Introduction to Public Relations Syllabus for 2024-2025
Return to Syllabus List

Instructor Information

Course Information

AI Statement

Collusion is defined as “the unauthorized collaboration with another person or by any other means, including artificial intelligence (AI) and computer translators, in preparing work for fulfillment of course requirements.” Using AI like (ChatGPT or Google Gemini) to create a document is considered colluding. <strong>The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence on specific assignments is at the discretion of the instructor. </strong>

COVID-19 Protocols

Recording Policy

Disability Statement

If you have a disability (learning, mental, physical) that affects your ability to participate effectively and have access to any program or service at Amarillo College please contact Disability Services at (806) 345-5639 . Our offices are located in the Enrollment Center, Suite 700. More information may be found at www.actx.edu/disability.
Disability Services facilitates access to all programs and services according to the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, as well as other federal and state laws.

Amarillo College Web Accessibility Policy Statement

Amarillo College is committed to providing equal access to all programs and services, including all working, learning, and service environments that affect equal access for persons with disabilities. This commitment to provide equal access and opportunity for persons with disabilities is in compliance with federal and state law. Amarillo College also strives to provide Electronic and Information Resources (EIR) that are accessible to all authorized users.

If you find you are unable to access material in an accessible format please contact the Disability Services Office at (806) 345-5639 . This office will work in conjunction with other campus resources to address and accommodate your issue in a timely manner.

Statement for Mental Health and Advocacy & Resource Center:

As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce a student's ability to participate in daily activities. Amarillo College offers services to assist you with addressing these and other concerns you may be experiencing. If you or someone you know are suffering from any of the aforementioned conditions, you can learn more about the broad range of confidential mental health services available on campus by calling the AC Counseling Center at 806-371-5900. The AC Counseling Center website is https://www.actx.edu/counseling/ . Also, if you are in need of social services (affordable housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, childcare, medical/dental/vision, legal), please call the AC Advocacy & Resource Center at 806-371-5439. The AC Advocacy & Resource Center website is https://www.actx.edu/arc

Amarillo College Tutoring for Success Policy:

Tutoring for Success applies to any student whose overall performance in the course falls below 75%. The instructor will create the task in the Student Engagement Portal (Watermark) to direct the student to the appropriate tutoring service, which may be faculty- or SI-led, discipline-specific, and/or general. The tutoring service assigned, the due date for when the tutoring must be completed, and the amount of tutoring required are at the discretion of the instructor. Additionally, the task will alert the student’s success team. Students who do not fulfill the assigned tutoring task may be subject to program- and course-specific penalties that could result in a grade reduction and/or in not being allowed to progress in the course until the tutoring requirement has been satisfied.

Administrative Drop Policy

Students who do not attend class on or prior to the census date will be administratively dropped. Effective Fall, 2016

Student Withdrawal Procedures

Students who wish to withdraw from a course must complete all steps indicated on the Academic Withdrawal Request form by the course withdrawal deadline.

NOTE: Students who are attending Texas institutions of higher education, for the first time fall 2007 and later, may not withdraw from more than six courses during their academic career. This withdrawal limitation does not include dual credit or developmental classes (Senate Bill 1231 Rule 4.10.) For more information on Drop and Withdrawal Policies, please visit the Registrar's Office Web site.

Privacy Statement

The Amarillo College Privacy Policy is found at https://www.actx.edu/-amarillo-college-privacy-notice , and applies to all Amarillo College students.  If you have questions about this privacy statement or you believe that your personal information has been released without your consent, send email to humanresources@actx.edu .

Course

COMM-2330-002 Introduction to Public Relations

Prerequisites

Course Description

Exploration of the history and development of public relations. Presentation of the theory behind and process of public relations, including the planning, implementation and evaluation of PR campaigns.

Student ResourcesStudent Resources Website

Department Expectations

Occupational License Disclaimer

Notice to Students enrolled in an educational program for preparation of issuance of certain occupational licenses:

Students enrolled in an educational program in preparation for obtaining certain occupational licenses are potentially ineligible for such license if the student has been convicted of an offense. For further information, please contact:

Melodie Graves
Justice Involved Advocate
Student Service Center 117
mgraves24@actx.edu
806-371-5995
Make appointment at https://melodiegraves.youcanbook.me

You can also contact the Legal Clinic, or the faculty member in charge of the educational program that you seek to enroll in. The further information you will receive will include notification to you of your right to request a criminal history evaluation letter from the licensing authority in order to clarify your particular situation.

