school. (This is equivalent to when companies don’t let employees
take vacations when business needs are too high.) I may grant exceptions
when travel had to have been booked significantly in advance and there is
documentation to that effect.
Late arrival to class (i.e., less than 30 minutes after class begins) will
not be penalized under the attendance policy, although I may note you
were late on the attendance sheet. Late arrival after 30 minutes of class
qualifies as an unexcused absence. Remember to sign in! If an assignment
is due and you are late, the penalty for late work will be enforced. (See
“Assignments” section of the syllabus.) If you drive to campus, always
give yourself time to find a parking spot and get to class—at least twice
the amount of time you think you need. And that should be the rule
whether you drive to campus from town or from some other area of the
state or country.
If you miss class or are late, you are responsible for obtaining all assign-
ments, notes, and any other information that is given in class. I will not
“re-teach” material for you, although I’d be glad to answer specific ques-
tions. Again, excused absences and late arrivals (less than 30 minutes after
class begins) will not count against you.

Online Communication
I use e-mail to communicate directly to you as an individual and as a class,
which you can also access through My.IllinoisState.edu. Clean out and check
your ISU e-mail account frequently for notes or announcements from me,
your fellow students, the department, and the college. Not checking your
e-mail or ReggieNet is not grounds for any excuse for not doing or not doing well
on any assignment. It’s your responsibility to (1) keep your e-mail accounts open
and up-to-date and (2) monitor your e-mail and ReggieNet class news frequently.
(Continued)
142 Appendix A

You must get used to the fact that good language use is necessary in
every written document you prepare. This includes e-mail. I will only open
and respond to your e-mail to me within 24 hours when:

1. A clear and simple subject line is given that, within 10 words or less,
says exactly which class you’re in and what topic(s) you’re writing
about. Don’t be lazy and leave an old subject line from a previous
e-mail I sent that has nothing to do with your e-mail’s content. I will
not reply to e-mail that recycles old subject lines that are not directly
related to your e-mail content.
2. Your e-mail text is written effectively and concisely, and it should be as
free of errors as possible.

By the way, I will apply these rules when I send e-mail to you.

Online Course Material

I use ReggieNet extensively to organize the material for this course and
make announcements about our class. You can access ReggieNet through
your homepage after you sign in to My.IllinoisState.edu. If you have prob-
lems with ReggieNet, let me know and call the Help Desk at 309-438-4357.
The ReggieNet site for this class contains additional, required reading
material for this course. This material used in connection with the course may
be subject to copyright protection. Your viewing of the material posted on
ReggieNet does not imply any right to reproduce, to retransmit, or to redis-
play it other than for your own personal or educational use. Links to other sites
are provided for the convenience of the site user (staff or student) or visitor and
do not imply any affiliation or endorsement of the other site owner nor a guar-
antee of the quality or veracity of information contained on the linked site.
Many files are PDFs and should open easily with Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view and print them. If you don’t have this free software, go to http://
www.adobe.com to download that software.

Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism and any other form of academic dishonesty will not be toler-
ated. Plagiarism (presenting someone else’s work as your own or without
proper acknowledgment) or any other type of academic dishonesty will
(Continued)
 Appendix A 143

be considered justification for failure for that particular assignment or the

entire course, depending on severity. Although you may discuss with each
other any assignment and course material, bounce ideas off each other, and
share the university’s resources available to you (e.g., media guides), you
cannot share actual work you do with others. All work must be that of the
student (or students involved in a group assignment) and developed dur-
ing the current semester for this course. Sources must receive credit using
APA style. For information regarding academic integrity and procedures for
academic misconduct, see ISU’s Code of Student Conduct, Section IV.A.1.

Assignments Feedback
I give my most focused comments on the first page or two of your papers
because after that the errors/problems are repetitive. I may note other
things in later pages, but a lack of comments is not necessarily an indica-
tion of correctness or effectiveness. I also won’t find absolutely every-
thing because time is of the essence, and getting you feedback sooner
than later serves you and me well. I firmly believe that my detailed com-
ments and corrections in the first page or two are enough to indicate
to you what I see, and you should learn from and look for those things
elsewhere in the paper. Of course, if you want more detailed help, visit
with me.

Assignments Expectations
If you go into the field of public relations or other field of communication
for a career, you will be paid to be your organization’s best communica-
tors in all forms—written and oral, physical and virtual, interpersonal and
public. I designed this course around this premise, and I try to approximate
“real-world” problems, pressures, and planning that you will need to both
enter and succeed in PR. The assignments (except for exams) are designed
with ambiguity built in, which should inspire you to think analytically about
what you know and what you’re learning. So, I expect you to have ques-
tions about the assignments because in the “real world” you do not get
precise recipes for everything you need to do—you’ll have a college degree,
probably one or more internships, and a job where you’ll be paid to figure
things out, so build this skill set now. (See my philosophy of teaching and
learning.)
(Continued)
144 Appendix A

All assignments are due no later than the official starting time for class on
the dates indicated in the “Course Outline” section of the syllabus. Assignments
received after the official starting time of class (even one second late) but
before it is dismissed, will be considered late and will be penalized 50% of
the earned points. Electronic copies of your completed assignments may
be accepted through e-mail by the class’ official starting time (as indicated
by the e-mail’s time stamp) ONLY if you will miss class or if you believe you
will be late to class. If you will be late, you still must turn in the hard copy.
Assignments received after the class session is dismissed may be evaluated
but will not receive credit. You may choose to turn in work in advance of
the due date—especially if you are going to be absent the day something is
due. I will critique all work that is submitted; however, if a paper is not even
remotely close to the assignment given in class, I reserve the right to with-
hold all points. Documentation supporting a excused absence or late arrival
to class would be applied to forgive the penalty for late work. Also see the
“Course Grading Policy” section in the syllabus.
Class discussion involves going beyond the assigned readings.
Assignments and exams formally challenge students to make sense of
ambiguous situations and develop creative, appropriate and effective com-
munication solutions based on the course’s content and additional research.
Assessment of students’ learning against the course’s objectives shall be
done through a combination of activities. (See the grading policy in the
syllabus. Also see my philosophy of teaching and learning.)
The writing assignments in this course are meant to (1) apply principles
and concepts covered in this course to realistic problems and (2) build upon
and challenge you to improve your current skill level—to be more consis-
tent with “real-world” demands. All written work is expected to fulfill the
assignments’ contexts, purposes, and audiences just as they would if they
were to be written to meet actual client needs. (See other material about
writing expectations provided for this class.) If the writing in any assignment
does not meet this expectation, I reserve the right to withhold any or all points,
depending on the severity of the writing’s inappropriateness/ineffectiveness.
Good writing is both strong in content and technically correct in its pre-
sentation (i.e., grammar, style, discourse conventions, layout, and printing).
All written work must fulfill the content requirements given in the assign-
ments, conform to American Psychological Association (APA) and (where
applicable) Associated Press (AP) styles, and be free of grammar, spelling,
style, and English usage errors.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 145

Assignments’ scores will be posted on ReggieNet and discussed in class.

