Title

Virtues In Social Care and Public Relations Education: Connecting Student Values to Professional Practice

School/Department

School of Fine Arts and Communication

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Virtue education focuses on developing students’ character to equip them to act ethically in complex and changing environments (Craig & Yousug, 2018). This pedagogical approach is effective for faculty who teach social media. They seek to develop a curriculum that builds competencies in technology and character formation to make ethical choices when leading social media on behalf of organizations. This study builds on previous recommendations to integrate virtue pedagogy into public relations curriculum (Theunissen, 2019), specifically examining how the model of social care connects virtues students hold to relational outcomes for organizations. By examining the public’s perceptions of social care and organizational loyalty, educators are better prepared to bridge the virtues students value with implications for professional practice as social media professionals. Findings suggest that students’ values for social media related to human dignity, trust, and authentic dialogue layer well with social care’s relational outcomes. Thus, recommendations are given to the industry and opportunities to introduce this bridge using virtue pedagogy to social media education.

Keywords

Social Care; Social Media; Virtue Pedagogy; Social Media Education; Public Relations Education

Publication Title

Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication

Volume

11

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

11

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