#NotAllBaptismByFire: The state of social media training at student-run communication organizations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58997/smc.v32i2.28Abstract
Advisers (n=112) and student leaders (n=31) from North American collegiate student-run communication organizations reported on their social media training. Through a snowball sample, advisers and student leaders from campus newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, advertising/public relations firms filled out an online questionnaire. As a state of social media training study, these findings provide a picture of student-run communication organizations today and their training experiences with social media. A little more than half included social media in their training, which focused on professionalism and content creation. Likewise, content creation and professionalism were the topics advisers reported students needed most. Advisers agreed or strongly agreed that students needed social media training and that social media usage is an integral part of their organizations. Researchers provide recommendations for future study and directions for training improvement.References
Altman, D. G. (1999). Practical statistics for medical research. New York, NY: Chapman & Hall/CRC Press.
Ascarelli, M., Huckins, K., & Collopy, T. (2013, October 1.) Training helps overcome beginning-of-semester hump. College Media Review. Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/training-helps-overcome-beginning-of-semester-hump/
Avery, J. R., & Marra, J. L. (1992). Student-run advertising agency: A showcase for student work. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED351711.
Becker, L. B., Vlad, T., & Kalpen, K. (2012). 2011 annual survey of journalism and mass communication enrollments: enrollments decline, reversing the increase of a year earlier, and suggesting slow growth for future. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, (4), 333.
Bor, S. E. (2014). Teaching social media journalism: Challenges and opportunities for future curriculum design. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 69(3), 243-255.
Bush, L. (2009). Student public relations agencies: a qualitative study of the pedagogical benefits, risks, and a framework for success. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 64(1), 27-38.
Bush, L., & Miller, B. M. (2011). U.S. student-run agencies: Organization, attributes and adviser perceptions of student learning outcomes. Public Relations Review, 37(5), 485-491.
Commission on Public Relations Education (1999, October) Public relations education for the 21st century – A port of entry. New York: Public Relations Society of America. Retrieved from http://lamar.colostate.edu/~aejmcpr/commisionreport99.htm#1
Commission on Public Relations Education (2006). The professional bond. New York: Public Relations Society of America. Retrieved from http://www.commpred.org/
DiPalma, S., & Gouge, M. E. (2013). Adapting to the changing media landscape The story of The Blue Banner. College Media Review, 49-50, 71-83. Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/CMR_Research2013_06_DiPalma.pdf
DiStaso, M. W., Stacks, D. W., & Botan, C. H. (2009) State of public relations education in the United States: 2006 report on a national survey of executives and academics. Public Relations Review, 35, 254-269.
Dickson, T. (2000) Mass Media Education in transition: Preparing for the 21st century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Dineen, L. C., & Blakesley, B. C. (1973) Algorithm AS 62: Generator for the sampling distribution of the Mann-Whitney U statistic. Applied Statistics, 22, 269-273.
English, E. (1988). Journalism education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company.
Filak, V. F. (2012). A concurrent examination of self-versus-others perceptual bias and the willingness to self-censor. A study of college newspaper editors and advisers. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 89(2), 299-314.
Filak, V. F. (2014). Sender-receiver, receiver-sender: A uses-and-gratifications study of student journalists’ use of social media. College Media Review, 51, 4-16. Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014_ResearchFilak1.pdf
Filak, V. F., & Reinardy, S. (2011). Editor toast: A study of burnout and job satisfaction among college newspaper editors. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 66(3), 243-256
Filak, V. F. & Pritchard, R. S. (2007). The effects of self-determined motivation and autonomy support on advisers and members of a journalism student organization. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 62(1), 62-76.
Finberg, H. I., & Klinger, L. (2014). Core skills for the future of journalism. Retrieved from http://www.newsu.org/course_files/CoreSkills_FutureofJournalism2014v2.pdf
Gibbons, M. & Hopkins, D. (1980). How experiential is your experience-based program? Journal of Experiential Education, 3(1), 32-37.
Gibson, D. C. & Rowden, V. C. (1994-1995). Profile of an undergraduate public relations firm. Public Relations Quarterly, 39(4), 26-30.
Gillmor, D. (2016). Towards a new model for journalism education, Journalism Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2016.1164998
Haley, J., Ritsch, M, & Smith, J. (2016). The best of both worlds: Student perspectives on student-run advertising and public relations agencies. Journal of Public Relations Education, 2(1), 19-33. Retrieved from http://aejmc.us/jpre/2016/02/15/the-best-of-both-
worlds-student-perspectives-on-student-run-advertising-and-public-relations-agencies/
Imagewest-An award-winning and one-of-a-kind advertising and public relations agency. (2005). Public Relations Quarterly, 50(3), 13.
