North Central College of Arts and Sciences Holds First Experiential Learning Collaboration

March 30, 2022

On November 23, 2021, North Central’s College of Arts and Sciences held its first-ever experiential learning class collaboration. On that chilly Tuesday morning, two communication arts classes including Public Relations and Intro to Digital Media gathered to direct and film new promotional videos for CAS faculty and CAS students.

In the weeks leading up to the collaboration, students in the Public Relations class were tasked with reaching out to CAS faculty, scheduling interview slots, formulating thought-provoking questions, and writing scripts. When asked about the collaboration, Isabelle Krebs, a Journalism/Public Relations major on the PR team said, “My favorite part was seeing students accomplish and film more than 8 interviews, including more than 5 of our University’s Department heads, which are currently being edited and used for promotional purposes, website content, and social media. It was a great learning experience!”

On the morning of the collaboration, students from both classes packed into Chicago Loft. At the start of the day, professors Priscilla Koeckeritz and Ryan Daniel walked the students through their roles and responsibilities. They assigned teams and explained which students would rotate to film CAS faculty in Kingsriter, who would stay in Chicago Loft to film CAS student videos.

Intro to Digital Media students began unzipping camera bags and double-checking battery packs. Some students inspected camera lighting while others set up microphones. Students from Public Relations double-checked their scripts and began rehearsing interview questions. Four short hours later, nearly a year’s worth of promotional CAS content for North Central and valuable professor interviews had been filmed. This raw video content would later be sorted and edited by Spring 2022 Video Production 2 students, headed by Professor Ethan Miller.

In the last few years, NCU’s College of Arts and Sciences program has implemented experiential learning within communications and digital media classes. For communication majors and students in communications classes, experiential learning has meant a once-in-a-lifetime college opportunity. Renata Krieger, a Marketing major who participated on the PR team commented on the experience saying, “Experiential learning at NCU is a one of a kind opportunity to learn what these concepts look like in the real world! Overall, the hands-on projects helped me learn more effectively compared to a textbook or lecture.”

The Public Relations and Digital Media Crossover