Using baseball to enhance professional
awareness and foster classroom engagement
The Challenge
Help students to:
• understand how public relations works on a day-to-day basis
• train their minds to view the world through a PR filter.
The Activity
Strikeout: An event or action that generates negative feelings by the public.
Homerun: An event or action that generates positive feelings by the public.
Save: Initially a strikeout but subsequent actions reverse negative feelings.
Conversational Currency
“The media provide a common ground for social
conversations and people use things they have read,
seen, or heard as topics for discussions with others.”
J. R. Dominick, The Dynamics of Mass Communication, 12th edition, p. 41.
History
• Evolved while teaching at an athletic-focused university.
• Attempts to encourage students to stay abreast of current events
were met with little enthusiasm.
• Sports was one way I could connect PR theory to application.
• For athletes, catching a ball to participate is fun and makes sense!
Students
!!!
Diverse opinions
Real-world application of PR
Gain PR understanding
Critical thinking
Conversational Currency
Active - versus- Passive media consumption
Final Inning
• Can be modified to foster awareness and application in other disciplines.
• Not limited to public relations.
How might you integrate this in your discipline?
Questions???