JOCELYN WILLIAMS EDUCATOR

If employers are going to consider taking on someone with a degree qualification, then they’d better have actual project experience and know what to do in a practical sense! This is what our market research tells us. In continuously improving a postgraduate 'Communicating in Organisations' course I've developed a real client project for students to actually deliver on. Year on year it's proving extremely effective. It demonstrates that while postgraduate study can and should build on a basis of theory, the much-needed hands-on practical skills can be acquired in a compelling mix of online and in-class techniques that are even, actually, fun! Graduates of the course can then show stakeholders the value of advanced degree study and talk about their role in the collaborative team project scenario in an interview* (see note below)

In 2015 this approach succeeded far beyond my expectations, and in 2016, if it’s possible, the learning and student satisfaction outshone the first pilot. The 16 students in 2016 were from postgraduate Communication, Business and Master of Applied Practice  (five Health Science students) programmes.

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THE "HOW"

The model here is a simulated (not quite real) Public Relations/Marketing agency experience ,so learners can experience what it is like to work with a client. The client in this case was Unitec’s Organisational Development and Internal Communications colleagues Catherine Kemp and Travis Logan, on big strategic projects relating to communicating with students.

The actual project the students had to do was to create a strategic communications plan, working in teams. I took the role of Agency Director, and the class was my creative team reporting to me as their manager. In 2015 the team created a plan for communicating the "Student Services Blueprint" to students. In 2016, three teams developed strategic plans for communicating the 2017 Student Wellness Programme to students.

At the heart of both projects was the question “how do you communicate effectively with the Unitec student body on new initiatives that will affect them directly?” Such a problem required my students to operate as professional communication (PR) practitioners consulting to Unitec, understanding the communications planning process. This was their knowledge development - learning that they need to start with research or situation analysis, understand a client brief and come to agreed project objectives. The end product is presentation of a "pitch" to the client.

In 2016 with a larger class I managed three teams each with an Account Manager and four or five Account Associates reporting through to me as their “boss”. This was all simulated - pretend - but it felt very realistic! We had weekly WIP (“Work In Progress”) meetings in Building 48 with “the client”. This was very real professional development for the learners.  Early in the course I brought in Fiona Pond (of Unitec’s OD team) to do a workshop on Belbin Team Roles.

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*Assessment at the end of the course included a 1:1 "self-reflection" by each student, with me and the client. It focused on the role they'd played in their team, their perceptions of issues and/or achievements and learning, and what they saw as the core capabilities of communications practitioners. Often these discussions were a real revelation and most were quite moving for us to participate in, showing the learners' deep learning and self-knowledge. Some of that would have come as a result of this course and the struggle to come to terms with being an effective team member and collaborator (which, after all, is incredibly challenging). These final reflective discussions are also excellent preparation for the fomal processes of being interviewed for jobs.

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THE RESULTS

The students learned so much, and in a genuine way, from this Professional Development approach to higher-level learning. They were not simply ticking boxes to say they are done. In both years they LOVED it; they were genuinely motivated. They expressed amazement and gratitude. I also managed to weave in other more academic requirements such as the elements of writing Literature Reviews, and how to structure a Communications plan - it wasn't all fun and games! They also loved other add-ons such as a workshop on Resilience with guest expert Richard Whitney. The outcomes of their work for Unitec were highly praised by “the client” at the final presentations. Students blossomed in confidence about what it means to do professional PR / communications work, having had the benefit of multiple sources of feedback or evaluation, from:

• me as coach, teacher and agency "boss" - actually three kinds of feedback, depending on which "hat" I'm wearing at any given moment;

• the client(s) who provided outstanding mentoring both because they are practitioners and they remember being students;

• other expert input from Fiona Pond, Richard Whitney;

• themselves - self-reflection is central to the course.