Another semester has come and gone, and like what I mentioned in my last blog post, I am very proud of the dedication and hard work all of the students put forth in their campaign proposal for the class. This group of students worked hard and it really showed in their final presentations. This class is basically like a capstone class – combining all of the elements from their studies but adding the new twist of social media to the mix.
#Freberg14 Final Group Presentations
This was the third time I have taught the class at UofL (fourth time overall), and I felt that there were some best practices and lessons learned from this experience from how to create a social media plan, working with clients, and presenting to a group of professionals. Here were some of them:
- Make sure to do final correspondence and communication with your students: One of the things you want to continue to do is to continue this community and conversation. For the last four months. the students, guest speakers, clients, and I helped create a dynamic learning environment to be a part of. Whether this is from Instagram or even a Flipagram video sharing the overall experience with others, I think that is important to note here. I did both – I think looking at opportunities to share your thoughts beyond just an email or a mention at the end of the presentation is key.
- Invite professionals for the final presentations: I was very fortunate to have some great professionals and fellow professors who came to see the presentation so it would feel like a good audience. What was also great was the fact that they were live tweeting and taking pictures (thanks again Melody!) but also sharing their thoughts and positive feedback with the students on Twitter. Definitely will make sure to do it again!
- Capture and share content on social media from presentations: I actually had to multitask a little bit with this and wanted to make sure I was sharing pictures of each group on Twitter plus updating people on the topics covered as well. As a result, more people were able to follow the presentations and enjoyed seeing how they looked and what came out from them.
- Taking every experience as a learning opportunity: Whether it is a challenging presentation or working hard on the project with groups, these are just some of the tests that each and everyone faces not only in class, but in life. Learn from these experiences, determine what worked and what are some things you would do differently, and then move forward. Sharing this with the students is absolutely key since they are just getting started in the field and learning all that social media has to offer to them. I was proud of how all of the groups responded to questions, comments, and addressed the material to the audience.
- Create a memorable experience for everyone before, during, and after the presentations. I warned my students (and fellow professionals who were in attendance) that I am a foodie and will bring in food. Little did they know I got a rebate and coupon from Costco just in time for the presentations! I wanted to not only have a real world application opportunity for the students, but also create an experience that they will remember and appreciate beyond the class. Prepping the room before the presentation, making everyone comfortable, and making sure everyone had what they needed was part of what made this event successful.
In essence, it has been a rewarding and exciting semester for #Freberg14. We had some great guest speakers who came to our class and we had the opportunity to work with some great clients as well. This will be the only #Freberg14 class for this year – my colleague and fellow social media professor Scott Sanders will be teaching the course in the fall. Scott is going to do great and I am excited for him to teach this course here at UofL. I will be back in the spring for #Freberg15.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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