See the course schedule for details about all coursework. Please visit with
me if you have any questions about any assignment or if you’d like me
to give you some feedback about your work in progress. Score sheets for
specific assignments are found in the “Assignments” area of the course’s
ReggieNet site. You’ll need to print out the score sheet designed for each
assignment and submit it with your assignment. If you turn in an assignment
without a score sheet, five (5) points will be automatically deducted from the
total earned points for the assignment.
If an assignment is missed for a reason deemed satisfactory by me, the
same or a make up assignment of observably greater difficulty may be
required. Documentation for absences or late arrivals on days when assign-
ments are due will also be required.
For your own protection, you are expected to keep disk copies and/or
photocopies of all assignments submitted to me. As you work on any com-
puter remember to save your work frequently, always backup your work on
another disk or other medium, and always protect your files and computer
from viruses. I will not accept work turned in late because you had technology
problems and did not follow these cardinal rules for technology use or couldn’t
find a computer to use.

“Prewriting”
The first draft of any public relations or advertising writing is seldom suc-
cessful. Most writing goes through numerous drafts until the writer and
the client are satisfied. In this class, we do not have the time to simulate
this experience; thus, we will not rewrite assignments for credit. Instead
of rewrites, I encourage you to engage in “prewrites.” By this I mean you
prepare draft material in advance of the deadlines and visit with one of
us to review your work “in progress” and ask questions. This way you get
feedback on the basic content and style of your writing—to see if you are
on “the right track.” Note that prewrites are not “pregrading”: I will not look
for everything that is good/bad or right/wrong, but I will point out aspects or
patterns of your writing that work or are problematic. I also will not do proof-
reading—that is your job. Time permitting, prewrites can take place during
class, but it’s usually best during our office hours or appointments. E-mail
prewrites are only granted in extreme situations. Only two prewrites are
allowed per assignment.
(Continued)
146 Appendix A

Returned Work
I will make every effort to return work to you promptly. Most short assign-
ments will be returned at the next class. Longer assignments may take one
or two weeks. I will only return assignments to their authors. If you are
not in class when an assignment is returned, please pick it up during your
respective professor’s office hours.

Keep Your Work for Job Hunting

If you plan to pursue a career in public relations or other field, having a set
of solid examples of your work in a “professional portfolio” will be impor-
tant for you to get an internship and/or your first full-time job. So make sure
you keep very clean copies of the work you do in this and all your PR classes.
Remember: no matter what score you received on any assignment, look for
ways to make your examples even better, if not “perfect.” Outside of your
coursework, you may ask for some help from us in the PR faculty while you
make your portfolio.

NOTE: We may alter aspects of these policies and the syllabus as the course pro-
gresses. You are responsible for noting any such changes, which will be announced
in class and/or posted on ReggieNet.
 Appendix A 147

ASSESSMENT MANUAL FOR COM 373

INTERNAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
Peter M. Smudde, Ph. D., APR

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Learning Objectives for the Course
Learning Assessments Types
Formal Learning Assessments
Informal Learning Assessments
Course Diagram
Operations Understanding Assessment Points
Strategic Planning Assessment Points
Professionalism Assessment Points

LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR THE COURSE

1. Identify characteristics and practices of internal communications in
organizations.
2. Recall and apply key concepts, terms and principles for the operations
and management of internal communications functions.
3. Analyze effective communications functions and recognize “best
practices.”
4. Demonstrate command of the process and use of language by analyz-
ing cases and solving specific communication problems.
5. Connect principles and practices about successful communications
within this course, across other courses and students’ experiences.
6. Prepare students for work in a professional setting in terms of how they
will be expected to think and act when given internal communications
challenges.
7. Nurture an attitude of and introduce resources for life-long learning
about effective internal communications.

LEARNING ASSESSMENTS TYPES

Assessment of students’ learning against the course’s objectives shall be
done through a combination of learning assessments, which are detailed
in this document and shown in the course diagram. All the learning assess-
ments for this course fall into the following two categories:
(Continued)
148 Appendix A

• Formal/Graded Assessments—I can measure how well you can apply your
learning by evaluating the work you produce in response to specific assign-
ments. This work is what is graded and used to determine your final, overall
level of mastery of the course’s material by course’s end. Graded assess-
ments are weekly time sheets, strategic plan project, two papers, portfolio,
and exams. Specific requirements and expectations for each formal assess-
ment shall be provided separately. Also see the “Course Policies” section in
the syllabus for matters that pertain to assignments’ requirements.
• Informal/Ungraded Assessments—I can measure how well you are
learning in process by observing, listening to and talking with you.
These data reveal your personal processes, attitudes, and other matters
that are part of how and how well you learn. Examples include chat-
ting about course material before and during class, the quality of ques-
tions and discussion in class, the amount of sharing/disclosure, learning
ownership, assignment discussion, visits with me, and attitude.

FORMAL LEARNING ASSESSMENTS

The purpose of the job description paper is for students to investigate
the requirements, expectations, and scope of executive-level jobs in
the PR field.
By the end of the job description paper, students will understand what
it takes to work as an iPR professional in a corporation or an agency.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use any job search resources and
the readings for this topic to explain the kinds of credentials, experi-
ences, and demands for executive-level/management positions.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students write
a paper that (1) “connects the dots” between the career princi-
ples in advertising and PR and the practical job requirements and
(2) upholds the expectations for academic writing in the assignment,
syllabus, and elsewhere.

The purpose of the research paper is for students to examine the lit-
erature they find for ideas and approaches about the basic nature and
scope of internal communications.
By the end of the project, students will be able to show a broad under-
standing of the iPR function—what it is, what it covers, what is its
organizational role, and what value contributions it gives to organiza-
tions and their internal publics.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 149

To accomplish the purpose, students will use a variety of journals, books, and
other credible sources that cover the subject area and related subject areas.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students produce
a focused, well-argued, thorough, and effective paper that adheres to
the overall expectations for the assignment.

