This course will be offered live online, "in real time", via Zoom. Please view the "Live Online" tab for additional information.
Grounded in extensive cognitive research on how we learn and observe, Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age is designed to help executives and managers become successful communicators in person and in virtual contexts, from group discussions to presentations to social media.
Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age
Certificate Track:
Management and Leadership
Location:
Live Online
Tuition:
$4,100
Program Days (for ACE Credit) 2
Download the Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age program brochure
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Advancements in technology and the rapid proliferation of digital media, data analytics, and online collaboration require executives to lead their organizations with sophisticated communication skills, adapted for these new ways of working. To be a successful leader today, you must be able to effectively persuade and influence at all levels, in person and virtually, and with supporting data.
Edward Schiappa and Ben Shields draw on cutting-edge communication research, theories of persuasion, studies on parasocial interaction, and empirical studies on compelling storytelling to help you solve problems, make quality decisions, and motivate people. Session topics include speaking persuasively, active listening, visual persuasion, and adapting messages to audiences. With many of us now working from home, this effective communication course exercises focus on best practices for leading virtual teams and how to avoid the common pitfalls of communicating across cultures, time zones, and language barriers.
This course will be presented live online using the Zoom format. Class size is limited to facilitate networking among peers and allow ample opportunities to pose questions directly to faculty.
View the sample virtual program schedule.
What to expect from this live online course:
To make the most of the experience, we recommend:
Attendance throughout the program is required to earn a certificate of completion. Please note that this live online course will be credited as an “in-person” program for the purpose of meeting Executive Certificate or Advanced Certificate for Executives requirements.
We look forward to seeing and hearing from you online!
Please note, schedule and faculty may be subject to change. All times noted are in Eastern U.S. (Boston, MA) time zone. Further details about the Live Online experience may be found on the “Live Online” tab.
The program will help you leverage new communication skills and harness the power of persuasion to:
Effective communicators are valued at all levels of an organization. If your responsibilities include interacting in some shape or form with others, then this program is for you. Typical participants' areas of expertise tend to include:
Edward Schiappa is Professor and former Head of Comparative Media Studies/Writing in MIT’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, where he holds the John E. Burchard Chair of Humanities.
In 2009, Schiappa was named a Distinguished Scholar by the National Communication Association for his original research in persuasion, media effects, and argumentation. Among his research accomplishments is the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis, a theory of how mass media influences perceptions of social groups. He is former editor of the journal Argumentation & Advocacy and author of numerous books on persuasion and argumentation, most recently Argumentation: Keeping Faith With Reason (Pearson, 2014).
After graduating magna cum laude from Kansas State University, Schiappa earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. Before moving to MIT, Professor Schiappa was Director of Graduate Studies in Communication at Purdue University and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Ben Shields is a Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies the multibillion-dollar sports industry to identify broadly transferable management lessons in areas such as leadership communication, data-driven decision making, and innovation.
He is the author or co-author of three books, Social Media Management: Persuasion in Networked Culture(Oxford University Press, 2016), The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High Performance Industry (Oxford University Press, 2015), and The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace (McGraw-Hill, 2006).
He teaches a number of courses in the graduate programs at MIT Sloan, including Communication for Leaders, Social Media Management, Sloan Fellows Seminar on Leadership, and a new course on sports management and analytics that will be offered Spring 2020.
For MIT Sloan Executive Education, Shields is Faculty Director of the Formula 1 Extreme Innovation Series and the Global Executive Academy and Co-Faculty Director of the LEAD20@MIT program with the Ruderman Family Foundation. Shields created and leads Analytics Management: Business Lessons from the Sports Data Revolution and the online course Management Analytics: Decision-Making Lessons from the Sports Industry. He is also faculty for Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age and Maximizing Your Personal Productivity.
His other sports work at MIT includes co-hosting “Counterpoints”, the sports analytics podcast from the MIT Sloan Management Review, and teaching in the MIT Sports Entrepreneurship Bootcamp program, which is offered through MIT’s Office of Open Learning.
Prior to MIT Shields served previously as the Director of Social Media and Marketing at ESPN. He oversaw social media strategy for the ESPN brand and collaborated across the enterprise to develop and implement company-wide social strategy. He also worked on marketing strategy for several ESPN brands and sub-brands, including the SportsCenter “DaDaDa” campaign and the Emmy Award-winning “It’s Not Crazy, It’s Sports” brand campaign.
Shields holds a BS and MA in communication studies and a PhD in media, technology, and society, all from Northwestern University.
Freddy Leon A: Great content and lectures by the instructors, definitely many things learned to implement in my daily job.
Ankit S: This course has provided me with a framework that I can take and improve on my communication skills. As someone interested in psychology, really liked how all the communication/persuasion topics were linked to social psychology.
Claudiu C: You will leave with a number of strategies, tools and frameworks that can be applied immediately and a list of further betterment opportunities.
Kashif P: Great Faculty and a good experience.
Hassan S: The course is good, but I really didn’t expect the Maintinance work during the class session, I don’t really know how we start and finish the class discussion in such noisy environment. It wasn’t the best experience.
Mark D: Overall it was a great experience, the faculty and presentations were great. The discussions surrounding Social Media really applied, in my opinion, to those in Sales job functions and Business Owners.
Lyle S: Absolutely fantastic course. Highly recommend!
Thomas P: Good course. Time well spent.
Scott B: I have to admit that I was expecting more. In general the material and concepts were good, but the examples are dated and even a little nostalgic. I would consider this an entry level course that's a good refresher if you work in a field that already requires some communication skills (ie marketing/sales). The social media piece was useful, but I didn't come away with anything that was behavior changing. I felt it was more of an argument for, rather than why/why not to participate. The class tip toes around the issues and perils of a mixed work + personal life social media brand management.
Randy C: I found the course to be very enjoyable and relevant to the communication challenges I face in my business. Dr. Schiappa and Dr. Shields both have fun and interactive teaching styles which kept the course interesting, and demonstrated many of the concepts they were discussing. The group activities were well designed, and reinforced the main concepts. Come prepared to be creative. I would recommend reading "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman before attending the class, as the concepts in this book help a lot to understand the course material.
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"This course had great insights in regards to trends and changes in communications throughout history and ongoing. The learning material was very useful and I will implement many things from this course at my working environment as well as my personal life. The quality of the program material is outstanding, the faculty is great as well as the interaction between the participants throughout the course. Great course." - Geva R.
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