Late Assessment Submission Penalty  

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue.    

This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time-sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic. 

Lectures

Live lectures will run via Zoom from weeks 1-12.

• Lectures will include interviews with industry experts. The questions are carefully selected to guide you on important considerations that can be applied to your assessment tasks as well as provide key insights into the industry and help you develop your industry networks. They should not be missed.
• Recordings will be made available after the lecture if you cannot attend live. 

Tutorials

Tutorials begin in week 2. 

• You are expected to attend a 1-hour tutorial each week either online or on campus.
• Content from the previous week's lecture will be discussed in the tutorials. There will also be a heavy focus on client-based group work in tutorials.
• You will need to sign up for your client group by Week 2. You will work in small groups across the semester to serve your client.
• There will be a briefing with the client in Week 3.
• Students are expected to meet and correspond with their client on a regular basis throughout the semester from weeks 3-12. Client meetings may be held during your tutorial time. In other weeks, you will receive mentoring on your project work from your tutor as well as engage with important weekly topics which are all related to your project development. 
• It is important to be present on a weekly basis to ensure you are able to fully contribute to the group project and to come to class having engaged with the lecture and readings and conducted research in a way that helps drive your project work forward.
• Presentation pitches to clients will be held via Zoom during normal tutorial times in Weeks 8 and 9. The presentation weeks (weeks 8 and 9) will be run online for both online and in-person classes. 

Teamwork

• Teamwork is an essential component of this unit. Expect to work with fellow students while developing the strategy campaign both during tutorials and outside of class time and bring a positive attitude towards collaboration with peers. 
• While you will ultimately be marked on your own parts of the presentation and report, you will need to work effectively in a team to ensure the various parts are cohesive and fit together well.

Readings

The set textbook for this unit is:

Sutherland, K. (2021) Strategic Social Media Management: Theory and Practice. Palgrave MacMillan. 

• An electronic version of the textbook will be available via Leganto with a limited user licence, but it is highly recommended that you purchase your own copy.
• Other recommended readings will also be available on Leganto.

Out-of-class commitment

MMCC3090 is a 10-credit point unit. This means that you should allocate approximately 10 hours of study per week for this unit (including in non-teaching weeks).

Roughly speaking each week this time should be spent on:

• engaging with the lectures (1 hr)
• participating in the tutorial (1 hr)
• engaging with readings (2 hrs)
• preparing for assessment tasks (6 hrs)

Assessment preparation includes such activities as:

• conducting research e.g. into your organisation, competitors, target public, tools and tactics, developing surveys or interview questions 
• engaging with set and extra readings (e.g. academic texts, trade media, online articles) 
• writing drafts, proofreading, editing
• preparing mock-ups e.g. sample social media posts 

Professional Presentation/Design Tools

• While teaching graphic design skills is not the focus of this unit, some extra support in the use of industry-standard Adobe Creative Cloud tools (e.g. InDesign, Illustrator, Rush) may be available for students which you can use to develop a professional report, pitch deck, social media posts and other collateral.
• As students come to this unit with different skill sets we would most appreciate you being open to sharing your relevant skills and resources with your classmates.

Feedback in this Unit

Feedback in this unit to individuals, groups, and the class/cohort may be made available in multiple forms, including:

• Feedback from clients - it is critically important to regularly share your work-in-progress ideas with your client to check that you are on the right track. 
• Q&A sessions in lectures and tutorials - please don't hesitate to raise your hand, speak up, or ask questions in the chat function for online classes.
• Via email - please don't hesitate to ask any questions via email as they arise - the contact teaching staff function on ilearn is the preferred method of emailing.
• Individual or group Zoom or face-to-face consultations - to arrange a private consultation please email your tutor or email to make an appointment to meet with the convenor.
• Peer-to-peer feedback during tutorials and group sessions
• Announcements on iLearn
• Within Turnitin - see textbox, comments on the actual submission, mark-up on assignments, and via the marked-up rubric  

Samples of past assessments, as well as detailed assessment guidelines and marking rubrics for all assessment tasks, will be made available on iLearn.

Please don't hesitate to request feedback as you need it.

Emails

Generally, student emails will be replied to within 48 business hours. Students should not expect emails to be returned on weekends and after hours. If you are having trouble contacting your client, please inform your tutor. 

Students should ensure that they can receive emails sent to their MQ email addresses.

Please also regularly check for unit announcements.

Technology Required

This unit will make extensive use of iLearn https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/. Required readings, comprehensive information on assessment tasks and important announcements will be posted to iLearn. Make sure you check iLearn and your Macquarie University email account regularly during this unit.

For technical support go to: http://mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/informatics/help

For student quick guides on the use of iLearn go to: http://mq.edu.au/iLearn/student_info/guides.htm

Week 1 Welcome to #MQAgency / Principles for Creating a Great PR/Social Media Agency

Week 2 Insights into Internal Communications

Week 3 Project Management / Setting Goals and Objectives  [Client briefings]

Week 4 Research for PR and Social Media Campaigns

Week 5 Creativity, Ideas Generation, and Storytelling

Week 6 Components of a Strategy Report: Focus on Strategy and Tactics   

Week 7 Developing Ongoing Relationships with Clients: Pitching, Meetings and More [Internal Communications Project Due]

----Mid-Semester Break----

Week 8 Media Engagement: Gaining media coverage and training your client spokesperson

Week 9 Events: Creating meaningful online and offline events [Presentations]

Week 10 Polishing your Report: Graphics, Editing and Proofreading [Presentations]

Week 11 Career Insights: Wellbeing and Success in a Constantly Shifting Industry  

Week 12 Reflecting on Your PACE Experience / Strategies for Shaping Your Personal Brand [Report due]