The purpose of the discourse examples and analysis assignment is

to help students become familiar with the kinds of communication
media iPR professionals may use.
Through assessment, students will use assigned readings and additional
research to guide them when identifying, collecting, and analyzing
examples.
To accomplish the purpose, students will collect at least five (5) actual,
real-world, different, and individual examples of internal public
relations discourse for use in class.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students’ collec-
tions of examples are scored based on the assignment’s criteria.

The purpose of the iPR project is for students to experience the full
process for developing a strategic iPR plan for an organization, using
a scenario based on a real case example.
By the end of the iPR project, students will be able to think strategi-
cally and prepare a strategic plan for internal public relations that is
thorough, accurate, complete, and well-written.
To accomplish the purpose, students will develop the strategic plan sys-
tematically and on their own schedules leading up to the final due date,
using skills in research, analytical thinking, problem solving, and writing.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students produce a
complete iPR strategic plan that fulfills the assignment’s requirements.

The purpose of exams, if given, is to measure students’ individual recall

of and analytical thinking about concepts, principles, and applications.
By the end of each exam, students will know the degree to which they
have a command of course concepts, principles, and applications.
To accomplish the purpose, students will apply their accumulated
knowledge and lessons from class to take each exam in the format
and timeframe scheduled.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on an exam.
(Continued)
150 Appendix A

The purpose of penalties for high-tech violations is to inspire students

to be mindful about the impact and courteous use of technology with
others in the same space.
Through the presence and, if needed, enforcement of penalties,
students will adopt good behaviors about their use of high-tech
devices.
To accomplish the purpose, students will follow the “Class Policy”
document.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students do not have
any high-tech penalties.

INFORMAL LEARNING ASSESSMENTS

The purpose of learning growth is for students to become aware
of their role in the co-creation of the learning environment for all
of us.
Through learning-growth behaviors, students will advance their own
learning, contribute to each other’s learning, and promote a positive
atmosphere for learning.
To accomplish the purpose, students will embrace the challenges in the
course and add value to the course’s learning experience.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students con-
verse energetically about class material, ask good questions about
ideas in the course, share or disclose matters about their learning and
the course, own their learning, discuss assignments well, visit with the
professor, and uphold a good attitude.

The purpose of class citizenship is to, given the policies stated in the
syllabus, inspire students to contribute well to the learning environ-
ment of the class at every class meeting.
By the end of the semester, students will be satisfied with participating in
class and, especially, growing in their own and each other’s learning
about PR education.
To accomplish the purpose, students will demonstrate individual contri-
butions to class discussion; professional, ethical and respectful com-
munication behaviors; and class attendance.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students par-
ticipate in the class in ways that fulfill the assignment’s requirements
according to the associated rubric.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 151

The purpose of the learning ownership is to observe the degree to

which students willingly accept responsibility for what and how they
learn material in the course and about the field.
Through learning ownership, students will exhibit behaviors and atti-
tudes that reflect personal accountability of their learning.
To accomplish the purpose, students will express their personal ownership
of their learning by how they talk about their performance in the class.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students openly
make statements about their personal views regarding what they
have learned and their class performance.

The purpose of attitude is to observe how much students involve them-

selves in the course, specifically, and the field, generally.
Through attitude, students will demonstrate their commitment to the
subject and its potential impact on their futures.
To accomplish the purpose, students will be involved in class meetings
on various levels—personal, interpersonal, and social.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students come to
class early or on time, are part of class discussions, exhibit friendliness
to others, and express interest in additional learning opportunities.

The purpose of the quality of questions about ideas in the course

is to observe students’ intellectual wrestling with the course’s material.
Through questions about ideas, students will demonstrate a high caliber
of thinking about the course’s material.
To accomplish the purpose, students will ask focused and thoughtful
questions that connect the dots among concepts within and beyond
the course.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students probe
more deeply the material in the course through their questions and
comments.

The purpose of sharing and disclosures is to observe students’ will-

ingness to freely express their innermost thoughts, concerns, mus-
ings, etc. about the course and their learning.
Through sharing and disclosures, students will contribute to the social
fabric of the class and learning environment.
To accomplish the purpose, students will reveal personal comments
(e.g., compliments, confessions, criticism) that pertain to the course,
the field, and learning.
(Continued)
152 Appendix A

We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students

voluntarily and courteously share/disclose matters on their minds that
pertain to the course and their learning.

The purpose of any reading assignment about given topics on the course
calendar is to prepare students with a core of common understanding
about the subject matter to participate in the next class discussion.
By the end of each reading assignment, students will be able to under-
stand key topics in each of the assigned readings.
To accomplish the purpose, students will bring one note card per topic
with five critical points that support each topic to the next class and/
or solve one or more of any chapter’s exercises.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students use their
note cards to make their arguments during in-class discussion.

The purpose of note taking is for students to develop skills in recording

key information and thinking about readings and during class meet-
ings that will help them learn and apply concepts to in-class discus-
sions, assignments, and exams.
By the end of each class meeting, students will have created a usable
record of information and thinking that builds on prior meetings, con-
nects dots with readings, and functions as a touchstone for future work.
To accomplish the purpose, students will pay attention in class, write
key information and thinking in a medium that works for them, ask
questions to clarify things, and be ready to apply their notes to class.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students actively
seek ways to ensure their notes are up-to-date, complete, organized,
and used, including during meetings with the professor.

The purpose of chatting before and during class is to observe

students’ active discussion about course material.
Through buzzing, students will find ways each other understands and
applies course material.
To accomplish the purpose, students will talk about course material
voluntarily or in response to a prompt about a day’s topic.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students’
conversations about course material are energetic and on topic.

The purpose of assignment comments/inquiries is to observe

students’ critical analysis of expectations and parameters for
(Continued)
 Appendix A 153

assignments, including, if appropriate, the consideration of revisions

to improve an assignment.
Through assignment comments/inquiries, students will show their interest
in the work they are to do and how it fits into the course’s big picture.
To accomplish the purpose, students will think and ask questions about
assignments.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students’ com-
ments/inquiries have yielded sufficient discussion, clarity, and, per-
haps, improvements in an assignment.

The purpose of lectures is to organize and clarify complex ideas from

assigned readings for students.
By the end of each lecture, students will be able to articulate positions
on a given day’s topic, connecting dots between what they know and
what they are coming to know.
To accomplish the purpose, students will have read assigned read-
ings, ask questions, share observations, and otherwise demonstrate
engagement with a given day’s topic.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students accurately
and appropriately use ideas, terms, principles, etc. in their in-class
and assigned work.

