I’ve been teaching public relations for more than 20 years. But a few years ago I changed how I teach—my pedagogy—in several classes. This was the result of noticing how students have changed over the years, attending teaching conferences, and my own experimentation.
What resulted was a way of teaching that students tell me they really like. And while that is nice, the reason I like it is because I notice students are actually learning more. I use this in my writing classes as well as a PR management and case studies class. It works when students work independently, such as writing classes, as well as on group projects, such as case studies.
[Note and plug—to accommodate this teaching method I turned my lectures into books that I self-published and make available to students for $5 for an ebook and $15 for a paperback. Media Relations Writing, Corporate Communications Writing, and Public Relations: A Management Function are available from Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble or Vital Source. They have been adopted by other colleges and purchased by professionals. Learn more about these books.]
This way of teaching is the fusion of several pedagogical methods increasingly popular in higher education:
- Flipped class—The old way was for me to lecture in class, and then students would go off and do an assignment and turn it in during the next class, after which I would grade it. A “flipped” class means students acquire the information that was a lecture before class, either by reading or watching a recorded video or some other means, and then in-class they do their homework with me there to coach.
- Peer learning—When I taught in France at a partner school of my university, I noticed students were always talking while I was lecturing. I thought this was rude until someone explained that this was their way, they were talking to each other about what I was saying. I applied this concept in my classes by having students come to class with a draft of an assignment and pairing with a fellow student to do a peer review/edit. I am there to make sure they are doing a substantive review and also answering questions. After this we talk as a whole class. Students learn from each other as well as me. They also learn the value of feedback, collaboration, brainstorming, that creativity is a process of draft and revision and considering alternatives.
- Experiential learning—Learning by doing ‘real-world’ assignments is the gold standard not just in PR education, but in all academic disciplines. The assignments are not invented but based on actual problems or opportunities of a class client we have for a semester. Also, instead of learning and then doing, students learn as they do, and what they ultimately turn in for a grade is not a first draft, but the result of a process. So at the end of a class period where the peer learning happens, they have time to make final revisions and then ultimately turn in the assignment for a grade. They do better, I see fewer mistakes having caught them in the process, and students retain what they have learned with less anxiety in the process.
It occurred to me when chatting with professionals about this that the same pedagogical methods could be translated into a process for professional practice on creative projects. For this I would translate the flipped class, peer learning, experiential learning to a simple and alliterative model of acquire, adopt, apply.
For professionals, acquire would mean independently gaining knowledge about a client or project by research, reading a creative brief, and sketching some initial ideas.
The adopt stage would involve a collaborative meeting to come to common ground on the problem, opportunity, or project goals. Then sharing and reviewing each team member’s ideas, suggestions, strategies and concepts.. The best agreed upon ideas—or revisions of them—would be adopted.
The application stage would be the design, writing and implementation of the tactic or campaign.
The acquire-adopt-apply process captures the benefit of both solitary introspection and group collaboration. People come better prepared to creative meetings with a draft in hand. The meeting is focused on development vs conception. And the application is done with greater confidence and sense of both personal input and teamwork.
We PR educators often encourage each other to make the classroom like the workplace. Professional practice may be able to take some things from current pedagogy as well.