Jacobson, K. (2015, April). Key questions for developing social media policy, College Media Review. Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/key-questions-for-social-media-policy/
Johnson, K. (2015, March 31). Boldly going where no social media has gone before: The media ‘New Kid on the Block’ is still evolving. College Media Review. Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/boldly-going-to-where-no-social-media-has-gone-before/
Kinsky, E. S., Freberg, K., Kim, C., Kushin, M., & Ward, W. (2016). Hootsuite University: Equipping academics and future PR professionals for social media success, Journal of Public Relations Education, 2(1), 1-18.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experiences as the source of learning and development (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Kopenhaver, L. L. (2015, Jan. 25). Campus media reflect changing information landscape. College Media Review, 52, Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/research-campus-media-reflect-changing-information-landscape/
Kopenhaer, L. L. (2015, Jan. 15). College student media advisers fare well. College Media Review, 52, Retrieved from http://cmreview.org/research-vol-52-college-student-mediaadvisers-fare-well/
Maben, S. K. (2010). A mixed method analysis of undergraduate student-run public relations firms on U.S. college campuses. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. Retrieved from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30486/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf.
Maben, S. K., & Edwards, J. (2015). Social media internships: A case study of a student-run social media institute. Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication. Retrieved from http://aejmc.us/spig/2015/social-media-internships-a-case-study-of-a-student-run-socialmedia-institute/
Maben, S. K., & Whitson, K. (2013). Experiential learning labs in public relations programs: Characteristics of undergraduate student-run public relations firms on U.S. college campuses. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 28(2). Retrieved from http://swecjmc.wp.txstate.edu/28-2/
Maben, S. K., & Whitson, K. (2014). Undergraduate transformations: Reported observations from advisers at U.S. student-run public relations firms. Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication, 4(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://aejmc.us/spig/2014/undergraduatetransformations-reported-observations-from-advisers-at-u-s-student-run-public-relationsfirms/
Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J., & Hooley, T. (2009). Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’. Learning Media and Technology, 34(2), 141-155. 21.
Maranto, G., & Barton, M. (2010). Paradox and promise: MySpace, Facebook, and the sociopolitics of social networking in the writing classroom. Computers and Composition, 27(Composition 2.0), 36-47. doi:10.1016/j. compcom.2009.11.003 22.
McEachern, R. W. (2011). Experiencing a social network in an organizational context: The Facebook internship. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 486-493. doi:10.1177/1080569911423963 23.
Mensing, D. & Ryfe, D. (2013). Blueprint for change: From the teaching hospital to the entrepreneurial model of journalism education. #ISOJ The Official Research Journal of the International Symposium on Online Journalism. 6(1) 26-44.
Mogavero, D. T. (1982). University hires student PR agency to get job done, and Del-Com Associates comes through in style. Journalism Educator, 48-50.
Neill, M. S., & Schauster, E. (2015). Gaps in advertising and public relations education: Perspectives of agency leaders. Journal of Advertising Education, 19(2), 5-17. Open Letter, Retrieved from http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/other/open-letter-
americas-university-presidents/.
Peskin, D. (2013). Attitudes and perceptions of public relations professionals towards graduating students’ skills. Public Relations Review, 39, 251-253.
Raymond, R. K. (2013). Management practices of student-run broadcast radio stations: A national review of contemporary college radio (Doctoral Dissertation Indiana University of Pennsylvania). Retrieved from https://dspace.iup.edu/bitstream/handle/2069/2040/Ronald%20K.%20Raymond.pdf?sequ ence=1
Royal, C. (2005). Teaching web design in journalism and mass communication programs:Integration, judgment, and perspective. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 59(4), 400-414.
Schram, T.H. (2006). Conceptualizing and proposing qualitative research. Pearson: Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Struthers, A. (2016). Experiential education in a student-run startup: A case study of a university student-led communications agency. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska. ProQuest Number: 10103360
Sublett, M. & Mattingly, P. (1995). Undergraduate geography internships in the United States: National survey and case study. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 19(2), 240.
Swanson, D. J. (2011). The student-run public relations firm in an undergraduate program: Reaching learning and professional development goals through “real world” experience.Public Relations Review, 37, 499-505.
Swanson, D.J. (2008). Training future PR practitioners and serving the community through a “learning by doing” undergraduate university curriculum. Public Relations Quarterly, 52(3), 15-20.
Todd, V. (2014). Public relations supervisors and Millennial entry-level practitioners rate entry level job skills and professional characteristics. Public Relations Review, 40(5), doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.05.002
Weisgerber, C. (2009). Teaching PR 2.0 through the use of blogs and wikis. Communication Teacher, 23(3), 105-109
Wenger, D. H., & Owens, L. C. (2012). Help wanted 2010: An examination of new media skills required by top U.S. news companies. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 67(1), 9-25. doi: 10.1177/1077695811426826