The purpose of individual work in class is for students to make

sense of material according to a particular prompt about the
day’s topic.
By the end of individual work, students will identify specific matters that
are clear/unclear, complete/incomplete, or relevant/irrelevant to the
day’s topic and/or the course.
To accomplish the purpose, students will follow specific directions that
direct their attention to the day’s topic and some application of it to
a real-world matter of PR management.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students experience
an “aha moment.”

The purpose of any collaborative learning technique (CoLT) about

given topics on the course calendar is to allow students to play with
the concepts being covered during a given class meeting.
By the end of each CoLT, students will be able to connect the dots
between concepts and their application to a specific aspect of the
management of public relations.
(Continued)
154 Appendix A

To accomplish the purpose, students must have completed assigned

readings and follow specific directions for the CoLT to solve a particu-
lar problem and explain the solution to the class.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students develop a
sound solution to the problem they tackled in the CoLT.

The purpose of professor visits is for students to obtain additional

guidance in their processes for completing work and understanding
material in the course.
Through professor visits, students will engage in focused conversation
with the professor about the matters that matter most to them.
To accomplish the purpose, students will have a clear agenda of topics
they want to address and, if necessary, be willing to deviate from that
agenda into other areas that help their learning.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students visit
with the professor and the visit was engaging and productive.

The purpose of studying for exams is to clarify and solidify material

in students’ minds.
By the end of studying for exams, students will be able to any answer
question related to course material.
To accomplish the purpose, students will take advantage of a study guide,
their notes, readings, instructor conferences, each other, and other course
material. A study guide functions as a way to organize material covered in
the course up to the point in the semester when an exam is given.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on an exam.

The purpose of in-class exam reviews is for students to be prepared

to effectively and efficiently take the exam.
By the end of an in-class review, students will understand the design and
demands of the exam.
To accomplish the purpose, students will ask questions about material
on which they want clarification and work out example questions,
perhaps directly from the exam.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on the exam.

The purpose of communication is for students to practice and improve

skills in speaking and writing with each other and the professor
because communication is the students’ profession in PR.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 155

Through each communication opportunity, ranging from formal assign-

ments, to e-mail, to casual conversations, students will gain height-
ened awareness about what they do in their speaking and writing and
how well they do it.
To accomplish the purpose, students will pay attention to themselves
and improve their habits of expression in oral and written discourse
that is formal and informal alike.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students
(1) catch themselves making or on the verge of making mistakes
and correcting them and (2) consistently communicate well in all
respects, especially for formal, graded work.

COURSE DIAGRAM
The transformational goal for the course is a statement about how students
should change as a result of their learning in this course about internal
public relations. The categories of study in the ovals organize how the vari-
ous learning assessments are applied to student learning. Notice how any
assessment can be applied to contribute learning in the contexts of multiple
categories and, thereby, contribute to achieving the course’s transforma-
tional goal. The application of the learning assessments in each area of
study is summarized in the sections that follow.

Discourse
Research Examples & iPR Project
Paper Analysis (team-based)

Class
Job Cizenship
Descripon
Paper Operaons Understanding:
Discriminate among the Exams
various operaonal
Learning demands of iPR.
Growth APA Style Quiz

Aendance COM 373

Transformaonal Goal:
Research
Become a valuable and
Class Paper Discourse
valued internal PR (iPR)
Cizenship Examples &
counselor for any
organizaon. Analysis

Deadlines Professionalism: Strategic Planning:

Met Prepare self to represent Organize material and
and defend iPR inside an informaon for effecve iPR Project
organizaon. iPRstrategic planning. (team-based)
Job Descripon
Paper
iPR Project
(team-based) Class Learning
Exams Life-long Cizenship Growth
Exams
Learning

(Continued)
156 Appendix A

OPERATIONS UNDERSTANDING
The purpose of the job description paper is for students to investigate
the requirements, expectations, and scope of executive-level jobs in
the PR field.
By the end of the job description paper, students will understand what
it takes to work as an iPR professional in a corporation or an agency.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use any job search resources and
the readings for this topic to explain the kinds of credentials, experi-
ences, and demands for executive-level/management positions.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students write a paper
that (1) “connects the dots” between the career principles in advertising
and PR and the practical job requirements and (2) upholds the expecta-
tions for academic writing in the assignment, syllabus, and elsewhere.

The purpose of the research paper is for students to examine the lit-
erature they find for ideas and approaches about the basic nature and
scope of internal communications.
By the end of the project, students will be able to show a broad under-
standing of the iPR function—what it is, what it covers, what is its
organizational role, and what value contributions it gives to organiza-
tions and their internal publics.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use a variety of journals, books,
and other credible sources that cover the subject area and related sub-
ject areas.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students produce
a focused, well-argued, thorough, and effective paper that adheres to
the overall expectations for the assignment.

The purpose of the discourse examples and analysis assignment is

to help students become familiar with the kinds of communication
media iPR professionals may use.
Through assessment, students will use assigned readings and additional
research to guide them when identifying, collecting, and analyzing
examples.
To accomplish the purpose, students will collect at least five (5) actual,
real-world, different, and individual examples of internal public rela-
tions discourse for use in class.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students’ collec-
tions of examples are scored based on the assignment’s criteria.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 157

The purpose of the iPR project is for students to experience the full
process for developing a strategic iPR plan for an organization, using
a scenario based on a real case example.
By the end of the iPR project, students will be able to think strategically
and prepare a strategic plan for internal public relations that is thor-
ough, accurate, complete, and well-written.
To accomplish the purpose, students will develop the strategic plan sys-
tematically and on their own schedules leading up to the final due date,
using skills in research, analytical thinking, problem solving, and writing.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students produce a
complete iPR strategic plan that fulfills the assignment’s requirements.

The purpose of exams, if given, is to measure students’ individual

recall of and analytical thinking about concepts, principles, and
applications.
By the end of each exam, students will know the degree to which they
have a command of course concepts, principles, and applications.
To accomplish the purpose, students will apply their accumulated
knowledge and lessons from class to take each exam in the format
and timeframe scheduled.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on an exam.

