Please Note: This is a draft. The finalized syllabus will be available at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/459/tactics/syllabus.htm in early July.

COM 459: Public Relations Tactics
Syllabus
Summer Session II, 2008

Required Resources

• Kelleher, T. (2007). Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Outside readings and research will be assigned from online resources and handouts throughout the semester. 

Course Overview
Description
This section of COM 459 focuses on public relations tactics, particularly online tactics. This course will enhance your communication skills and equip you with some of the tools necessary for success in public relations. We will apply principles of effective and ethical writing to online assignments likely to be encountered in modern public relations.

We will discuss contexts for traditional public relations tactics and their online offshoots -- news releases and social media press releases, letters to the editor and blog entries, PSA scripts and YouTube Clips, speeches and podcasts.

Objectives
Success in this class requires the following:

1. Understand reasoning behind major types of public relations tactics
2. Identify norms and values of emerging social media
3. Apply sound professional principles in producing traditional public relations tactics
4. Apply sound professional principles in producing public relations tactics for emerging online media
5. Edit your own writing for online use
6. Edit your peers' writing
7. Critically evaluate online public relations tactics in terms of effects
8. Apply your own values to critically evaluate public relations tactics in terms of ethics

Quizzes
Any day with assigned reading due as listed in the course timeline is a likely day to have a brief quiz right at the beginning of the class period. Quizzes mainly will cover assigned readings, but with advance notice, quizzes also may cover material from class lectures, class discussion, online postings and handouts. Quizzes may include multiple-choice, short-answer and matching questions. THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES without proper documentation for your absence, which must be provided before the absence if at all possible. You can drop your lowest quiz grade. A missed quiz will count as a zero (and therefore count as your drop).

Although we won't have quizzes on every day with assigned reading, you'll want to be prepared each time. (The idea is to motivate you to keep up with the reading and on-time attendance.) We'll have about one quiz a week this session. Since your quiz average counts for 30% of your final grade, consider this: if we were to have exactly six quizzes and you drop your lowest one, each of the others would count for 6% of your overall grade. Please arrive prepared and on time.
Primary course objectives covered: 1 & 2.

Written Assignments
You'll have the opportunity to do much of your writing in class. We'll discuss expectations and grading criteria before getting started with each assignment. In the beginning of the session, grading rubrics will have heavy emphasis on grammar and mechanics. Assuming mastery of these technical issues, later assignments will be assessed with more weight on assignment-specific criteria such as appropriateness for social media, message targeting, argument quality, voice, resourcefulness, timing, flow, and other goals for writing that we will discuss in class prior to the assignment.
Primary course objectives covered: 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Participation
Contributions to in-class discussion and activities are essential. At the end of the session, your participation will be rated based on the following:

• evidence of reading and understanding reading assignments
• resourcefulness of comments (e.g., accurately citing current events and sources)
• participation in small-group activities in class
• completion of in-class activities
• collegiality and respect for other students' time

Engaging in distracting behavior -- especially e-mail, iPods, texting etc. -- will hurt your participation grade in the same way that being late will hurt your attendance grade (see next section). 
Primary course objectives covered: 2, 6, 7 & 8.

Attendance (10%)
In case of absence due to an emergency such as a death in family or a serious illness, you must notify me and provide appropriate documentation within a week after first missing class. Excuses for planned absences must be given to me in writing and must be approved one week in advance of the missed class period. Since we only have 12 class periods, each absence is the equivalent of missing more than a week of school during a regular semester. One unexcused absence will mean 8 points maximum for attendance for the semester, two unexcused absences will mean 6 points, etc. Being late (arriving after attendance is taken) or leaving early without an acceptable excuse or advanced approval will equal one tardy. Being late or leaving early twice will equal one unexcused absence.
Primary course objectives covered: All.

Grading Weight

Quizzes	30%
Writing/online tactics	50%
Participation	10%
Attendance	10%

Final Grade Requirements
A = 90-100% 
B = 80-89%
C = 70-79%
D = 60-69%
F = Below 60%

There will be absolutely no adjustment of grades on an individual basis (e.g., "I'm only one point away from a B, and I must get a B because I'm on probation.") Any requests to do so will be seen as an attempted breach of fairness to the rest of the class.

Special Accommodations
Students requiring special accommodations must notify the instructor and present appropriate supporting documentation by the end of the first week of class.

Seeking Help
This course should provide a great learning experience for all of us. The success of the course depends largely on effective student-teacher interaction. Don't feel like you have to have a pressing problem to talk to me. I look forward to hearing your input. Although I won't have normal office hours as I do in the regular school year, just let me know if you'd like to meet and we can set up a time.

The phone number for the School of Communications is 956-8715. The school chair is Professor Dan Wedemeyer.

Academic Honesty
Academic dishonesty of any sort will not be tolerated. I take cheating issues very seriously, and I've had some unpleasant experiences dealing with cases of plagiarism recently. Please see me if you have any questions about academic honesty, and I'll be more than happy to discuss such issues before you complete your work.

Preliminary Class Timeline 
Make sure that you do not have any scheduling conflicts. Topics and readings are subject to change, especially to accommodate current events and emerging innovations! Additional readings and assignments will be added as we go.
 

Class Days	General Topics	Assignments Due
July 8	Course overview: the bridge from traditional to "new" PR	Review syllabus
July 10	Interactivity, systems approaches to public relations, your online social networks and profile	Read CH 1 & 2 Online social network profile assignment
July 15	One-way, two-way, P2P PR tactics, feature writing	Read CH 3 & 4
July 17	The publics and the relations in pubic relations	Read CH 5 Feature story assignment
July 22	Media relations, news releases, SMPRs, etc.	Read CH 6
July 24	Media relations, news releases, SMPRs, etc.	News release/SMPR assignment
July 29	Commerce-driven public relations, integrated communications, pitching	Read CH 7
July 31	Pitfalls of pitching (particularly with social media)	Pitch letter/blogger e-mail assignment
August 5	Issues-driven public relations, persuasion, social marketing	Read CH 8
August 7	Saying it more than one way: the letter and the A/V clip	Letter to editor & audio/visual assignment
August 12	Strategic planning, new media tools and tactics not covered yet (tba - maybe Twitter? - you tell me!)	Read CH 9
August 14	Putting it all together - neat new tactics + solid public relations principles	Social media plan assignment