With the increase use of technology in both our profession and in the classroom, professors and graduate students (like myself) are actively trying to incorporate this into our own classes. From having a Facebook or Twitter account to make announcements to our students – or asking students to strategically think of ways to apply social media tactics into case studies that are well recognized (ex. Tylenol, Exxon Valdez, etc.) if they were to occur today. Technology is fun and public relations students need to be actively using it so they are aware of the current trends and issues to be prepared for the job force.
I have discussed in several of my blog posts previously on how to incorporate social media into the classroom – but there is one new form of technology that professors are now using in the classroom to not only save money for travel expenses, but bringing in leading experts into the classroom to speak to their students via Skype.I had the honor and pleasure in having Dr. John Cacioppo come and speak via Skype to my PR Cases class about a month ago on the ELM, and how it applies to Public Relations. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my students and I to listen to Dr.Cacioppo’s insights and expertise and be able to ask him questions directly about the ELM.
So, today – I had the opportunity to guest lecture myself for my friend Shu’s Introduction to Journalism class at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Shu had asked me to speak to her class about Social Media and Public Relations, but also Journalism as well. It was very neat – we were able to set up so the students could see me and I could ask them questions regarding to social media. What I did beforehand is prepare a PowerPoint Presentation for the students so they could follow along with the presentation and write notes about what I was discussing. This way, the students would be focusing on the presentation and not worry about taking down frantic notes. Plus, what I also did in my presentation is provide them with links not only for specific social media sites, but also tools that would help them in not only working in Journalism or Public Relations, but also in managing their online reputation. I have already gotten several emails from the students that I spoke to today about what they can do to be active in Public relations and to manage their reputation. Very neat!
Teaching and giving a lecture via Skype was definitely an interesting experience. This was my first guest lecture myself – and it was definitely different from teaching in front of your students, or even interacting with them online. I believe that we are seeing more of this happening in the classroom and in distance education. I would highly recommend that if you have the opportunity to do a Skype guest lecture – it would be great! Here are a few things that I would suggest if any of you are going to do a guest lecture via Skype in the future – I guess you can call these Karen’s Tips for Skype. 🙂 First, you have to make sure that you are looking directly at the camera and make sure that you are articulate and expressive in your presentation. Plus, what is also helpful is having your PowerPoint presentation opened so you are able to follow the slides directly on your screen without looking down at your computer.
Guest lecturing via Skype today was a wonderful experience to be a part of – thank you Shu for letting me speak to your class! Hope everything else is going well and have a wonderful day. 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
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