Division: Communication, Susan Dittmer Chair

Transcription

1 1 Division: Communication, Susan Dittmer Chair ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Academic Program Assessment and Planning Report Missouri Valley College Year: Academic Program: Public Relations Submitted by Harry Carrell. I. Mission Provide hands on personal training in the field of Public Relations preparing students for positions into the world of work II. Goals 1. Make students aware of the vast field of Public Relations including its origin, history, and future. 2. Provide intense practice in the creation and writing of the many forms of written and oral communication in Public Relations. 3. Provide students an opportunity to work on actual Public Relations Cases. III. Student learning outcomes 1. Students will be able to communicate effectively with their audiences. 2. Students will act professionally in their practice. 3. Students will be scholars of the Public Relations process 4. Students will be able to apply ethical-centered values as they contribute to society

2 2 IV. Course map Public Relations classes: PR150, PR250, PR350, PR450 taken in sequence with each PR class building upon skills learned in previous classes. Oral Communication classes: Speech 405. Mass Communication classes: MC370, MC400 English classes: EN327 Business classes: BA212, BA232, BA332, BA362, BA422 Public Relations Matrix COURSE STANDARDS PR150 Principles of Public Relations X x x X PR250 Public Relations Techniques x x x x x PR350 Public Relations Case X x x x x x x x x x x x x x Problems PR450 Public Relations Campaign x x x x x x x x x x x x x x PR401 Internship x x x x x x x x x x x x PR485 Portfolio x x x x SP 405 Persuasion MC370 Free Lance Writing MC400 Media Law and Ethics X X EN327Technical and Professional Writing BA 302 Statistics BA212 Principles of Management BA232 Principles of Marketing BA332 Principles of Advertising BA362 Consumer and Market Behavior BA422 Organizational Behavior

3 3 V. Assessment tools 1. Internships (On-site evaluation extremely important for evaluation) 2. Portfolio (Each senior submits a Portfolio at the end of the senior year) Electronic portfolios illustrate growth over time in generic as well as discipline-based skills and are not distorted by a student having a bad day and performing poorly on a 3-hour snapshot of what has been learned in college 3. Exit Exam VI. VII. Summary of findings Most of the graduating seniors this year performed extremely well on both the exit exam and the submission of the portfolio. One senior received the outstanding student award. Two students received a D in their Internship evaluation based upon a combination of the on-site evaluation and the poor quality of their work. Weakness in the preparation of press releases and spotty attendance were two of the reasons cited for the non-passing grades. Level of achievement of goals Thus far extremely well. VIII. Faculty/Student/Program information Table 1. Faculty Profile Full time Total number of program 1 fema Number of program by gender le male 1 Highest degree in field for program (Highlight degree considered terminal in the field.) Bach elor s Mast er s Doct orate Years of teaching experience and/or 0-5 professional experience in field for program Part time * M.A +

4 21+ x *Part time is defined as a teaching load of 11 credit hours or less with no additional duties compensated by release time. Table 2. Faculty Teaching and Advising Loads Fall Spring # students enrolled in lectures* # lecture sections offered 2 2 # lab sections offered 0 0 # classes total # of general education classes 0 0 offered # contact hours taught by FT ** # contact hours taught by PT 0 0 % contact hours taught by PT 0 0 # credit hours taught by FT # credit hours taught by PT 0 0 % credit hours taught by PT 0 0 # advisees of FT 24 # advisees of PT 0 *Sum of all students in all lecture sections taught by program. A student may be counted multiple times. **A contact hour is defined as a full-semester scheduled class or lab hour where the member is continuously engaged with the students. Partial semester hours are prorated. Academic credits do not necessarily coincide with contact hours. Supervisory and online course situations are considered on a case-by-case basis. IX. Analysis/Interpretation Based on findings of the assessment process and /student/program information, the meets to summarize conclusions drawn with respect to program function and success. We primarily base our analysis on the exit test and the overall quality of the senior project. We also look closely at the reports from the work our interns have completed. Because I m the only one teaching PR classes I get feedback and input from the Mass Communication Department, the Speech, and Business.

5 5 X. Action plan After the exit exam is analyzed, members get together to determine what changes can be made within the various courses to assure mastery of the material presented. 1. Need to upgrade computer hardware and software. This is an ongoing process. Students need to be cross trained on both Mac and PC platforms and exposed to a variety of editing software for the production of material. This is being accomplished by working closely with the Mass Communication Department. As they update, so do we. 2. Two of our interns received low scores in the writing of press releases category. We added MC210 as a required course (Basic News Reporting) and dropped BA302 (Statistics) because students did not feel it was providing them with the kinds of things they needed from their PR experience, especially during their Internships. 3. We also changed some of the presentations in PR250, essentially turning the course into an intensive PR Writing course. We ll change the catalog description..