Sparking Creativity Through Purpose-Driven Storytelling GREAT IDEAS FOR TEACHING

1. Public Relations Education
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Journal of
JPRE
Volume 4, Issue 2, Fall 2018
A publication of the Public Relations Division of AEJMC
ISSN 2573-1742

2. Volume 4, Issue 2, Fall 2018
A publication of the Public Relations Division of AEJMC
ISSN 2573-1742
© Copyright 2018 AEJMC Public Relations Division
Journal of Public Relations Education
Editorial Staff
Emily S. Kinsky, West Texas A&M University, editor-in-chief
Tiffany Gallicano, University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
senior associate editor
Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
associate editor
Chuck Lubbers, University of South Dakota, associate editor of reviews
Kathleen Stansberry, Elon University, web manager
Note from the Editor-in-Chief:
In this issue, you will find three research articles, all five of the top
AEJMC PR Division’s Great Ideas For Teaching presented in Washington,
D.C., and two reviews by Matt Kushin, which relate to one another on the
topic of teaching social media.
Volume 4, Issue 2 reflects an incredible amount of work done prior to
my editorship. The previous editor-in-chief, Chuck Lubbers, handled the
review assignments for each of the research articles for this issue prior to
me moving into this role on Jan. 1, 2018, and two of them were accepted
for publication under his tenure in 2017. The first acceptance letter I was
honored to send as the editor went to Drs. Brunner, Zarkin and Yates. A
special thanks to Chuck for his work with authors and reviewers to get us
ready for Volume 4.
Thank you to Tiffany, Lucinda, Chuck and Katie, who have invested
countless unpaid hours proofreading, editing and formatting this issue.
Without your service, this issue would not exist. Special thanks go to
Rebekah Grome, who also came to our aid with proofreading.

3. Table of Contents
Research Articles
1-20
21-50 What do Employers Want? What Should Faculty Teach? A
Content Analysis of Entry-Level Employment Ads in Public
Relations
Brigitta R. Brunner, Kim Zarkin, & Bradford L. Yates
51-86 Teaching Digital and Social Media Analytics: Exploring Best
Teaching Briefs
PRD GIFT Winners from AEJMC 2018
87-98 Building a Social Learning Flock: Using Twitter Chats to
Enhance Experiential Learning Across Universities
Amanda J. Weed, Karen Freberg, Emily S. Kinsky,
& Amber L. Hutchins
99-106 Diagnosing Health Campaigns: A Campaign Evaluation
Assignment
Laura E. Willis

4. Teaching Briefs (continued)
PRD GIFT Winners from AEJMC 2018
107-114 Teaching Trolling: Management and Strategy
Leslie Rasmussen
115-122 Sparking Creativity Through Purpose-Driven Storytelling
Chris Cooney
123-127 Looking in to see out: An Introspective Approach to Teaching
Ethics in PR
Regina Luttrell & Jamie Ward
Reviews
128-133 Social Media Campaigns: Strategies for Public Relations and
Marketing
Matthew J. Kushin
134-145 Meltwater Media Intelligence Software
Matthew J. Kushin

5. PRD GIFT Winner AEJMC 2018
Sparking Creativity Through
Purpose-Driven Storytelling
Chris Cooney, Washington State University
Rationale
The Digital Strategies and Techniques course begins with a two-
part assignment in which students produce a multimedia story about their
transformation from a college student to a communication professional.
The assignment aligns with the Washington State University
Foundational Competencies for Communication, which require students to
“creatively adapt content and conventions to diverse contexts, audiences,
and purposes,” including the use of digital communication technologies
(UCORE, n.d., para. 7). Adobe Spark requires less than one hour of
classroom instruction for students to gain the skills necessary to complete
the assignment. Having a minimal need for technical instruction enables
students to focus on the structure of their stories and the significance of the
elements they contain.
Student Learning Goals
This assignment furthers the following WSU Communication
learning goals: “Defining, analyzing, and solving problems;” “combining
and synthesizing existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways;”
“thinking and working in imaginative ways characterized by innovation,
divergent thinking, and risk-taking” (WSU, n.d., para. 3).
Connection to Practice
My Great Idea For Teaching (GIFT) combines the process of
Journal of Public Relations Education
2018, Vol. 4, No. 1, 115-122

