Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

Students can request an exemption from the pre-requisite from the module leader on satisfaction they have completed similar studies or have relevant industry-related knowledge and experience.

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

- To develop in students introductory a) knowledge of, b) skills in and c) understanding of the values and culture of public relations and its variations in commercial, public, private and voluntary sectors
- To enable students to develop and deploy techniques of writing and campaign and event planning in public relations
- To develop the ability to critically apply the methods of public relations to initiate and carry out practical projects in public relations
- To introduce an understanding of the dangers of a range of crises to organisational reputation

Outline Of Syllabus

Topics covered may include:

Introduction to and definitions of PR
The business of PR across different sectors
Audiences, stakeholders and publics
Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned Media (PESO)
Content creation including news releases, blogs and social media
Event management
Ethics and professionalism
Internal communications
Crisis communications
Introduction to PR planning

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Students successfully completing the module should be able to:
K1 - understand the values and culture of public relations and its variations in commercial, public and voluntary sectors
K2 - develop a critical understanding of how public relations practice can be used to manage reputation via communications with organisational stakeholders
K3 - appreciate the role of ethics and professionalism within a PR context during times of crisis and change management (crisis and internal communications)

Intended Skill Outcomes

Students successfully completing the module should be able to:
S1 - draft a news release and other media content
S2 - organise a successful event with timeline and budget
S3 - critically apply the methods of public relations to initiate creative ideas and develop plans for public relations

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The on-campus present in person lectures introduce students to various concepts, ideas and topics in public relations as well as setting preparatory tasks for the weekly workshops. Scheduled workshops will allow for an element of group work to encourage students to develop knowledge and skills by critically applying theory and concepts to practical contexts using examples, case studies and activities.

These timetabled workshops will be more practical, using current PR practice and award-winning case studies from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations to allow students to critically assess the use, or not, of theories in practice.

Consolidation lectures will recap and reinforce learnings from the interactive learning material and workshop sessions, equipping students with the knowledge and skills required to meet the learning outcomes for the module, via formative and summative assessment.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The mid-term formative assessment will be a short presentation detailing the findings of an event planning case study through the lens of PR and communication. This will help support students and scaffold their learning into the end of term summative assessment.

The end of term summative assessment is designed to test the key skills employers are looking for: the ability to organise events and the ability to translate a PR brief into a portfolio of industry standard resources (S1, S2, S3). The students will be required to develop an event plan considering a range of PR principles including internal and external comms, risk and crisis management, as well as ethics and professionalism. The students will also develop creative content to promote their event, including a press release, blog and posts for social media channels (K1, K2, K3).

General Notes

N/A