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    #GetConnected - Media, Culture and Society

    Exchange programme

    Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it – Nike

    This campaign with Colin Kaepernick as the protagonist is considered to be one of the best examples when it comes to how organisation can take a stance on a political or social issue. It’s called brand activism and forms a new challenge for the PR professional. Many organisations keep quiet out of fear for being canceled by part of their stakeholders. But staying silent is also communicating something! People expect companies to speak up and address contentious issues. They expect companies to have an added value for society, a purpose. And in this mediatised world we are living in, these people have a strong voice.  

    In the networked society people can easily get connected and form a group of like minded people to challenge the status quo of an organisation. Activist communities and NGOs become bolder in addressing sensitive issues and subsequently putting pressure on companies to take a stand and act in a for them favourable way. As a future PR professional it is imperative to know how communities thrive, how they try to engage and change the behaviour of their target audience and how they can exert influence on the policy of an organisation.

    Purpose, brand activism, communities and behavioural change… Making the world a better place. That’s what the #GetConnected programme is all about.

    This programme is no longer available in our Spring semester.

    Facts and figures

    The programme at a glance

    Programme information

    What to expect

    About the programme

    The programme #GetConnected has roughly two tracks; communication about societal issues from an organisational and PR point of view (brand activism), and bringing about change from the point of view of the grassroots, i.e. activist communities.

    These two tracks are divided into 4 modules, Brand activism and the PR professional (BAPR), Inspire the PR professional (IPR), Changing the Game (CG) and Skills.   

    The modules ‘Brand Activism and the PR professional’ and ‘Inspire the PR professional’ are the two theoretical modules. You form a publishing team with two or three other students and you choose a medium through which you are going to inform PR professionals about brand activism related topics. This can be an eMagazine, a podcast, a platform, or something alike, that’s up to you. The content of the medium is based on articles about topics related to brand activism. The focus in the first module is mainly on context and concept; who exactly is your target audience? The focus in the second module is on content, through the medium you have chosen, you are going to inspire the PR professional.

    The module ‘Changing the Game’ consist of three separate assignments that are clearly linked to each other. The first assignment is about analysing an activist community (NGO) on how it engages its’ members and how it tries to change the behaviour of the target audience. Based on the analysis you create an advice for the community that focusses on how to support the behavioural change desired by the NGO or community, which is the second assignment. And finally you develop a board- or online game that supports the NGO in changing the behaviour of the target audience. On Game Day, at the end of the programme, you are going to play each other’s games.

    Last but not least the ‘Skills’ module will teach you how to design and conduct thorough research, how to write in correct English and how intercultural awareness can support you when working in international teams.

     

    Method

    A general working method we use at our Communication programme is the 3 Cs. Context, Concept, Content. All assignments should be approached according to these three steps. You analyse the context of the problem, based on the outcomes you develop a fitting concept and finally you create the content needed to translate the concept to the target audience.

    Brand Activism and the PR professional 
    This module encompasses the context and concept phase for the IPR module. During six weeks you and your publishing team will conduct research on what brand activism contains, why organisations should or should not commit themselves to an issue, and in what way brand activism can be implemented. At the same time you will talk to PR professionals to assess what they are interested in regarding the topic and in which way they prefer to be informed. The module ends with a presentation of the insights of your context analysis and the concept of your chosen medium. You conduct research according to our research design model. A visit to a PR agency and guest lectures about related topics is part of the module. 

    Inspire the PR professional
    With your publishing team (3/4 students) you will work together intensively to conduct extensive desk research and unravel the central topic of the week. When it comes to the content part, we do not use traditional lectures. You will study relevant articles by yourself and discuss them with your group and present the key messages in class during peer lectures. After the peer lectures you will start creating the content for your medium. On Thursdays during consult you will receive feedback on the content.

    Changing the Game
    You will analyse an activist community based on theory about community building. The focus lies on how the community could improve the way they try to change the target audience’s behaviour. You will explore this behavioural change based on the Behaviour Change Wheel model. For the last step you develop a board- or online game that supports the intended behaviour change. The necessary knowledge and skills for the gamification part you will gain through (guest)lectures and workshops in our City- and/or Fablab.  

    Skills
    As for Research, English and Intercultural Awareness you will be offered different (guest)lectures and workshops.  

    Study trip
    Part of the programme is a four day study trip to London (fall semester) and Berlin (spring semester). The trip is not mandatory, if you stay in Rotterdam, you will be expected to attend a substitute programme.

    Type of assessment

    • Presentations
    • Group assignments
    • Individual assignments
    • MC test

    For more information, see the separate module descriptions on this page.


     

    Learning outcomes

    There are no overall learning outcomes for this exchange programme. Please find the learning outcomes for each module under the section Modules on this page.

    Calendar

    Awarding

    After completing your exchange programme at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, you will receive a:

    • Transcript of records

    Modules

    An indication of the modules you can expect

    Location

    Where you can find us
    Foto van locatie Location

    Wijnhaven 107

    Wijnhaven 107 3011 WN Rotterdam