Three internships, four certificates, heavily networked and experience with eight real-world clients. Sounds like that overachieving student you graduated college with, right? Actually, that is just an average student in my Strategic Communication program.
 
As an Assistant Professor and Communication Program Director at Maryville University, my main focus is to employ every possible tactic to significantly improve job outcomes for students in my Strategic Communication program. It’s worth mentioning that as a result of this outcome-oriented approach, over half the senior class in the last two years accepted full-time, industry positions prior to graduation.
 
The competition for jobs on graduation is fierce and an academic qualification on its own is not always enough. Students therefore need support and resources from faculty to help equip them with the skills and experience that will take their competitive edge to the next level.
 
Here are six tactical approaches that every school should implement to enhance their communication students’ educational experiences and outcomes.
 

1. Get Certified

 
Too often, colleges focus on teaching communication students about digital marketing methods that may be outdated. Instead, they should be adding certifications in leading communication tools like Cision to their resumes, completing training in Google Analytics or fine-tuning their skills in social media marketing.
 
Prospective employers recognize the relevance of skills associated with companies like Google, Facebook and Cision, and without any practical training or certifications, it can be difficult for them to assess the depth of a student’s expertise or how current their knowledge in these areas is.
 

1. Incorporate Technology in the Classroom

 
Most college communication programs teach students how to write, present and create a variety of multimedia content. However, the quality of the learning experience can be greatly increased by enabling more interaction between students and professors through innovative technological tools.
 
We are a 1:1 Apple school, which means that every student has an iPad. Students can provide feedback through competitive quiz apps during lecture so professors can assess how much they are learning, and instructors can send interactive assignments to their devices and share collaborative work on classroom TVs. These are just some of the initiatives that can be introduced to enrich the learning experience.
 
 
 

1. Create Content for Real Clients

 
Instead of working on hypothetical cases, students should create content for real-world clients. Doing so can add another dimension of excitement to a project while also enabling students to evaluate the results of their creation in real life.
 
Our students fly DJI drones for aerial footage, use 360-degree cameras for immersive experiences and use this digital content for actual Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat ads. These social media messages aren’t developed for a fake pizza restaurant. Instead, in over half of the program’s courses, students create content for real-world clients.
 
Interaction with real clients also provides students with an opportunity to land summer internships or full-time employment after graduation. For instance, just last semester, students created videos, social media content, an online newsroom and press releases for a regional diversity and inclusion training organization, which resulted in two summer internships from the class experience.
 
 

1. Provide Access to Online Resources

 
A program intranet helps students find internships and connect with peers and alumni mentors. Our students experience an average of three internships by the time of graduation. These include non-profit, corporate, political and agency internships with organizations like Nestlé-Purina, Disney and Fleishman-Hillard.
 
A faculty network can also incorporate a service that allows students to practice and videotape internship interviews. This enables them to receive constructive feedback from faculty staff and improve their job prospects.
 

1. Develop Creative Partnerships

 
Consider new ways to partner with local businesses and embed students in the work culture. This can provide a win-win situation for companies and students alike; businesses will get the benefit of fresh ideas, while students gain real on-the-job experience.
 
For example, we’ve partnered with St. Louis-based marketing firm Abstrakt Marketing to offer paid work opportunities in an on-campus, satellite office. Strategic communication majors and students in other disciplines can work part-time hours that accommodate their class schedules.
 
 

1. Gamify the Learning Experience

 
Gamification can enrich the learning experience by providing incentives that encourage student engagement, and there are many ways of constructing a game that will ensure meaningful student participation. For example, a leader board can be installed in a public place within the faculty to foster healthy competition among the students.
 
I’ve created an electronic methodology to encourage student engagement. This professional gamification process tallies non-GPA-related points that lead to market-relevant experiences. An internship earns 50 points and informational interview and networking events earn 10 points. A public leaderboard shows individual student achievement, and students with the most points at each academic level receive prizes. We’ve seen great student-buy-in for this “game”. 
 
 
Dustin York teaches as an assistant professor of communication and serves as the director of the undergraduate communications program at Maryville University. At Maryville, York has facilitated the launch of a student organization that tackles public relations projects for one client per semester. His PR experience spans the agency, corporate, and political realms. York has worked for major clients including Nike, PepsiCo., and Scottrade Financial Services.