Document Type

Class Project

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Abstract

The 2017 strategic public relations (COMM 347) created a campaign to increase faculty’s awareness of the pedagogical benefits of digital scholarship and the work being done by faculty. While there are various definitions of the term “digital scholarship,” the class approached it as an opportunity to rethink traditional assessment tools by using different technologies to aid students in creating digital projects for a public audience. Digital scholarship is a critical direction for higher education to ensure students graduate with knowledge of digital tools regardless of their field of study. The requesting clients for the project were the College’s instructional designer in information technology and the learning services librarian.

A faculty-wide survey distributed by information technology found that among the tools currently in use were attendance trackers, blog creation, case studies, collaboration/ task management, graphics/videos, image creation, polling, presentation sharing apps, and animation programs. However, many faculty felt unsure of the applicability of different tools, of not having enough time to learn the digital application themselves, and that there was a lack of support if they were to use it with students.

The PR class began by analyzing the data from the survey and conducting interviews of faculty in each division as well as meeting with the provost. The messages they developed from these interviews emphasized that BC had support in place for using new technologies. The key words were used in a website that featured different faculty projects, in proposed social media posts, and two infographic posters.

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