{"id":4387,"date":"2026-03-03T13:14:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:13:08","slug":"from-classroom-to-client-integrating-practice-and-critical-reflection-in-a-pr-capstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/2026\/03\/03\/from-classroom-to-client-integrating-practice-and-critical-reflection-in-a-pr-capstone\/","title":{"rendered":"From Classroom to Client: Integrating Practice and Critical Reflection in a PR Capstone"},"content":{"rendered":"

B<\/span>uilding<\/span>\u00a0professional competency in Public Relations by connecting academic learning with industry practice through client briefs, portfolio development, and reflective academic writing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our challenge<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) undertakes a biannual State of the Profession report. In 2022 this highlighted how the industry was facing a recruitment crisis with graduates and new entrants coming to the field without the relevant\u00a0<\/span>entry-level\u00a0<\/span>skills. Alongside this, the team recognised that only a small number of their students go on to do further research.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our solution (approach)<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The team,\u00a0led by Anne-Marie Lacey\u00a0as Module Leader and Dr Jesus Salzar as Co-Module Leader,\u00a0created a new capstone module, MCH8099 Media & PR Final Project, which they offered as\u00a0an option\u00a0to students alongside the existing dissertation module.<\/p>\n

They mapped the CIPR key skills across the programme and identified potential gaps for students depending on which options they had selected. They designed the project module to draw together strands from across the degree, extend skills development, and assess these in a different way.<\/p>\n

The teaching and assessment on the module centres on students working on a real client brief. In the first phase, students attend a series of intensive\u00a0in-class\u00a0sessions with taught content in the morning and time to work on outputs in the afternoons. This intensive summer school is supported by PR researchers, academics, and working practitioners. Professional values are emphasised throughout, with students and the academic team working to the CIPR\u00a0Code of\u00a0Conduct.<\/p>\n

The first output that students submit is a \u201cPortfolio of Content\u201d, containing their research, analysis, and content production addressing the client brief. This 5,000-word content strategy is formatted and presented with the client as the intended audience.<\/p>\n

In the second phase of the module, students write a 3,000-word “Critical Analysis of Practice”. This is written for an academic audience and gives scope for students to reflect on the selection and application of relevant theories and methods in their work. In this piece they also evaluate their work and discuss the rationale behind their strategic decisions. This second piece is designed to make firm connections between theory and practice.<\/p>\n

For the first iteration of the module the team worked with one client who provided four distinct project briefs (a consumer-to-business brief, a business-to-business brief, an internal comms brief, and a crisis comms brief). Students selected one of the four briefs and were teamed up in the afternoon across workshop settings with peers who had different briefs. This enabled them to apply methods introduced through teaching and to gain informal feedback on work from peers and the workshop leads.<\/p>\n

Each\u00a0\u00a0workshop group was facilitated by a member of the teaching team, plus a working PR practitioner (drawn from PR professionals who regularly contribute to teaching).\u00a0\u00a0This meant the students not only gained academic input from the core PR teaching team at Newcastle University, but also gain access to and gleaned invaluable insight from working PR practitioners who could demonstrate how the \u2018day job\u2019 works, helping to bridge the theory and practice.<\/p>\n

The client\u00a0attended the first lecture of the module\u00a0to\u00a0introduce the organisation,\u00a0deliver the briefs,\u00a0meet the\u00a0students\u00a0and address any questions they might have.\u00a0Following this, the\u00a0client\u00a0responded asynchronously via the module team, answering questions posed by students on a discussion board.<\/p>\n

After the workshop sessions designed specifically for the Portfolio of Content, the team provided students with guidance on their critical reflection via a Sway and offered further drop-in sessions. This was a conscious decision with more hands-on support offered for the first phase of the assessment, as this was a new type of assessment for the students, whereas the Critical Reflection was more like an extended essay, and a format of assessment the students were already familiar with.<\/p>\n

The assessment design proactively supported criticality in the use of AI. Students were permitted to use AI tools in one of their portfolio outputs and required to ethically disclose this. In the critical analysis, students had to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses AI brought, the prompts they used, how they had developed these prompts based on their research, and how they had then worked with the output.<\/p>\n

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The impact (results)<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The module was positive for both staff and students. Colleagues enjoyed working closely with students in the intensive period, student attendance was excellent, and there was informal time over lunches to get to know each other better.<\/p>\n

Student attainment was significantly better, fewer students than normal had to do resits, and there were minimal PECs.<\/p>\n

Students have reported using portions of their portfolios as evidence of their skills in job applications.<\/p>\n

The external examiner provided excellent feedback on the assessment rationale and linkage between the two submissions.<\/p>\n

The CIPR were impressed with what the team was doing and offered their students discounted membership.<\/p>\n

As a working PR professional, if one of these top performing students had handed their portfolio over to\u00a0<\/span>me<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0I<\/span>\u00a0would have hired them in a heartbeat<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Anne-Marie Lacey<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Lessons learned<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n