Social media in communication departments

Prof Wen explaining the opportunities and challenges of social media in the communication departments

The Faculty of Creative Industries of Sungai Long Campus organised an online talk titled “Social Media and Communication Departments: Opportunities and Challenges” on 25 August 2020 via Zoom. The talk was delivered by Prof Dr Wen Wei Chun from Shih Hsin University (SHU), who is also the external examiner for UTAR Bachelor of Media and Creative Studies (Honours) programme. The talk attracted the participation of 100 participants.

Prof Wen sharing his experience of incorporating social media into Communication programmes

The purpose of the talk was to explore course adjustments, co-operation between SHU and practitioners, social media research, and the challenges that SHU lecturers and students face with issues pertaining to communication, adaptation, practical skills and identification issues. During the talk, Prof Wen shared his experience of incorporating social media into Communication programmes.

Prof Wen explaining the six levels of communication

According to Prof Wen, there are six levels of communication which are intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group communication, public communication, organisational communication, intercultural communication and mass communication. Prof Wen also defined social media as a platform to generate context with personal opinion and deliver it to the virtual community.

Prof Wen explaining the IPMD Model

Besides that, Prof Wen presented the Linear Model which was introduced by Lasswell in 1948. The Linear Model, according to Prof Wen, has been used in communication for so long. The Linear Model describes the communication process by “who-says-what-in-which-channel-to-whom-with-what-effect”. There are five main components in this model, namely sender, message, channel, receiver and noise. Prof Wen also said that the IPMD Model involves four main components which are interpersonal communication, public communication, mass media and digital media, and four processes which are speaking, performing, mediating and networking.

The mobile courses offered by SHU

Prof Wen listed four main challenges faced by lecturers and students

He also mentioned that mobile courses such as mobile photography, mobile journalism, digital narrative and mobile streaming are largely available in his country. He also said that about 6,000 students were enrolled in these courses. Prof Wen then continued his talk by listing the four main challenges faced by lecturers and students in SHU. He said the main challenge was to acquire practical skills where practitioners and students will be required to learn new skills. Besides that, SHU lecturers had trouble communicating and understanding their peers and other field-theories and research such as course and department legitimacy. SHU lecturers also faced challenges in adapting to the difficulties posed by the faculty members and identifying issues among practitioners and students in communication.

The talk ended after a Q&A session.