Tag: DEI

Grady College professor publishes LinkedIn Learning videos

Posted on by Sarah Freeman

Sabrena Deal’s first social media jumpstart happened the same way as a lot of viral content — it was accidental.

Since then, Deal has turned her expertise into a way to educate others on the popular platform LinkedIn Learning through two courses: her initial course, Designing a Resume in InDesign, and a new course, Creating Inclusive Content. The latest course premiered August 30, 2022.

“It wasn’t intentional at all,” said Deal, a senior lecturer at Grady College, of the first viral video.

Headshot of Sabrena Deal with headphones
Sabrena Deal created audio recordings of her latest course over the summer. (Photo: courtesy of Sabrena Deal)

Deal explains that creating LinkedIn Learning courses started when the company reached out to her because they noticed YouTube videos that she had created for her students several years ago had generated a lot of views.  The videos focused on designing resumes and LinkedIn invited her to create a course using similar content. When the first course was successful, LinkedIn reached out to ask what other ideas she had for courses, which is when the idea for a course for inclusive communications came to mind.

“I have always had a true appreciation to connect barriers,” Deal explained, “and when they asked about what topics I care about, I told them I have a lot of training and education about how to make quality online education. A big piece of that is recognizing the personal perspectives of students and learners and really anyone reading or viewing any kind of content from a different perspective.”

Deal, who teaches lecture classes in graphic design though the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, knows the value of LinkedIn Learning courses. She often assigns certification courses to students to reinforce design skills in InDesign and Photoshop.

Although she teaches graphics courses, Deal notes that this new inclusive communication course is not just for graphic communications professionals, but for anyone who communicates with diverse audiences — which is a broad audience.

Her interest in this inclusive communication was sparked when she was a student in a session about accessible course design. One of the topics discussed was adapting coursework to learners from different perspectives, along with best practices for publishing electronic resources.

“I thought there are ways that we can design things with those audiences in mind that will improve the reach of our content and also include people who are often disregarded or just not even thought of,” Deal said of this light-bulb moment.

The LinkedIn Learning course, itself, is inclusive, covering a variety of scenarios: choosing fonts for multilingual content, using inclusive images, awareness of what colors mean in different cultures, writing inclusive copy, designing websites for adaptive technology and inclusive video publishing, just to name a few.

Deal designed the course to include changes that would make a significant impact but that don’t require highly technical skills.

Each of the seven chapters begins with an explanation about who benefits from the efforts explained in the chapter and provides case study personas about what their challenges consuming content might be. Exercises for each concept are also included.

“I wanted to bring a more human perspective to it,” she continues. “That is the hook for me personally because I am wanting to give dignity and respect and invitation to people and to include them. And, the amazing thing is that these changes are very small — they don’t cost thousands of dollars. It’s really nice to know that small, easy, attainable changes make a big difference.”

Deal is excited about where these LinkedIn Learning courses will go from here. While she does not have another course planned, she is open to exploring more topics and is considering some in-person workshops about inclusive content so others can learn. She even envisions a potential class on the subject in the future.

“I really see this as a tool for ways of opening up conversations with my students about their experiences and about barriers that they have had to accessing content and information that also for them to go into the field and to have an easy to apply list of guidelines,” she concludes. “After all, when you make things better — when you think about diverse audiences — everyone benefits.”

Deal’s Designing a Resume in InDesign course was released in December 2021 and includes basic resume guidelines, formatting instructions, discussions about color and information about printing the resume. As of late August 2002, it has received more than 4,000 views.

UGA students, faculty and staff have access to premium LinkedIn Learning through UGA’s membership.

Campaigns class tackles DEI initiatives in the public relations industry

Posted on by Sarah Freeman

While many public relations campaigns classes focus on creating programs for corporate or non-profit clients, Dr. Karen Russell’s course this semester tackled a much larger topic: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the public relations industry.

“Like many people, I was pretty appalled at the responses I was seeing as the result of the social unrest last summer,” Russell explained. “I felt like public relations was part of the problem with inadequate responses from companies and celebrities.”

She knew as public relations professionals, they couldn’t sit back and do nothing, so she challenged her students to focus on changing structures to raise awareness and address solutions.

The students worked with dozens of PR professionals and organizations including the Diversity Action Alliance, PR Council, Institute for Public Relations, Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State, National Black Public Relations Society and the Museum of Public Relations.

During initial research, the students found that there is a general lack of knowledge about public relations among young diverse students, and those who were aware of the field found barriers to entry.

The PR Campaigns class worked to address these goals in their DEI project.

To address the issues, the students set out to tackle three goals:

  1. Establish DEI as a core value
  2. Foster a culture of allyship
  3. Increase industry accessibility

They produced videos, infographics, toolkits, a podcast and sponsored a webinar, Religion in Public Relations, with the Museum of Public Relations featuring a panel discussion on religion in PR.

“One of the most fulfilling parts of this course and campaign was the chance we were given to implement tactics that were not only of immediate importance, but which also may contribute to long-term impact and success in the industry,” said Eilis Sullivan, a fourth-year public relations and women’s studies student.  “Almost all of the resources we developed this semester are accessible online, so it’s rewarding to know there’s unlimited potential in the work we’ve done.”

Classmate Laura Burr, a fourth-year public relations student who is also studying fashion merchandising and Spanish, added that the impact is deeper than just recognizing the importance of hiring people from all backgrounds.

“Many only know about public relations because they have a family member in the industry, meaning industry members are a cycle of people from similar backgrounds,” Burr said. “Additionally, the PR industry hasn’t done a great job of offering paid internships, and unpaid internships are likely only a viable option for students from well-off families that can financially support them during their internship. There are changes that have to be made in and outside of the industry in order to create effective change.”

The students also hosted a panel discussion, ‘Moving the Needle: Making DEI a core value within PR’ panel, with the Diversity Action Alliance. During the session, panelist Krystle Cobran urged PR practitioners to change the narrative and reshape the way we deliver our messages, suggesting “stories stick, lectures don’t.”

Sullivan continued: “This campaign has helped me tremendously to better understand my responsibility as a PR practitioner, which is to tell stories that not only suit my clients, but which reflect and represent the larger world around me – including the uncomfortable or unspoken.”

The Diversity Conversation Toolkit, hosted on the PR Council’s website, provides ways to begin difficult conversations about diversity at work, while the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Toolkit provides background vocabulary, tactics for implementation and suggestions of media to learn more.

The students are grateful to the many industry professionals who helped them with the project, including Grady alumna Erica Holland Smith (ABJ ’10) who was working with the team when she died unexpectedly.

In addition to the accomplishments of the Campaigns class, the Department of Advertising and Public Relations co-sponsors the annual AdPR Academy, a week-long program for diverse students from HBCUs and other higher-education institutions to introduce them to the fields of advertising and public relations.