The purpose of APA style quiz (in-class or take-home) is for students to

demonstrate their understanding of how to use APA style.
By the end of the APA style quiz, students will know the degree to which
they can accurately and effectively apply APA style rules.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use the APA manual to solve
multiple realistic problems that concern selected requirements of
APA style that dominate the course’s assignments.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students perform well
on a quiz.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
The purpose of the research paper is for students to examine the lit-
erature they find for ideas and approaches about the basic nature and
scope of internal communications.
By the end of the project, students will be able to show a broad under-
standing of the iPR function—what it is, what it covers, what is its
(Continued)
158 Appendix A

organizational role, and what value contributions it gives to organiza-

tions and their internal publics.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use a variety of journals, books,
and other credible sources that cover the subject area and related
subject areas.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students produce
a focused, well-argued, thorough, and effective paper that adheres to
the overall expectations for the assignment.

The purpose of the discourse examples and analysis assignment is

to help students become familiar with the kinds of communication
media iPR professionals may use.
Through assessment, students will use assigned readings and additional
research to guide them when identifying, collecting, and analyzing
examples.
To accomplish the purpose, students will collect at least five (5) actual,
real-world, different, and individual examples of internal public rela-
tions discourse for use in class.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students’ collec-
tions of examples are scored based on the assignment’s criteria.

The purpose of the iPR project is for students to experience the full
process for developing a strategic iPR plan for an organization, using
a scenario based on a real case example.
By the end of the iPR project, students will be able to think strategically
and prepare a strategic plan for internal public relations that is thor-
ough, accurate, complete, and well-written.
To accomplish the purpose, students will develop the strategic plan sys-
tematically and on their own schedules leading up to the final due
date, using skills in research, analytical thinking, problem solving, and
writing.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students pro-
duce a complete iPR strategic plan that fulfills the assignment’s
requirements.

The purpose of learning growth is for students to become aware of

their role in the co-creation of the learning environment for all of us.
Through learning-growth behaviors, students will advance their own
learning, contribute to each other’s learning, and promote a positive
atmosphere for learning.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 159

To accomplish the purpose, students will embrace the challenges in the

course and add value to the course’s learning experience.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students con-
verse energetically about class material, ask good questions about
ideas in the course, share or disclose matters about their learning and
the course, own their learning, discuss assignments well, visit with the
professor, and uphold a good attitude.

The purpose of exams if given, is to measure students’ individual recall

of and analytical thinking about concepts, principles, and applications.
By the end of each exam, students will know the degree to which they
have a command of course concepts, principles and applications.
To accomplish the purpose, students will apply their accumulated
knowledge and lessons from class to take each exam in the format
and timeframe scheduled.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on an exam.

PROFESSIONALISM
The purpose of life-long learning is to nurture an attitude of and
introduce resources for life-long learning about effective leadership
and management in advertising and public relations.
By the end of the semester, students will have become familiar with a
wide range of resources and heightened interest that can help them
continue their learning.
To accomplish the purpose, students will take advantage of the con-
cepts, skills, and material from all course content.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students express
the value of material and lessons from the course in their job searches
and careers.

The purpose of deadlines is for students to respect and fulfill deadlines

in tune with real-world demands.
By the end of the semester, students will have developed habits for mak-
ing sure they complete their work early or on time, even to the sec-
ond they are due.
To accomplish the purpose, students will turn in their finished work no
later than the official starting time for class and not one second late.
(Continued)
160 Appendix A

We will know the purpose was accomplished when a student’s final score
for an assignment does not reflect the penalty of 50% deduction of
earned points for turning in the assignment late.

The purpose of the job description paper is for students to investigate

the requirements, expectations, and scope of executive-level jobs in
the PR field.
By the end of the job description paper, students will understand
what it takes to work as an iPR professional in a corporation or an
agency.
To accomplish the purpose, students will use any job search resources
and the readings for this topic to explain the kinds of creden-
tials, experiences, and demands for executive-level/management
positions.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students write
a paper that (1) “connects the dots” between the career princi-
ples in advertising and PR and the practical job requirements and
(2) upholds the expectations for academic writing in the assignment,
syllabus, and elsewhere.

The purpose of the iPR project is for students to experience the full
process for developing a strategic iPR plan for an organization, using
a scenario based on a real case example.
By the end of the iPR project, students will be able to think strategically
and prepare a strategic plan for internal public relations that is thor-
ough, accurate, complete, and well-written.
To accomplish the purpose, students will develop the strategic plan sys-
tematically and on their own schedules leading up to the final due
date, using skills in research, analytical thinking, problem solving, and
writing.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when students pro-
duce a complete iPR strategic plan that fulfills the assignment’s
requirements.

The purpose of exams is to measure students’ individual recall of and

analytical thinking about concepts, principles, and applications.
By the end of each exam, students will know the degree to which they
have a command of course concepts, principles, and applications.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 161

To accomplish the purpose, students will apply their accumulated

knowledge and lessons from class to take each exam in the format
and timeframe scheduled.
We will know this purpose was accomplished when students perform
well on an exam.

The purpose of attendance is to inspire students to take responsibil-

ity for “reporting to work” and, if they cannot attend a class meet-
ing, take responsibility for telling me why and having documentation
whenever possible.
Through assessment, students may be rewarded after the semester’s end
for “perfect” attendance (i.e., no absences that are unexcused).
To accomplish the purpose, students will attend class on a regular basis
and not be late, but if they must miss class, they must follow the
attendance policy in the syllabus.
We will know the purpose was accomplished when the students with
“perfect” attendance (i.e., students who do not miss any class meet-
ings and/or have excused absences) earn 20 extra-credit points at the
end of the semester.
162 Appendix A

COM 373

iPR Project ~ 200 points

You will work in small teams (3–4 people) on an internal public relations proj-
ect. The project will entail research and problem-solving analysis that will lead
to the formulation of a sound iPR solution, featuring “real-world” business
writing components. The scenario, task description, and score sheet is below.

The Scenario (based on a real case)

Harte & Stanwicke International (HSI) is a market leader in providing fasten-
ing systems to aerospace, automotive, rail, and other industrial customers.
HSI has five U.S. manufacturing facilities in Arizona, California, Connecticut,
New York, and Texas, with approximately 1,500 employees. Following the
trend of many employers today, HSI does not offer a defined benefit retire-
ment program. Instead, HSI wants employees to share the responsibility of
building a retirement savings. So, while participation in HSI’s 401(k) plan
was relatively good (66.4%), the company wanted to increase that number
and help employees who weren’t participating start saving through the
plan. The company also wanted to encourage employees who already were
participating to save more through the plan and to further understand the
differences among the plan’s investment funds. These objectives triggered
a need for a targeted communication program that would capture employ-
ees’ attention, increase the plan’s perceived value, heighten employees’
plan knowledge, and motivate them to enroll.
The audience for the communication campaign included all 1,470
employees eligible to participate in the 401(k) plan. HSI’s workforce is very
diverse and includes a large number of Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and Filipino
employees, many of whom are not fluent in English. Only 30% of HSI’s
employee population has a college education. The remaining 70% hold
blue-collar jobs in HSI’s various manufacturing facilities. Given these demo-
graphics, HSI needs communication material in both English and Spanish,
and must be inviting to read and easy to understand.
The project’s specific objectives are to:

• Increase plan participation to 75% from 66.4%.

