2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

will realize they all are expected to contribute to the exercise. Once students know that everyone
must share their work, getting volunteers for future exercises will be easier.
The following suggestions might improve the use of these two exercises. Remember to:
• Use a constructive tone for all comments in order to avoid embarrassing students.
• Include every student in the process. Begin with volunteers, but don’t be afraid to
call on other students to ensure 100% participation in the exercises.
• Demand more of work prepared as out-of-class assignments because students have
had more time to construct them. Be sure such efforts conform to the exact
requirements you have specified for the design and layout of your documents.
• Be sure the documents projected on the screen are clearly visible to all in the room.
Zoom in on the document or increase the font size on your computer as needed.
• Identify which written examples are the most compelling or tell the story most
effectively. Don’t just concentrate on technical issues. Be sure the overall document
will achieve the response you desire from your target audience.
Group Interviewing/Listening Exercises
Many written exercises require students to use facts provided by the instructor as they
complete news releases or fact sheets/backgrounders. Other exercises require the students to do
their own research on the subject they are writing about. Though both of these assignments are
valuable, this author has used a third type of exercise to force students to develop their
interviewing and listening skills.
At least once in the semester, students are told that they will be involved in an in-class
group assignment that will require them to question a source and take careful notes. The
professor tells them a serious incident has happened on campus and they must prepare a news
release for a news conference the chancellor will hold in two hours. The students will have the
opportunity to interview an official from the university police department who can fill them in on
the details surrounding the incident, but they must ask specific questions in order to get any
information for their release.
Students are told before the role play exercise takes place that the entire incident is
hypothetical, but they should treat it seriously. The class takes a short time to review some
important principles of effective crisis response since the incident will present a serious
challenge for the campus. They are told they may pose any question they want to ask, but their
source might not have all the answers because the incident just took place a short time ago.
Students may also ask as many questions as they have and may ask to have information repeated
if needed. The professor can take on the role of the university police official (or you could invite
a guest into class to assume the role). When the role play begins, the source simply states that
there has been a shooting at the university center.
The students must extract all the relevant details including how many people have been
killed and injured, what happened to the gunman, what kind of weapons were used, where the
injured are being treated and what are their medical conditions, how did the incident happen and
how long did it take police and emergency crews to respond. The source will give very detailed
answers to these and other questions. Students will be told that victims have been transported to
three different hospitals and the general condition of each person. Precise times of 911 calls and
response times will be detailed. In short, if the students ask the right questions, they will receive
a great deal of specific information about the shootings.
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