Megan Mercer & Darren Blackburn
Emergency Management Division
The Associate Certificate in Crisis Communications is an exciting new micro-credential that provides professionals with practical competencies and skillsets to manage crisis communications programs. Students in this program learn theory, develop public and media relations interview skills, and even record a mock interview.
AUTHORING TOOL(S) USED
Blackboard, Rise
WHY WAS THIS PROJECT NEEDED?
This project comes from an initiative in the Emergency Management Division (EMD) to develop shorter, more focused credentials that support students in taking a deep dive into specialized skillsets. This project was EMD’s first attempt at this type of credential and has been quite successful,
HOW DOES THIS DEMONSTRATE INNOVATION?
The courses in this program take learners on a fast-paced, intensive exploration of crisis communications. Students first engage with content and interactive activities built in the Rise modules. Then, they engage directly with instructors and classmates using Collaborate. Finally, they use web tools to record a mock interview, where they apply their newly developed competencies.
PROBLEMS OR CHALLENGES FACED?
The biggest challenge was figuring out how to engage students in learning very social processes in a distributed online model. Crisis communications is often about being present, being seen, and building trust. The online environment can be impersonal, limiting interactions and often rewarding working in isolation. We addressed this by working with current subject matter experts on processes to encourage engagement. This included weekly hour-long sessions with instructors as well as sharing recordings of activities.
LESSONS LEARNED
Courses are just better when you think of the student experience first. We realized it was useful to think about how we build students knowledge and experience systematically throughout the three courses. We designed the courses so that content was understandable and internal-izable (meaning the students could see how what they learned would changed their practice). But we also trusted the students to stretch their knowledge and not be scared to dive deeper into content and concepts that might be more challenging.
PROJECT LINK