Overview

This unit exposes students to advanced public relations practice, with a special emphasis on the development and deployment of PR projects and campaigns. It embraces ideas and approaches and skills fundamental to managing oral, written and mediated communication plans. This unit aims not only to build students’ competence but also their confidence in functioning as ethical communicators able to research, develop and deploy plans that meet client (internal and external) requirements.

Teaching Periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Critically analyse innovative and effective approaches to planning sustained communication activity
  • Research, plan, implement and evaluate communication projects and campaigns
  • Analyse the use and value of different media in professional communication
  • Demonstrate planning and implementing a communication plan
  • Effectively identify approaches to working with clients on communication opportunities
  • Analyse appropriate methods of evaluating the success of communication plans

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various		3.00 12 weeks 36
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		6.50 12 weeks 78
TOTAL150

All Applicable Locations

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning		11.54 13 week 150
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AssignmentIndividual 40% 2,3,4,5,6 
Class ExercisesIndividual 30% 1,2,3,6 
Communication PlanGroup 30% 1,2,3,4,5,6 

Content

  • PR’s contribution to an organisation’s success
  • Introduction to PR planning processes
  • Creative problem solving applied to PR projects
  • Identifying PR problems / opportunities
  • Applying ethical principles to PR work
  • Developing the client brief
  • The PR planning process: frameworks and application
  • Research for PR plans
  • Target publics
  • Goals and objectives
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Writing up and selling-in the PR plan; managing the client relationship
  • Evaluating PR work
  • Social media and PR
  • Issues, crisis and risk PR 

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.