Computer Skills Integration in Public Relations Curricula

A perennial issue in journalism and mass communication education is whether students are acquiring the skills they need to enter and thrive in an ever-changing work environment. From the 1970s through 1988, at least 32 articles were published in public relations alone examining the status of educational curricula relative to the needs of the workplace (Public Relations Body of Knowledge Task Force, 1988). More recent articles have focused on the use of new technology skills and whether schools of journalism and mass communication are preparing students to function in cyberspace (Guiniven, 1998; Gustafson & Thomsen, 1996; Singer et al., 1996; Smethers, 1998). This study presents the findings from the first of a two-phase study. The purpose of this first phase was to determine what computer skills heads of public relations programs nationwide consider most useful for students to know in order to be prepared to enter the profession and what skills they actually incorporate into their classroom curricula. Phase two will determine what technology skills those in charge of hiring for public relations positions expect new employees to have. Background As new communications technologies have emerged, so have the challenges and opportunities within communications curricula. Elasmar and Carter (1996), following a survey of freshman university students to determine their attitudes toward and use of e-mail technology, recommended that journalism faculty encourage the adoption and use of technology through its integration into the curriculum, such as using course listservs or encouraging students to ask questions via e-mail. Hollerbach (1998) surveyed department chairs of accredited schools and managing editors of newspapers that had won awards for investigative journalism and found a strong correlation between the types of computer-assisted reporting skills taught by schools and demanded by editors. Gunaratne and Lee (1996) provided a schedule and outline for integrating Internet usage into reporting, copy editing, and international communication classes. Gustafson and Thomsen (1996) suggest that unique opportunities exist for public relations and advertising educators to combine computer technology and traditional course work without necessarily straining available resources, such as incorporating the use of e-mail for collaboration between students and for reporting to the instructor on group projects and using electronic information services and databases for information searches. The Internet will gradually change the way business is conducted around the world.... It will affect the way companies communicate internally and externally.... These changes provide both new challenges and opportunities to public relations and advertising instructors.... There are myriad ways to meaningfully incorporate the use of the Internet in campaign and techniques courses. The results are better teamwork, an improved end product, and a more realworld experience. (Gustafson & Thomsen, 1996, pp. 41-42) The need for public relations practitioners to master a wide variety of computer skills is well documented in the professional and academic literature, although it should be stressed that these skills are seen as complementing traditional skills, not as replacing them. In a recent special report on "PR on the Net," practitioner Shelli Ryan, APR, pointed out that the "Internet has not affected the core skills associated with doing my job, but it has changed the process. It is my first source for quick, cost-effective information" (in PR Tactics, 1997, p. 27). Dibb, Smikin, and Vancini (1996), in a study of international public relations, conclude that "there is a widespread agreement that technology is going to change the face of PR and the daily working practices of PR practitioners." Pavlik and Dozier (1996) concur: "Little is known with great certainty about the future of the information superhighway except that the pace of technological change is likely to continue to accelerate" (p. …