Newsroom, classrooms linked-in with online tools
Recently, in my lecturing involvement with George Washington University’s graduation level communications classes, I made an offer … I would feature an exceptional piece by a student that reflects contemporary perspective they have learned about communications in the digital era. The outcome was a real bonus in my view – a collaborative piece between student and teacher.
Aaron Pickering is an alumnus of the George Washington University and facilitates courses in its Graduate School of Political Management. He also manages communications for the Fair Labor Association. Cliff Bridges is a Master’s Degree candidate in the Strategic Public Relations program at George Washington and is Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Development at PGI, with global headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
by Cliff Bridges and Aaron Pickering
Cliff Bridges, master's degree candidate at George Washington University and senior director corporate communications at PGI.
Today, unlike ten or even five years ago, we are pitching journalists via Twitter and telling our organizations’ stories on Facebook and on blogs instead of relying on the front page of Sunday’s Lifestyle section. Will today’s communicators be able to keep pace with the rapid development of the innovative tools and techniques that affect our work?
The answer to that question, thankfully, is “yes.” Because there’s something else evolving almost as quickly as the communications industry: the way its practitioners are educated.
Today, a soldier in Afghanistan can learn the fundamentals of crisis management from a professor 7,000 miles away. Students in Delhi, India, can interact with their peers in Washington, DC. And – similar to a communications team at a multi-national organization – students must learn how to work across time zones, cultures and borders.
Aaron Pickering, George Washington University alumnus and instructor at GWU Graduate School of Political Management.
Information travels at the speed of light, and messages are transmitted 24x7x365. We must build on the foundations of traditional communications, enriching our skills by learning how to communicate in a social media world. As communications continues its rapid evolution, higher education does, too.
India, which is struggling against the physical and financial limitations of its institutes of higher education, is losing talented students to Ivy League universities in the United States. Perhaps those schools should take a lesson from some of the international programs – such as the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management – and open up its doors virtually. But while schools like Delhi University may not yet have discovered the scope and potential of distance learning, the government of India has already taken action to make education more widely accessible to primary school students. Recently, the government partnered with the Canadian company DataWind to develop the world cheapest Tablet, the $38 Aakash. The government will give away 10 million of these devices to students for free as part of a national education program. To some, this is revolutionary – to others, it is an expected result of globalization.
Those of us in this industry are expected to be on the cutting edge of technology and innovation, and communications are not restricted by physical boundaries. Communications professionals shouldn’t feel limited to bricks-and-mortar, either.
Related posts:
- Online Newsroom vs. Online Cemetery
- Technology Tools Driving Online Social Media
- Value of a Great Online Newsroom
- Greatest Challenge Facing Online Media
- The Ideal Online Newsroom
Category: Featured, Reputation management
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Living with the dedicated ‘student’ has been a remarkable experience.
Shortly before reading this blog I had occasion to reach into my bookshelf and re-connect with The Dance of Change, by Peter M. Senge and others. The 1999 book discusses how to maintain the momentum of change in organizations. That title struck a chord when reading this post by Cliff Bridges and Aaron Pickering. The way we communicate, how we – including communicators – are educated, and how virtually everyone takes in, sorts and processes news is itself in a dance of change. Roles once fixed are blurred, and as new information is published, priorities get refocused sometimes it seems in the tailwind of the speed of light. We really do need the agility that technology provides – to inform, educate and just to keep up.