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personal narrative construction with Adobe Spark as a media creation
tool in an assignment that empowers students to confidently engage in
communication strategy development and purpose-driven multimedia
storytelling grounded in PR practices.
The problem-solving approach, creative process, and media
creation tool used in this assignment are intuitive and approachable.
Students follow a strategic content creation process that requires research,
strategic development, ideation, content creation, and implementation.
Evidence of Student Learning Outcomes
The intuitive workflow of Adobe Spark gave students the
confidence to make mistakes and experiment without significant risk
of wasted time or effort. Students can quickly explore new possibilities
that they previously saw as unattainable. I could then provide feedback
during the class period and suggest changes, which the student could often
implement before the end of the class period.
Student Examples
Listed below are examples of the multimedia narratives students
produced based on the assignment instructions.
Karen Gallardo, https://spark.adobe.com/video/oTxttwh2VDj21
Kelly-anne Cubley, https://spark.adobe.com/video/xD0EXPQVhfe6g
Niko Balocco, https://spark.adobe.com/video/IXDHt3Po4joRR
Assignment
For the first part of the assignment, Personal Professional
Assessment and Vision, students write a structured narrative, grounded in
their personal values and goals, that describes how they will leverage their
strengths and overcome obstacles to achieve what they define as success.
Cooney

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In the second part of the assignment, Personal Introduction Presentation,
students translate their written story into a multimedia narrative using
Adobe Spark, a free storytelling tool that is part of the Adobe Creative
Cloud.
The assignment requires students to engage in a planning
and creative process that mirrors the situation analysis and strategy
development process used in professional public relations. The assignment
is a practical and meaningful introduction to strategy development and
digital content creation.
References
UCORE. (n.d.). UCORE Categories and Course Lists. Retrieved from
https://ucore.wsu.edu/students/categories-and-courses/
Washington State University (n.d.) WSU Learning Goals: Communication
Learning Goals. Retrieved from https://ucore.wsu.edu/students/
learning-goals/
Editorial Record: Submitted to AEJMC-PRD GIFT Competition by
February 5, 2018. A blind copy was peer reviewed by the PRD Teaching
Committee, led by Chair Katie Place, and selected as a Top GIFT. First
published online on August 17, 2018.

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Appendix
Assignment
These are the assignment instructions provided to students.
Assignment - Part 1: Personal Professional Assessment & Vision
Assignment on the course blog: https://comstrat381.com/assignment-1b-
personal-professional-assessment-vision/
This assignment will serve as the basis for your Presentation 1: Personal
Professional Introduction assignment, so you should complete it before
you begin work on your presentation.
Overview
For this assignment, you will develop a structured narrative, grounded
in your personal values and goals, that describes your personal
transformation from a college student to a successful communication
professional. Although this is a personal story, the structure of this
assignment and the process you’ll use to develop it is based on the same
creative process you’ll use to research clients and customers, so you can
develop communication solutions that meet strategic goals.
Task
Create a document that captures your structured creative thought process–
including relevant details, references, goals, actions, and insights. You
will use it to construct a personal story about your transformation from a
college student to a successful communication professional.
Document Outline
A. Personal Information - Start with an overview of yourself; where you
came from, how you got to WSU, and what you’re doing right now.
• Your name and hometown.
Cooney

