COMM11110 Introduction to Public Relations is the first unit in the Public Relations major. It is expected that you may have an interest in pursuing careers in the public relations industry after graduation. This assessment item will encourage you to consider what roles might be suitable for you post-graduation. It will also make you consider where your areas of strength are, and what opportunities you might wish to pursue during your studies to make yourself more competitive for public relations roles.

Task Description

This assessment has three key activities. The first will be collection of data, and the second will be the presentation of that data in an infographic. The third item is a written reflection. 

You will conduct research about public relations roles by searching job advertisement sites such as seek.com.au. You will need to set your own search parameters. You might focus on the most common job titles, key skills desired by employers, top employers (Government, not for profit sector, private), typical tasks.

You should aim to review at least 20 job advertisements to collect information, which you will then use to create a visually pleasing infographic. The aim of this infographic is to communicate information about the contemporary public relations sector to a non-expert audience.

You will use your research to create an infographic which answers one of the following questions:

• What are the top skills required for Public Relations practioners?

• Who are the top employers of Public Relations or Communication graduates?

• What Public Relations/Communication skills are important in your chosen profession (i.e health, education, etc)?

• A different question of your choice- check with the unit coordinator.

Along with your infographic you are required to submit a 150-200 word reflection which addresses the following questions: What is your future career plan? What public relations / communication skills will you need in your career? Considering your current skill set, where are your areas of strength? What areas do you need to grow or expand? 

Other Information

Your submission should indicate which job advertisements you used to create the information shared in your infographic. The infographic itself should also make reference to where you sourced your information from (in small text, non-formal referencing is fine).

Information and resources for creating infographics will be provided on Moodle. You will be encouraged to use an infographic generator (such as Adobe Express) to create this piece of visual communication. As public relations professionals you will be required to create visually-pleasing graphics for distribution on social media and web platforms. As such, your infographic will be assessed generally for effectiveness and suitability, however this is not a graphic design unit, and you are not expected to produce a professional-quality piece. An example will be provided for you on Moodle.

It is suggested you use Adobe Express for creating your infographic. You have free access to the premium version of this tool as a CQU Student, and all images from Adobe are copyright-cleared. Instructions will be given on Moodle for using Adobe. Adapting an existing Adobe template is perfectly acceptable for this assessment. You do have the choice to use alternative platforms and/or tools (i.e. Canva) if you would prefer, provided you check copyright restrictions.

Submission Instructions

This assessment will be submitted via Moodle. Information about submitting assessments will be provided on Moodle.

Marking Criteria

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your attention to completion of requirements of task, presentation & structure, research and reflection.

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your attention to completion of requirements of task, writing standard, evidence of learning and research and referencing.

COMM11110 Introduction to Public Relations is the first unit in the Public Relations major. It is expected that you may have an interest in pursuing careers in the public relations industry after graduation. The second and third assessment items provide you with the opportunity to produce a real-world campaign plan for a client. This assessment covers the individual elements of a campaign, allowing you to build your understanding of campaign plans and receive feedback prior to producing your own campaign plan in assessment three.

Task Description

This assessment covers individual elements of a campaign based on a real-world client (who will be the focus of Assessments 2 and 3). Details of the client brief will be available on Moodle prior to the end of Week 2.

You are required to complete a series of seven campaign-related exercises provided on the Moodle website. All seven exercises must be attempted in order to successfully pass the assessment. The elements which will be addressed are:

1. Goals and Objectives
2. Target Publics
3. Key Messages
4. Ethical approaches
5. Communication pathways and tools
6. Timeline and budget
7. Document structure

The assessment will be submitted in two components which allows you to manage your time and get faster feedback on your elements. 

Other Information

The first four exercises require justification of your choices, and these justifications must be referenced with at least two formal sources in the APA format, with a reference list at the end of your document.

The completed exercises in this assessment will form the basis of your final assessment (Campaign Report and Justification). It is expected you may repeat some (but not all) of the information produced for this assessment in your final item of work, building on feedback.

Submission Instructions

This assessment will be submitted directly to Moodle. Additional instructions about submitting your assessment is available on the Moodle Support for Students site, or by asking the unit coordinator.

