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Overview

This unit exposes students to advanced public relations practice, with a special emphasis on the development and deployment of PR projects and campaigns. It embraces ideas and approaches and skills fundamental to managing oral, written and mediated communication plans. This unit aims not only to build students' competence but also their confidence in functioning as ethical communicators able to research, develop and deploy plans that meet client (internal and external) requirements.

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
02-November-2026
07-February-2027
Last self-enrolment date
15-November-2026
Census date
01-December-2026
Last withdraw without fail date
22-December-2026
Results released date
02-March-2027

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  1. Critically analyse innovative and effective approaches to planning sustained communication activity
  2. Research, plan, implement and evaluate communication projects and campaigns
  3. Analyse the use and value of different media in professional communication
  4. Demonstrate planning and implementing a communication plan
  5. Effectively identify approaches to working with clients on communication opportunities
  6. Analyse appropriate methods of evaluating the success of communication plans

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		1.00Ìý12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00Ìý12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various		3.00Ìý12 weeks 36
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		6.50Ìý12 weeks 78
TOTAL150

All Applicable Locations

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning		11.54Ìý13 week 150
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment±õ²Ô»å¾±±¹¾±»å³Ü²¹±ôÌý40%Ìý2,3,4,5,6Ìý
Class Exercises±õ²Ô»å¾±±¹¾±»å³Ü²¹±ôÌý30%Ìý1,2,3,6Ìý
Communication Plan³Ò°ù´Ç³Ü±èÌý30%Ìý1,2,3,4,5,6Ìý

Content

  • PR’s contribution to an organisation’s success
  • Introduction to PR planning processes
  • Creative problem solving applied to PR projects
  • Identifying PR problems / opportunities
  • Applying ethical principles to PR work
  • Developing the client brief
  • The PR planning process: frameworks and application
  • Research for PR plans
  • Target publics
  • Goals and objectives
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Writing up and selling-in the PR plan; managing the client relationship
  • Evaluating PR work
  • Social media and PR
  • Issues, crisis and risk PR 

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.