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• Your major, area of interest, minor, or other active academic pursuits.
• When will you graduate? How many months away is that? How many
days?
• What are you doing this semester besides taking 381?
• Your hobbies, interests, groups/organizations you are a member of or
other things you want to share about yourself.
• What are your core values? In other words, what personally do you
stand for and consider most important?
Research requirement: Include at least two relevant statistics in this
section that help establish context or scope for your personal background
and interests. Include citations for these statistics.
B. Vision of Future Professional Self - Where do you see yourself
professionally five years after graduation?
• Where will you live? - Geographic location, urban or rural, relevant
details about your living situation.
• Where will you work? - Type of company or organization, location,
relevant details about your work environment.
• What will your title be? - How does this title relate to your skills
and strengths? Cite a real title and organization with specific job
responsibilities and requirements.
• Who will you work with? - What kinds of people will you collaborate
with at your company or organization? Who will you engage with
outside of your company (customers, clients, the public, etc.)?
• What work will you do? - What will you create or produce, what
impact will it have on people and on society?
• What will you do besides work?
• How does all of this relate to your core values?
Research requirement: Research the location you want to live in and firms
and titles in the industry and location you identified. Cite at least two
sources in this section to demonstrate a clear connection between your

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vision of yourself and the real possibilities that exist there today.
C. Situation Analysis - Do a strength, weakness, opportunities, threats
(SWOT) analysis on yourself based on your preparedness to begin your
professional career and be successful. Include relevant information about
your skills and experience.
• Summarize your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
either in a table or as a bulleted list.
• Identify what you think is your greatest opportunity and your greatest
threat or challenge.
D. Steps to Enable Future Vision - What are 3-4 specific decisions you
can make or actions you can take in the next four months to use your
personal strengths to capitalize on the greatest opportunity you identified
or minimize the most significant threat that could stand in the way of you
moving toward your vision of your future professional self?
• List your greatest opportunities and most significant challenge.
• Then for each of them:
• Identify the specific action you can take or change you can make
that will address it.
• How will taking this action lead to your vision of your future self?
• How does taking this action this relate to your core values?
Research requirement: Identify 2-3 specific resources (people,
organizations, classes, scholarships, etc.) that could help you make the
most of a particular opportunity or overcome a challenge. Cite these
resources.
E. References - Include a references page at the end of your paper. Use
MLA style for your citations.
Cooney

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Assignment - Part 2: Presentation 1 - Personal Introduction
Presentation
Present your personal story about your transformation from a student to a
successful communication professional.
Assignment on course blog: https://comstrat381.com/presentation-1-
personal-introduction/
Overview
Develop a multimedia presentation that describes your transformation
from a college student to a successful communication professional.
Use Assignment #1B: Personal Professional Assessment and Vision as
your reference for your presentation structure and content. Collect and
incorporate multimedia elements (photos, video, audio, etc.) to help
illustrate your story and engage your audience.
Task
Create a short, multimedia narrative using Adobe Spark. You can either
use Spark Page to create a web page to illustrate your story, then deliver a
verbal narrative in class that relates to the web page. Or you can create a
standalone Spark Video that may only require a brief verbal introduction
in class. You also have the option to combine a Spark Page and a Spark
Video to deliver your presentation. Remember, you cannot exceed the
2-minute time limit for your presentation.
Your in-class presentation should not exceed 2 minutes. Spark Videos
should be 1-2 minutes.
Format: A Spark Page or Spark Video.
Presentation Outline
This is the suggested outline and order for your presentation. You can
adjust the order to fit your personal vision and concept for your story, but

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your story must include all of the elements listed in the outline.
A. Introduction - Start with an overview of yourself.
• Include relevant details from your previous assignment.
• Introduce your core values.
Media requirement: Include at least two images in this section.
B. Situation Analysis - Where are you today? What is the most important
information about your current situation for your audience if they are to
understand where you want to go and how you are going to get there?
• Identify your most significant opportunities and most significant
challenge.
Media requirement: Include at least two images in this section.
C. Vision of Future Professional Self - Where do you see yourself
professionally five years after graduation?
Media requirement: Include at least two images in this section.
D. Path to Future Vision - What are you going to do to move toward your
vision of your future professional self.
• Identify the specific actions you will take.
Media requirement: Include at least two images in this section.
E. Outcome and Benefit - What is now possible? What is the result of
having achieved this vision of your future professional self?
• How do you benefit?
• How do others benefit?
Media requirement: Include at least one image in this section.
Cooney