pr20chat Partners With Student Education Research Study

Today’s PR 2.0 Twitter chat promises to feature an enlightening discussion, especially for those of us who are looking to hire today’s students for tomorrow’s PR jobs. Our chat community will be “interviewed” as part of a research article about how PR professors should be preparing students for the changes we’re experiencing as a result of social media technologies. Some of our answers may even be included in the final article.

Having interviewed interns and potential employees myself, I’ve seen first-hand the disparity in PR curriculum. Some universities are preparing students to understand the role of traditional and digital PR, while others are still teaching a very “offline” curriculum. For students to excel in the current PR landscape, they must understand the role technology plays in communication, how social media has helped the PR industry evolve, and how to use these tools to achieve business goals.

If you’ve never participated in a PR 2.0 chat, we hope you’ll make this one your first. And, if you’re a veteran chat participant, we’re looking forward to your input. The questions will still come from the @pr20chat Twitter account. Everyone is invited to answer the questions, plus, we’ve invited a few special guests (students and professors) to serve as panelists, offering the education perspective.

PR 2.0 Chat (#pr20chat on Twitter) • 8-9pm ET • Follow @pr20chat for the questions

As we prepare for the chat, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What schools do you think have updated their program to meet the needs of today’s students? If you’re a PR pro, what new skills do you think students need to learn?

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Thanks to Betsy Anderson, Ph.D., APR and Rebecca Swenson, Ph.D. Candidate for their interest in partnering with PR 2.0 chat to gain additional insights for their research paper.