پاپایاس و آموزش: تیم های پراکنده جغرافیایی و خوداثربخشی اینترنت

PR students’ Internet self-efficacy (e-mail, BBS, real-time chat, and Web research) was measured before, immediately after, and 7 weeks after they worked in either geographically dispersed (Kansas and Hawaii) or local (Kansas only) teams to develop a PR issue statement. Internet efficacy increased over time regardless of condition.

“What role can Internet technologies play in achieving class objectives?”1 is clearly an important question that has been asked time and time again among PR educators.2 However, based on the demands of the PR profession[3] and [4] and the recommendations of academic standard setters,[5] and [6] this study asks, ‘How can we teach students to use the Internet efficiently as a tool of public relations?’

The Internet as a communication technology will continue to shape public relations in ways not yet imagined. This project is part of a larger program of teaching and research designed to innovate ways to prepare students for current and future change in the field. While experimentation allows us to explore new ideas in the classroom to learn what works, it also serves to qualify our enthusiasm for new technologies with grounded findings. This type of class project takes an inordinate amount of resources on the part of both students and professors. Yet results of our experiments,1 as well as the findings of many others, suggest that the benefits of integrating instructional technology often do not justify the costs, including the costs of time.[13] and [14] As PR professors consider the costs and benefits of integrating new and emerging technologies into course syllabi and projects, the results of this study may serve as a valuable reference. Using Internet technology as part of the curriculum has worthwhile outcomes if professors are looking to increase students’ efficacy with the technologies, which may lead to other valuable outcomes such as positive attitudes and performance expectations when using such technologies in future on-the-job environments. But the extra resources required to coordinate two distant university classes did not seem worthwhile given the lack outcomes in terms of specific class objectives for these traditionally face-to-face course sections. Of course, in some cases such as distance education classes in which students necessarily work from disparate locations, these newer communication technologies may be essential. But as a supplement to the two traditional PR courses in this study, requiring students to work in geographically dispersed teams now seems pedagogically trivial. The experiment itself, however, was certainly worthwhile. As the envelope of technology pushes forward, it is important for PR professors to keep on top of new technology, and to continuously review how it may enhance or detract from the classroom experience. What we learned as faculty from this systematic study will benefit us as well as our future students.