Experiential learning labs give students real-world experience
Posted on December 1, 2017 at 12:00 PM
Experience is one of the top things employers look for in prospective employees’ resumes.
Chico State J&PR’s two experiential learning labs – The Orion and Tehama Group Communications – provide students a place to get that valuable experience and grow their leadership skills.
These on-campus organizations offer the opportunity for students to produce multiplatform stories for the campus community or professional public relations strategies for real-world clients.
In these spaces, students cross a bridge on the path to becoming working journalists and public relations professionals.
The Orion, a national award-winning, student-run news organization, is the first newsroom for many students. It is an atypical class that heavily relies on hands-on experience out in the field rather than in a classroom.
From listening to the police scanner, to being first on the scene for breaking news, to interviewing blossoming local artists, The Orion provides a range of opportunities for students to build a professional journalism portfolio.
The Orion is completely student led and draws a large number of non-majors.
J&PR’s contribution is to provide classroom training for the students, pay the adviser’s salary and assist in choosing the editor-in-chief each semester.
From there, the top editor chooses all other editors and the editors choose their staffs.
Mark Plenke, a faculty member and adviser to The Orion, said his advising philosophy relies on the College Media Association’s best practices to ensure the paper is purely student-run.
“The idea of it is that advisers leave their hands off student publications,” he said. “They are supposed to be run by students. Advisers are supposed to help them and give them advice, but not run their newspapers for them.”
His hands-off philosophy with The Orion means he does not provide students with story ideas, edit their copy, edit their layouts or code their website.
Students work together to produce all content for The Orion app, website and newspaper.
In this environment, students should be learning both from their successes and their mistakes, Plenke said.
Over the years The Orion has faced a range of controversies similar to those that happen in the news industry.
“Last year we had an opinion piece where someone challenged commonly accepted ideas about race and gender,” Plenke said.
“There was a huge outcry. But, does that mean it was a failure? No.”
At the end of their college careers and beginning of their journalism careers, J&PR graduates often credit their preparation to work in a news outlet to experiential learning labs, Plenke said.
“If you talk to almost anybody in the news business and you talk about their college experiences, the first thing they will say is ‘I learned the most at my college paper,’” he said.
Real-world experience is also offered for public relations students at Tehama Group Communications, a public relations agency that provides top-tier work for clients in Chico.
TGC is run as a working public relations agency with a weekly agency meeting, client team meetings and client-facing meetings.
All students work with multiple clients that typically include nonprofits, government organizations, university department newsletters and local businesses.
The agency has a staff of 17 to 23 students who take what they have learned in classes to produce work for six to 10 clients each semester.
Janell Bauer, a faculty member and TGC adviser, said the agency operates on a “do or die” 15-week client account deadline, creating work that includes branding, social media, features, collateral and press releases.
TGC allows Bauer to work one-on-one with upper-division students to help them bridge college and the professional world.
The agency also provides leadership opportunities, with many students serving as account executives and moving through different roles in the agency.
This gives them experience needed for jobs, enhances skills like project management, communication and time management and builds confidence.
“It’s a confidence in the ability to do things that you didn’t think you could do,” Bauer said. “We aren’t just doing two press releases and a media list.”
TGC provides a peer-driven learning environment where students learn from other students and become problem solvers. Like Plenke, Bauer also has a hands-off advising philosophy.
“I try to give a couple of ideas for direction, but mostly what I do is instill confidence and give them tools for working with their team,” she said. “When they go back to their team and try new problem-solving methods, creativity happens.”
Both experiential learning labs have an extensive alumni network that connects back with students through class talks and scheduled site visits at their place of work.
This is where most professional connections are made.
“They go through the program themselves, they learn, they get their jobs, then they come back,” Bauer said. “They share advice with teams from their own work experience, which allows that information to flow back from the industry.”
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By Bianca Quilantan