• Get at least 20% of existing participants to increase their contribu-
tion rate.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 163

• Provide investment education to help employees understand their

choices and diversify their money appropriately.
• Provide communication materials that were informative, interesting,
easy to understand, and had a tie-in to the company’s business.
• Gain at least 80% attendance of all employees at any meetings.

Your Task
Your team handles employee relations for HSI and is responsible for all iPR
programs. One of you is the team leader, and all of you report to the Nancy
Munn, vice president of marketing and communications. She wants you to
design an iPR program for this opportunity and submit it to her in the form
of a well-written memo. (Letterhead will be provided for you to use.) Use
12-point, business-like font for your memo. Use single spacing for the text.
In your memo, Munn also needs you to propose a thorough plan to
achieve results within eight months so everything can be ready for the
employee benefit sign-up period in November. The purpose of your memo
is to give Munn what she needs to convince senior management what must
be done to meet the objectives listed above. The following are the topics
you must address:

• Very brief statement about the problem/opportunity, including risks

and benefits
• Analysis about HSI employees that is essential in planning (i.e., state
and interpret the stats)
• Research about best practices in benefits communication that matter
to HSI’s case (e.g., management, tactics, measurement, etc.)
• Key message platform (audience-centered)
• Possible strategies and tactics tied to the stated program objectives
(e.g., use a table)
• Timing, budget and evaluation based on best practices (analysis of
each is needed)
• Argument about the value this iPR effort will provide HSI over the short
and long terms
164 Appendix A

COM 373 INTERNAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

iPR Project Score Sheet

Team Members’ Names: ______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Rating Weighting Final

Criteria Poor Great factor score

The problem/opportunity, including risks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0

and benefits, is concise and sufficient.
Research is given about HSI employees 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
that will help in planning.
Research about best practices in benefits 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
communication is given concisely and
concretely that matters to HSI’s case.
Audience-centered key message platform is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
given and fits context.
Objectives, strategies and tactics are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
shown together clearly and simply.
Strategies are linked specifically to one
or more objective. Tactics are associated
with each strategy and make sense within
the context of the associated objective(s).
Timing of the project is defined reasonably 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
and specifically, including analysis of the
program in context.
Budget for the project is clear, reasonably 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
detailed, and sufficiently analyzed to
understand resource allocations.

Evaluation method is summarized, tied to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0

the stated objectives, reasonable, and
anchored in best practices.
The sort- and long-term value to HSI is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
argued well, using good evidence and
sound reasoning.
(Continued)
 Appendix A 165

Rating Weighting Final

Criteria Poor Great factor score
The writing and presentation/format of the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2.0
assignment is effective in its technical use
of language, organization of content, and
the visual presentation of the content.

See comments on the paper for details that

pertain to the above evaluation criteria.
Subtotal Score: ____________
Out of 200

Less Deductions (see syllabus): ____________

TOTAL SCORE: ____________

APPENDIX B: SUGGESTIONS
FOR CURRICULAR AND
EXTRACURRICULAR TEACHING
AND LEARNING

There are various and valuable out-of-class, extracurricular opportunities that

can be tapped to extend student learning through hands-on experience in or rel-
evant to PR. The following is a list of such opportunities to start your planning.

• Encourage students to seek and obtain multiple PR internships or jobs in

organizations that serve in the fields that interest them.
• Advise a student-run organization focused on public relations (e.g., PRSSA
or AWC).
• Direct or advise an agency that serves real clients for their PR and other
communication needs. The work can be for pay or pro bono. The agency
could be part of a student-run organization instead of a stand-alone group.
• Obtain a client for one or more assignments in a class, where the students’
work targets a client’s real need for real PR work that fits the class. Possible
clients are local nonprofit organizations, local new/start-up businesses, on-
campus student-focused organizations, and institutional operating units.
• Arrange tours of agency or non-agency public relations operations.
• Invite professionals to host job shadowing opportunities for students.
• Encourage students to attend local, regional, national, or international con-
ferences that focus on or feature programs about public relations.
• Guide undergraduate and graduate students in independent research projects
they initiate.
• Include undergraduate or graduate students as co-authors of your own scholarship.
• Encourage students to attend the meetings of local professional organiza-
tions’ chapters (e.g., PRSA, IABC, or AWC).
• Invite students to participate in local chapters of professional organizations
as organizational leaders (e.g., local PRSA, IABC, or AWC chapters).
APPENDIX C: HELPFUL
RESOURCES

In addition to the references in the chapters, this appendix lists publications,

organizations, online media, and other sources that can be used to further
investigate the material in this book.

Teaching and Learning

Bransford, J., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.) (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind,
experience, and school (expanded ed.). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Brown, A., & Green, T. D. (2006). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental
principles with process and practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of
successful learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Clark, R., Nguyen, F., & Sweller, J. (2006). Efficiency in learning: Evidence-based guidelines to
manage cognitive load. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer, Wiley.
Dewey, J. (1997). Experience and education. New York: Free Press. (Original published 1938)
Douglas, A. (2000). Learning as participation in social practices: Interpreting, student
perspectives on learning. College English, 7, 153–165.
Finkel, D. L. (2000). Teaching with your mouth shut. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
Henson, K. T. (2003). Foundation for learner-centered education: A knowledge base.
Education, 124(1), 5–16.
Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Jonassen, D. H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional
design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research and
Development, 50, 65–77.
Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., & Whitt, E. J. (2005). Student success in college: Creating
conditions that matter. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
168 Appendix C

Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part II: A history of
instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(2), 57–67.
Zull, J. E. (2002). The art of changing the brain: Enriching the practice of teaching by exploring the
biology of learning. Sterling,VA: Stylus Publishing.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Huber, M. T. (2004). Balancing acts: The scholarship of teaching and learning in academic careers.
Sterling,VA: Stylus.
Huber, M. T., & Morreale, S. P. (Eds.) (2002). Disciplinary styles in the scholarship of teaching
and learning: Exploring common ground. Sterling,VA: Stylus.
Hutchings, P. (Ed.) (2000). Opening lines: Approaches to the scholarship of teaching & learning.
Menlo Park, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
McKinney, K. (2007). Enhancing learning through the scholarship of teaching and learning:
The challenges and joys of juggling. San Francisco, CA: Anker.
McKinney, K. (Ed.) (2013). The scholarship of teaching and learning in and across the disciplines.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Weimer, M. (2006). Enhancing scholarly work on teaching and learning: Professional literature that
makes a difference. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Werder, C., & Otis, M. M. (Eds.) (2010). Engaging student voices in the study of teaching and
learning. Sterling,VA: Stylus Publishing.