Hours

(3 sem hrs; 3 lec)

Class Type

Online Course

Syllabus Information

Textbooks

Wilcox, D., Cameron, G., Reber, B., & Shin, J. (2013). Think public relations. (2nd ed.). Pearson Education Inc. ISBN: 978-0205857258 

Supplies

Internet access

Note-taking materials

Web camera 

Student Performance

After studying the material presented in this course of study, the student will be able to do the following as evaluated by the faculty in the department/program.

1. Define Public Relations and its role in society.
2. Identify the various functions and responsibilities of PR professionals.
3. Gain a broad understanding of today’s public relations industry from a real world perspective.
4. Identify and apply the steps of the PR process.
5. Develop elements of a PR plan.
6. Explain the differences between marketing, public relations, and advertising.
7. Identify how PR practitioners work with the media to help create a company’s branding and personality.
8. Create an original PR campaign for identified client: research current market conditions, clarify desired image, identify a clear message, and develop creative promotional strategies.

Students Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Log in using the AC Connect Portal

In order to receive your AC Connect Email, you must log in through AC Connect at https://acconnect.actx.edu .

If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

LATE WORK POLICY: Late work will NOT be accepted. You are responsible for completing all work in this course on time, in accordance with the guidelines for each assignment. If you do not understand an assignment or have difficulties with an assignment, it is your responsibility to contact me in a timely manner to request assistance. Be realistic about the time frame you use when requesting assistance and be specific as possible when asking a question. Begin your assignments early so that should the need for help arise, you have time to receive it and still meet the deadline for the assignment. All work should be typed.

Communication Expectations

I will send out emails to our whole class in Blackboard. However, please email me at mfowler@actx.edu - not through Blackboard. Please allow up to 48 hours for a reply to your email or phone messages. Correspondence received on Fridays and Holidays will not be addressed until the next regularly scheduled business day. In circumstances where a longer response time is needed, faculty will notify the student. Please allow at least one week for feedback for graded assignments and activities.

When communicating in an online format (i.e., e-mail, chat, discussions, etc.) please adhere to the standard rules of netiquette.

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. (2014). 15 essential netiquette guidelines to share with your students (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. [Blog].

Plagiarism is unacceptable. Plagiarism is considered serious academic misconduct. All written assignments presented in this class must be original work by the student. Any student caught plagiarizing or cheating will receive a failing grade for the course. Students must abide by high standards of journalistic integrity. Faking quotations, faking facts, pasting material directly from a website or other source or reporting things that did not happen will be treated as plagiarism and dealt with in the same manner as other scholastic dishonesty. Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but not be limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. Cheating on a test shall include: 1. Copying from another student’s test paper. 2. Using test materials not authorized by the person administering the test. 3. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during a test without permission from the test administrator. 4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, or soliciting, in whole or in part, the contents of an unadministered test. 5. The unauthorized transporting or removal, in whole or in part, of the contents of the unadministered test. 6. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for one’s self, to take a test. 7. Bribing another person to obtain an unadministered test or information about an unadministered test. Plagiarism shall be defined the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of another person's/organization's work as one’s own written work for purposes of receiving grades in this course and/or publication in a student media outlet, regardless of whether the lifted material represents the original work in its entirety or in part. Collusion shall be defined as the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work for fulfillment of course requirements. A complete statement regarding scholastic dishonesty can be found in the Student Code of Conduct in Student Rights and Responsibilities in this syllabus.

AIgiarism refers to using artificial intelligence tools (AI) to produce seemingly human output that does not actually reflect your own work. AI-generated content can seem like a tempting shortcut, compared to doing the hard work of learning. When you do this, you shortchange yourself, and you and misrepresent yourself to the outside world (instructors, classmates, family, hiring managers, etc.). Moreover, the quality of AIgiarized content is often not as good as you think it is to a knowledgeable reader. Unless otherwise stated, all work submitted is expected to be conducted and written by you – not by AI chatbots or similar tools. Inappropriately misrepresenting AI-generated output as your own work will be considered a violation of academic integrity, and treated in the same way as plagiarism. 

AI-detecting software may be used to analyze your submissions. If I am unsure about the source of the work you submit, I will require you to meet with me to explain the ideas and how the assignment was written.

