Principles of Public Relations (PUR 3000)
My Principles students have been regularly participating in the Meltwater Classroom program. Since this is an intro course, we just do one small assignment using Meltwater as a way to introduce them to the tool and start building an understanding of how public relations practitioners monitor brands and build media lists. Last semester, I broke the assignment into two parts so that I could have them address any issues with their searches before moving ahead with the rest of the assignment.
Meltwater Assignment Getting Started
Principles students also start creating a social media presence for themselves with a blog/website, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter account.
Public Relations Research (PUR 3500)
Public Relations Research students learned how to use Sysomos to study a brand. Sysomos was purchased by Meltwater so I will probably stick with that program for this class in the future.
Students also participated in the Cision Program for Colleges and Universities. In this class, they did a classroom assignment to get exposed to the software and then a graded assignment. Students have the option to get accredited through Cision. I didn’t require accreditation for the class, but some ambitious students took the time to get accredited.
Social Media Data & Analytics (MMC 6936)
Fall 2016:
Students in this class were exposed to NodeXL, Gephi, Sysomos, Hootsuite, Cision, and Tableau.
Strategic Communications Media (MMC 6415)
Spring 2013:
Social Media Campaign Presentation
Spring 2012:
Syllabus Spring 2012 (updated)
Weekly Blog Posts and Comments (updated)
Social Media Campaign Presentation (updated)
Social Media Tools Presentation (updated)
Paper (updated)
If you are interested in using or adapting these assignments for your own class, please just leave a comment below saying who you are and where you teach.
Kelli S. Burns, Ph.D. 
How do we find the class wiki?
I haven’t yet sent information, but it’s at http://mmc6415.wikia.com.
Interesting article that pertains to our Groundswell readings:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=146080&nid=124467#
Behold, the power of blogging.
http://philippathomas.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/what-i-did-and-what-you-said/
Kelli, hi there. I would like to use this for a possible course I am teaching next spring.
Go right ahead and use anything you need!
Just came across your site and I’d love to borrow some of your ideas for my Social Media & PR course that I’ll be teaching again next fall at Belmont University (Nashville, Tenn.).
Hi Kevin, Thanks for finding me. Please borrow any assignments that you like. I’m always looking for good ideas too! BTW I used to live in Nashville and miss it!
Hi Kelli,
I am checking out your stuff as I prepare a new social media course. Hope I may use some of it. Thanks for all the great info
-Amy Sauertieg, Penn State Hbg