Publishing
Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing. Stillwater, OK:
New Forums Press.
Booth,W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
Boyer, E. L. (1997). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Fyffe, R., & Walter, S. (2005). Building a new future: Preparing “future faculty” and
“responsible conduct of research” programs as a venue for scholarly communication
discussions. College & Research Libraries News, 66(9), 654–663.
Germano,W. (2001). Getting it published: A guide for scholars and anyone else serious about serious
books. Chicago, IL: University Press.
Glassick, C. E., Huber, M. T., & Maeroff, G. I. (1997). Scholarship assessed: Evaluation of the
professoriate. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Huff, A. S. (1998). Writing for scholarly publication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
McDaniel, T. R. (2007). Rethinking scholarly publication for tenure. Academic Leader,
23(3), 8.
Sargent, C. F. (2006, November/December). Five persistent publishing myths among schol-
arly authors with big-bookstore dreams. Change, 38(6), 23–28.
Scurr, R. (2007, March 9). Academic publishers are struggling to publicise more acces-
sible books, many of which never reach wider readership. Times Higher Education
Supplement, 13.
Straus, L. G. (2006). Academic responsibility, professionalism, and scholarly publication in
the age of high corporate profits. Journal of Anthropological Research, 62(4), 593–595.
 Appendix C 169

Thompson, J. B. (2005). Survival strategies for academic publishing. Publishing Research

Quarterly, 21(4), 3–10.
Thompson, J. B. (2005, June 17). Survival strategies for academic publishing. Chronicle of
Higher Education, 51(41), B6–B9.
Thyer, B. A. (1994). Successful publishing in scholarly journals. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Life and Career

American Association of University Professors (2015). Policy documents & reports (11th ed.).
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
American Council on Education, American Association of University Professors, & United
Educators (2000). Good practice in tenure evaluation: Advice for tenured faculty, department
chairs, and academic administrators. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/files/Good%20Practice%20
in%20Tenure%20Evaluation.pdf
Ruiz, D. M., & Ruiz, D. J. (2010). The fifth agreement: A practical guide to self-mastery (Toltec
wisdom). San Rafael, CA: Amber-Allen.
Sheen, F. J. (1983). On being human: Reflections on life and living. New York, NY: Image
Books.
INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italic and bold refer to figures and tables, respectively.

academic assessment 111, 123 assistant professor 17, 39–40, 43

academic freedom 19–20 associate professor 39–40, 94
academic year 35 associate’s degree 24
accreditation 14, 23, 41, 50, 53–5, 73–4, Association for Education in Journalism
100, 114, 119–20 and Mass Communication
accreditation organizations 53, 100 (AEJMC) 27, 38, 73
Accredited in Business Communication Association for Women in
(ABC) 15, 26 Communication (AWC) 38, 165–6
Accredited in Public Relations (APR) asynchronous course 100
6, 15, 26, 52
accrediting bodies 100 bachelor’s degree 24, 55, 100
ADDIE (model for curriculum design) backward design 103, 116
102–7 benefits (compensation) 15, 17, 22, 42, 61
adjunct (instructor or faculty) 14, 24–5 blended course 105
administration 41, 54, 58, 99–100, 102, Bloom’s taxonomy 104, 116–17
112, 122 board of regents 39
admissions 41 board of trustees 39
American Association of University Boston Tea Party 47
Professors (AAUP) 20, 38 budget, budgeting 3, 41, 56, 163
andragogy 61, 88
appointment (kind of ) 20, 25, 38–9 calling (work as) 5, 11–12, 15–16
assessment 5, 52–3, 79, 99, 102–3, 106–7, Canadian Public Relations Society
111–23 (CPRS) 49
assessment manual 5, 117, 119–20, career transition 21
146–61 Carnegie Classification of Institutions
assessment matrix 119 of Higher Education 24
assessment plan 6, 113–14, 119–20, 122–3 certification 26, 50, 53, 100, 105
assessment points 117, 146 Certification in Education for Public
assessment process 113, 121–3 Relations (CEPR) 6, 73
 Index 171

classroom incivilities 62 enrollment 1, 41, 49, 54, 92, 100–1, 129

classroom management 65 ethics 36, 50, 51–4, 57, 101
coding scheme 121–2 experiential learning 73, 77–9, 101
cognitive dissonance 67 extracurricular 5, 25, 92, 165–6
cognitive efficiency 77
collaborative learning techniques 64 face-to-face course 55, 100, 102, 105, 136
college (as a group of departments) 31, facilities 3, 41, 56, 119
38–9, 41, 48, 99–100, 108, 141 Federalist Papers 47
Commission on Public Relations finance 3, 41, 56
Education (CPRE) 15, 48–50, 51–5 financial planning 42
community-based research 77–8 first-order principles 62
community relations 3 forces (on academic units, internal and
concentration (program of study) 48, 100 external) 41, 56, 101, 111
conducting class 65 formal assessment 117, 147
constructivism 69, 73–5, 78–81 freelancing 25
consulting 25 full-time (teaching position) 1–3, 6, 11,
contract 31, 36 14–15, 17, 20, 24–5, 27, 29, 32,
course design 2, 70, 98, 104–8, 118 36–40, 43, 57, 108, 123
course level 112, 114–15, 118
course sequence 36, 48, 100–2 governance 39, 41, 50, 52, 101
course management 4, 5, 127 grading 21, 70, 111, 119, 132–3, 135,
course numbering 36–7 144–5
creative work 12, 16, 23–4, 35–7,
64, 92, 123 hybrid course 55, 100, 102
critical thinking 51, 76, 132, 139
curriculum 36, 50, 51–5, 92, 98–108, immediacy behaviors 90–1, 93
111–16, 118–19, 122–3 inclusion, inclusivity 50, 51–4, 78, 101
curriculum committee 6 indirect assessment 120
curriculum development 2, 4, 5, 28 informal assessment 117, 147
curriculum plan 101 Institute for Public Relations (IPR) 38
curriculum vitae (CV) 26 institution emphasis 23–4
institution scope 24
data coding 121–2 institution type 23, 38
deep learning 62, 64, 77 instructional design 102–7
degree program 32, 36, 48, 51–5, 107 intelligences, multiple 68
department (academic unit) 6, 14, 17, 19, International Association of Business
24–6, 30–2, 36–43, 48–9, 51–5, Communicators (IABC) 15, 26–7,
73–4, 94, 98–100, 107–8, 112–13, 38, 53, 166
118, 122, 141 International Communication
developmental learning theories 66, 68 Association (ICA) 27, 38
direct assessment 120 inter-rater reliability (IRR) 121–2
dissonance see cognitive dissonance interviews ( job) 26, 29–32, 43
distance learning, learners 79
diversity 24, 50, 51–4, 78, 101 knowledge (construction, contribution,
doctorate, doctoral 1–2, 14–15, 17, 22, sharing) 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 48, 55,
24, 32, 37, 42, 55–6, 100, 107 63, 76
KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities)
educational objects 74–6 51, 55, 120
educator-scholar 24, 38, 43, 63–4, 87,
91–4, 108 learning assessments 79, 117, 129, 132–3,
elective course 37, 48, 70, 98, 128 145–54
emotions 16, 42, 62–3, 66–8, 80, 88, learning environment 5, 64–5, 70, 75–6,
90, 94 78, 89–90, 103, 107, 137, 149–51, 158
172 Index

