Reaching out through tech tools
HOW do you teach your peers to apply technology in their daily lives better? This was the assignment given to second year public relations bachelor’s degree students at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College’s (TARUC) Faculty of Communication And Creative Industries (FCCI) as part of an online awareness campaign called Cool Tools 4 Skool.
Starting with a workshop by Google on June 8 which introduced them to a gaggle of Google apps, all 98 students from the course were required to work on the campaign from the ground up to educate their peers on useful Google tools.
The aim was to help college students navigate their hectic lives with smartphone life hacks using Google tools and apps.
The students were divided into five groups. Each group was asked to create two videos and manage online engagements to promote assigned Google apps, like Plan Your Time Better, Ace Your Assignment, Socialize More, Be a Better Teamplayer! and Manage My Mobile.
The students had 12 weeks to complete their assignments: seven weeks for researching, planning and creating their content, and an additional two and a half weeks for uploading content and managing feedback, with the rest of the time spent on digital campaign analysis and re- porting.
“When conducting lessons and in guiding the students, we placed great emphasis on realistic planning and project management, while trying to ensure that they are able to learn the practical elements of an online PR campaign,” said Lim Siz Siz, Program Leader for Public Relations in the Department of Communication, FCCI.
“We made sure our students came away from lessons with increased digital literacy, as they were encouraged to use digital tools, like Google forms, to conduct surveys for their research, and Google Classroom to communicate and collaborate at every stage of the project.”
While the project had significant implications on the students’ grades, the students’ creative liberties resulted in ideas that were zany and creative.
They took inspiration from a variety of pop culture trends. Elements from video games and Asian horror films appeared in the students’ videos as they tried to balance educational and entertainment elements, while raising awareness of their assigned apps.
The students were also required to present their work to representatives from Google’s PR agency.
“At Google, we’ve always felt that being useful is great, but being useful and fun is even better. The amazingly entertaining and educational content that the students have produced for this coursework and campaign has truly embodied the hard-to-pin-down ‘Googleyness’ side of Google. Bravo to each and every one of them,” said Zeffri Yusof, head of communications and public affairs at Google Malaysia.
The students achieved 91,400 impressions on YouTube and Facebook. The team that was assigned to promote Socialize More had the best overall performance.
“What they have achieved together is no mean feat and impressive for a student campaign,” Zeffri said.
Socialize More, which comprised 18 students, created a #MagnetChallenge that celebrated
When conducting lessons and in guiding the students, we placed great emphasis on realistic planning and project management
Program Leader for Public Relations in the Department of Communication, FCCI YouTube as a social tool and produced a drama that shares the benefits of the Google Keep app.
Team spokesman Daniel Yeoh said the #MagnetChallenge took inspiration from the International Friendship Day celebration where group members were encouraged to capture moments of a group gravitating towards a lone friend and giving the person a group hug.
“For the drama, we wanted to bridge the distance between friends when they are geographically far apart. The Preserve Your Friendship skit made use of Google Photos and Snapseed.”
Everyone in the group was given specific tasks in groups: one group had to do research on trends on YouTube, the other had to look at the production aspect of the task, the third looked at the social media management side and the fourth documented everything that transpired during the project.
Yeoh said the experience gave them a taste of real-life projects, which would come in handy when they go for internship and on to the working world.
Participants received Google certificates. The winning team were treated to an exclusive visit to the Google Malaysia office.
“To nurture the pool of digital-savvy talent in Malaysia, Google collaborated with these students to increase digital literacy among their peers and produce well-rounded graduates, and to allowing them to get the most out of their college time,” Zeffri said.