Grading Criteria

Grades in this course will consist of:

Two PR case study papers (10% each)	20%
PR campaign project presentation video and report	30%
Two multiple choice online tests over textbook and online reading (10% each)	20%
Online Discussions and responses	10%
Weekly Quizzes	10%
Two Guest Speaker Reflection Papers (5% each)	10%
TOTAL	100%

 

Grading Scale

A = 90-100                       

B = 80-89

C = 70-79                       

D = 60-69

F = 59 or below

Attendance

Regular participation is class is required if the student is to do well in the course. Please pay close attention to your due dates. 

If a student has not participated in the online class by the Census Date, they will be automatically dropped from the course; this is called an Administrative Drop. The instructor reserves the right to lower the final course grade in light of poor online participation.

There will be no instructor-initiated withdrawals from this class. Students are responsible for dropping or withdrawing from this course as necessary. No official warnings will be given to students when excessive absences jeopardize the successful completion of the course. 

Calendar

Additional Information

Case Study Papers

You will research the use of public relations in two distinct situations. You may use a case mentioned in your textbook, found online, etc. Your first case study will focus on a PR campaign that you judge as effective. Your second case study will focus on the use of public relations in a crisis situation.

For each case study, you will prepare a 1-2 page paper (12-point font, double-spaced). 

Your paper must cite two distinct sources of information (in addition to your textbook).

Mention these sources in the body of your paper and include a reference section at the end of your paper in MLA or APA style. Submit your paper to the appropriate drop box. 

Recommended Structure for Case Study Papers:

• First paragraph: Introduction. Tell us what you are going to tell us.

• Second paragraph: Provide background on the organization, the nature of the problem or situation involved in the case and the campaign goal.

• Third paragraph: Discuss the tactics chosen for the campaign and how they were implemented. Were the approaches creative, appropriate, successful?

• Fourth paragraph: Discuss allocation of resources such as time, money, personal, available media, etc.

• Fifth paragraph: Discuss how the success of these PR campaign/activities was evaluated. What was the response from the organization’s publics?

• Sixth paragraph: Analyze the success or failure of this PR effort and offer any recommendations.

• Seventh paragraph: Conclusion. Wrap it up and summarize what lessons you have learned from this case study exercise.

News Releases

You will write a news release for the organization you choose for your final Campaign Project Assignment.

Remember, PR professionals use news releases to deliver messages through the mass media. To the public, the communication appears to be an action of the free press.

Each news release should be one page long and should follow the format outline in Week 7 online lecture (Writing Your First News Release).

Your releases should focus on achievements or activities of the organization, such as upcoming events (trips, fundraisers, performances), unique characteristics, personality profiles on outstanding members, activities the group is sponsoring or involved in, etc. Remember to choose topics that are newsworthy.

Avoid suggestions to write about history of the organization, goals of the organization, purpose of the organization. That’s boring. If desirable, these can be worked into the lower half of the story.

Identify additional human contacts you can interview within the organization to vary your approaches. Remember, it’s all about building relationships – internally and externally.

News releases must be turned in to the appropriate online drop box.

Guest Speaker Reflection Papers

You will submit a one-page, single spaced, concise summary/reflection of the material covered in the guest speaker video. Please use one-inch margins and 12-point font. Points will be deducted if the paper does not meet the full-page requirement. Do not exceed the one-page requirement. 

In these papers you must include ALL of the following information:

1. Address the key points brought forth during the video – you will not be able to touch on everything. You need to discern the information you deem important. 

2. Discuss any concerns or criticisms you have from the video

3. Relate how the guest speaker video may be helpful in your studies/research 

4. Develop questions for discussion arising from the presentation

Students are encouraged to follow the Matney Mass Media department and The Ranger on social media and read the departmental newsletter, The Matney Mass Media Messenger, at http://acmassmedia.wordpress.com/ and the college newspaper, The Ranger, at www.acranger.com

Matney Mass Media Department on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ACmassmedia

Matney Mass Media Department on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acmassmedia

The Matney Mass Media Messenger http://acmassmedia.wordpress.com

The Ranger: www.acranger.com

The Ranger on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/acrangerpaper

The Ranger Twitter: http://twitter.com/instagram.com/acranger

Department website: www.actx.edu/massmedia