This will mark my third year teaching social media at the University of Louisville (fourth overall). I am very excited to have a great group of students who are going to be working with two amazing clients this semester and continue to build their understanding and creative thinking when it comes to social media.
I would have to say that this is one of my favorite classes to teach. However, there are of course some elements to note when teaching a social media course.
- Constant prep: PR and StratComm classes have to be updated as well, but social media classes are updated ALL of the time! I started working on my syllabus for the spring in the fall, and I was still working on my updates over the holidays.
- Adding more resources and readings: It’s not only the lectures and assignments that need to be updated, but the readings as well. This is what I had to do as well, which resulted in my syllabus being about 30 pages. When I first started teaching, my syllabus was not even 20 pages.
- Updates to assignments: Most of the assignments I have this year are pretty much the same except for a few additions and revisions. My social media managing online reputation assignment is a bit longer and ties in data a bit more with application of metrics to personal branding while analyzing their own PLN. Will keep you all posted on how this goes!
So, in #Freberg16, there are a few things I am testing out and experimenting around a bit:
- More guest speakers: We have always had some pretty amazing guest speakers come to class, but this year – WOW! I am beyond thrilled to have some of the leading voices and thought leaders come either in person or virtually to the class. Just to name a few who will be speaking to my class: Leah Schultz (Papa John’s), Chris Kerns (Spredfast), Jonathan Gantt and Jeff Kallin (Clemson Athletics), Samantha Hughey (Team USA), Lizelle Lauron (Dallas Mavericks), Jessica Smith (Under Armour), and many more!
- Potential for experimenting with new features on social media: I have been asked on several occasions to try to either record my own lectures and share them or possibly live steam a class or two for others to see. I think this has potential, and I am definitely exploring this a bit more for this class this semester. It all depends if I want to use Facebook Live or Periscope/Meerkat.
- More ways to get in contact with the professor: I am very engaged with my class when it comes to social media correspondence, but I added a new platform that I will be testing. I will be using Snapchat this semester – which I will write more about in a future post.
- Added components tying in data to applications: We are seeing the prominence of data, analytics, and measurement of course in social media along with paid media. This is something I have added a bit more to not only in the lectures/classes, but also providing students with resources and experience with each of these components.
- More engagement in and out of class: It’s only been the first day in class, and already my students in #Freberg16 have set the bar pretty high. I have been very impressed to see their interactivity and dedication to the course so far, which has been pretty awesome to see here. They are certainly keeping me on my toes!
If you would like to see what we are covering, discussing, and highlighting in class, feel free to join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #Freberg16.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