learning objectives 50, 51, 69, 90, 102–6, politics 3, 42

111, 113–23, 128–9, 146–7 portfolio of programs 99
learning outcomes 52, 76, 99, 103–5, 112 preparation, prep (for classes) 61–5, 70,
learning styles 65, 67–8, 76 74, 92, 106, 114
letter of application 29 probationary period 39
level of courses see course level problem-based learning 76, 81
licensure 26, 100 problem-solving 70, 75, 77–8, 106, 133
lifelong learner, learning 64 professional development 4, 56, 105
load see teaching load professionalism 57, 93, 128–9, 155, 159
professor (rank of ) 40, 43
major (program of study) 36, 48, 99–100, program of study 111, 113–14
107, 128 promotion (career advancement) 3, 24,
master’s degree 2, 14, 17, 22–4, 37, 42, 30, 35, 38–40, 43, 91, 93
48, 50, 56, 92, 100, 107 prosocial immediacies 62
mastery (student learning) 62, 74, 81, 98, proxy signs see indirect assessment
107, 132, 147 Public Relations Society of America
matriculation 36–7, 40, 49 (PRSA) xi, 6, 15, 26–7, 38, 43,
memory 66, 68, 77, 104 73–4, 100, 166
mental structures 76 Public Relations Student Society of
mentor 3, 42, 58, 93 America (PRSSA) xi, 6, 43, 53,
minor (program of study) 36, 99, 100 92, 165
mode of delivery 100, 102, 105–6
moderate, moderation 62–4 Quality Matters (QM) 105

National Communication Association rank xi, 21, 26, 39–41, 44, 54, 62, 65,
(NCA) 6, 27, 32, 38 73; see also adjunct (instructor
National Conference on Assessment in or faculty); assistant professor;
Higher Education 111 associate professor; professor
negotiation 31, 40, 66 (rank of ); visiting professor
reappointment 39
objectives see learning objectives reassignments (from teaching) 36
online course 52, 55, 79, 105, 138, 142 recruitment 87, 93–4
operating units 41, 113, 165 refereed 37; see also peer-review
operations 3, 23, 40–1, 115, 128, 147, references (personal) 29–30, 32
155, 165 releases see reassignments (from teaching)
organizational culture 14, 42 required course 36
organizational structure 40–1, 115 research agenda 28, 42
outcomes see learning outcomes resilience 64
overattachment 63 resume 26–7
overreaction 63
salary 14, 17, 31–2, 40
part-time (teaching position) 2, 14–15, scaffolding 75, 105
20, 25, 27, 29, 32, 36–8, 40, 42, 54 scheduling (classes) 3, 118
pay 15, 22, 24–5, 31, 77, 91, 165 scholarship 2, 4, 12, 16, 19, 21, 24, 26,
pedagogy 4, 61, 74–5, 88, 91 28, 32, 55, 61, 64, 93–4, 101, 113,
peer-review 23, 37, 91, 105 123, 165, 168
persona see teaching persona school (academic unit) 6, 41, 48–9, 73,
personnel 3, 39–42, 123 99–100, 118, 122, 127
philosophy of research, 28 self-talk 63
philosophy of service 28 sequence (program of study) 36, 48,
philosophy of teaching and learning 100–1
28, 58, 70, 87–9, 92, 94, 102, 143 service 11–17, 20, 23–9, 35, 37–9, 43–4,
policies and procedures 3, 41, 118 64, 92–3
 Index 173

service learning 77, 81, 101, 113, 121 teaching portfolio 87, 91–3
significant learning 103, 107, 116–17, 123 teaching proficiency 28–9, 92
strategic plan/planning 6, 41, 51, 99, 108, technology 42, 49–50, 51–2, 56, 57, 79,
113, 128–9, 147, 149, 157 101, 103, 123
student-centered learning 69 tenure 24, 30, 35, 38–40, 43, 93–4
student-driven research 78 tenure-track 37–40, 43
student feedback 90–2; see also student termination (firing) 40
response to instruction (SRI) three pillars of academia 20, 23, 35–8,
student learning 1, 5, 23, 28–9, 39, 73, 43, 64
76, 81, 88–90, 99, 101–6, 108, time management 25
111–15, 117, 119–24, 155, 165 top-down processing 75
student response to instruction (SRI) track record 15, 39–40, 43
90–2 transformational goal 117, 128–9, 155
study-abroad 54, 78
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, Universal Accreditation Board 6
opportunities, threats) 70 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1, 14, 22
syllabus 5, 28, 71, 103, 106, 117–18, 128
synchronous course 100 values 3, 11–15, 20–1, 70, 89, 92, 94, 107,
116
taxonomy of significant learning 116–17 visiting professor 25
teacher-centered learning 69 vocation 11–14, 16, 21–2, 94
teacher-scholar 16; see also
educator-scholar work-family balance 12, 25
teaching load 36
teaching persona 87–90, 94 zone of proximal development 75