Course Syllabus
Welcome to PRDV107: Crisis Communication
Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.
Course Description
Apply crisis communication principles to protect and defend a company or organization facing a crisis or a challenge that threatens to harm its brand or reputation.
Course Introduction
One morning, you awake to news agencies reporting a major fire threatening your office building. You recall your organization recently practiced its quarterly disaster preparedness exercise, and you are fully aware of what to do in this situation. You know what to do, who to contact, and the location of the alternate office to use in case of an emergency. You are concerned but confident you have a plan in place. You know your role as a key member of the organization's crisis communication team (CMT). You help management by preparing a news release and updating the company's website with factual information on the who, what, when, and where details of the event. You use social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and traditional media, such as radio and TV, to inform internal stakeholder groups (such as senior leadership, employees, and investors) and external stakeholder groups (such as customers, clients, local officials, and the general public) with an appropriate key message. During times of crisis, the public relations specialist helps management communicate sound, safe, and responsible actions to protect and defend the organization from harm or damage.
Crisis communication is one of the many specialized areas or functions of public relations. This course will specifically focus on using crisis communication to protect and defend a company or organization facing a problem or challenge threatening to harm its brand or reputation. As a sudden and unexpected serious event, a crisis can fall into four categories: acts of God, mechanical problems, human error, and management decision or indecision. On any given day, there can be any number of crises - pandemics, natural disasters, grounded airplanes, stranded cruise ship passengers, or senior government officials or CEOs who are fired or asked to resign following inappropriate behavior, to name a few examples. If you want to learn to become a professional public relations specialist, it is important to have a basic understanding of the important role public relations has in helping guide a company or organization through a crisis or serious event.
This course is designed for practical applications of crisis communication principles. It explains what communication problems look like, how to deal with them, and how to anticipate crises as part of conducting an effective public relations program. It will also explain the role of a crisis communication team and teach you how to write a crisis communication plan. Most importantly, it will emphasize the value and importance of using social media in a crisis communication plan and in marketing. Through cases covered in the course and perhaps your own research or experience, you will gain an appreciation and understanding of the necessity of a well-thought-out crisis communication management system. The overall goal of this course is to help develop your skills and abilities as part of a crisis management team to help develop a credible and tested communication plan to respond effectively to a crisis.
This course includes the following units:
- Unit 1: Crisis Communication Introduction
- Unit 2: Preparing for a Crisis
- Unit 3: Using Social Media During a Crisis
- Unit 4: Designing a Crisis Communication Plan (CCP)
- Unit 5: Developing Strategic Messages
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what crisis communication involves and why it is important;
- Explain how to anticipate and make advanced preparations for a crisis;
- Describe the role of a crisis management team (CMT);
- Understand how to create an effective social media plan for crisis situations;
- Explain how to design, prepare, and test a crisis communication plan (CCP); and
- Practice crafting key messages to a target audience.
Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.
Course Materials
This course's primary learning materials are articles, lectures, and videos.
All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource and will help you understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course at this link: Resources.
Evaluation and Minimum Passing Score
Only the final examination is considered when awarding you a grade for this course. To pass this course, you will need to earn 70% or higher on the final exam.
Your score on the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. There is a 14-day waiting period between each attempt. You may only attempt the final exam a maximum of three times. Be sure to study in between each attempt! If you do not pass the exam after three attempts, you will not complete this course.
There is also a practice exam that you may take as many times as you want to help you prepare for the final exam. The course also contains end-of-unit assessments in this course. The end-of-unit assessments are designed to help you study and do not factor into your final course grade. You can take these as many times as you want to until you understand the concepts and material covered. You can see all of these assessments at this link: Quizzes.
Continuing Education Credits
The certificate earned by passing this self-paced course displays not only the program hours you completed, but also continuing education credits (CEUs) for documenting successful completion of courses that are designed to improve the knowledge and skills of working adults. Many industries value CEUs, and now your certificate reflects them clearly, and they may be used to support career advancement or to meet professional licensing standards. This course contains 2.0 CEUs.
Tips for Success
PRDV107: Crisis Communication is a self-paced course, which means that you can decide when you will start and when you will complete the course. There is no instructor or an assigned schedule to follow. We estimate that the "average" student will take 20 hours to complete this course. We recommend that you work through the course at a comfortable pace that allows you to make regular progress. It's also a good idea to schedule your study time in advance and try to stick to that schedule as best as you can.
Learning new material can be challenging, so here are a few study strategies to help you succeed:
- Take notes on the various terms, practices, and theories that you come across. This can help you put each concept into context and will create a refresher that you can use as you study later on.
- As you work through the materials, take some time to test yourself on what you remember and how well you understand the concepts. Reflecting on what you've learned is important for your long-term memory and will make you more likely to retain information over time.
Technical Requirements
This course is delivered entirely online. You will be required to have access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and have consistent access to the internet to either view or download the necessary course resources and attempt any auto-graded course assessments and the final exam.
To access the full course, including assessments and the final exam, you will need to be logged into your Saylor Academy account and enrolled in the course. If you do not already have an account, you may create one for free here. Although you can access some of the course without logging in to your account, you should log in to maximize your course experience. For example, you cannot take assessments or track your progress unless you are logged in.
For more details and guidance, please review our complete Technical Requirements and our student Help Center.
You can access all course features directly from your mobile browser, but if you have limited internet connectivity, the Saylor Academy mobile app provides an option to download course content for offline use. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Fees
This course is entirely free to enroll in and to access. Everything linked in the course, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, is available for no charge. This course also contains a free final exam which will award you a course completion certificate.