Marking Criteria

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your attention to completion of requirements of task, writing standard, evidence of learning and research and referencing.

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your attention to completion of requirements of task, writing standard, evidence of learning and research and referencing.

COMM11110 Introduction to Public Relations is the first unit in the Public Relations major. It is expected that you may have an interest in pursuing careers in the public relations industry after graduation. This assessment builds on the previous assessment to provide you with the opportunity to produce a real-world campaign plan for client.

Task Description

This assessment has three major components. The first is a public relations campaign plan, the second is a justification. The third is a presentation of your campaign plan- what we call a pitch. Your total mark for this assessment (45%) will be split across Part A (15%), Part B (20%) and Part C (10%).

Part A: Public Relations Plan (11-15 pages, 15%)

Using the real-life client brief provided to you (the same client is used for Assessment 2 and 3) and using your Assessment 2 campaign elements as a base, develop a campaign based on the concepts introduced and discussed during the term.

You will present the plan as a professional public relations report. The content of the plan should include:

1. Table of Contents
2. Situation Analysis (research about the organisation & industry may be required)
3. Goals and Objectives
4. Target Publics
5. Key Messages
6. Communication Pathways and Tools
7. Timeline
8. Budget
9. Measurement & Evaluation
10. Appendices (if needed) and References

While every report will be slightly different, we find most students produce reports which are around 11-15 pages- aim for this as a general guide. Graphs/tables/images can be used where appropriate.

Part B: Justification (1,500 words, 20%)

Explain and justify your campaign plan. Your justification will be in the format of an academic essay, including an introduction, conclusion and references. Minimal headings may be used. The following aspects must be incorporated into your response:

• Explain how the campaign is Public Relations.
• What were the issues that your campaign addressed?
• Justify your identified goal, objectives, communication pathways and tools, target publics, timing and budget. For example, your timing may have been selected in order to reach a specific target public or to coincide with a national event.
• What problems might arise during the implementation of your plan? For example, the key message may not be consistent across strategies, or the strategies may not reach your target public. Perhaps a potential issue might arise that would not be addressed in the campaign.
• How does your plan meet ethical standards of Australian public relations practice? Refer to the Communication and Public Relations Australia’s (formerly PRIA) Code of Ethics.

It is expected that research will be undertaken, using credible and professional references. Make direct links to concepts covered in the unit. A reference list is required in APA style for both Part A and Part B.

The word count for this section is deliberately challenging. It will be hard to condense your thoughts into 1,500 words. You will have to think about what you write very carefully in order to meet the word count requirements. You may have to be selective in how you justify your campaign plan, rather than trying to cover everything.

Part C: Pitch (10%)

In this final part, you will visually and/or orally present your campaign plan. Presenting campaign plans to clients is a key skill for public relations professionals. You will need to decide how you will deliver your pitch: you might record a video, or put together a PowerPoint presentation with voice over recordings, or you might visually present your plan in an Infographic (or similar visual tool). If you are creating content which includes audio or video, this should be no more than 3-5 minutes of content (i.e four slide PowerPoint with a voiceover of three minutes).

If you are creating visual-only content, using tools such as Adobe Express is strongly encouraged. Adapting an existing Adobe template is perfectly acceptable for this assessment.

Submission Instructions

This assessment will be submitted directly to Moodle. Additional instructions about submitting your assessment is available on the Moodle Support for Students site, or by asking the unit coordinator.

Marking Criteria

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your inclusion of the situation, goal and objectives, communication pathways and tools, target publics, key messaging, evaluation, timing and budget, recognition of public relations and how it relates to your plan, appropriate identification of issues, justification of campaign elements, writing standard and document structure, research and referencing standard, attention to requirements of task and presentation quality.

A full marking criteria will be provided on Moodle, however you will be assessed based on your inclusion of the situation, goal and objectives, communication pathways and tools, target publics, key messaging, evaluation, timing and budget, recognition of public relations and how it relates to your plan, appropriate identification of issues, justification of campaign elements, writing standard and document structure, research and referencing standard, attention to requirements of task and presentation quality.