UDMCJOUR - BSc (Hons) Media, Communications and Journalism

The BSc Media, Communications, and Journalism addresses the role media play in shaping contemporary society, culture and politics. It is concerned with understanding how news and media industries work and with developing professional skills in journalism. The course blends theoretical and practical elements, which are integrated throughout the curriculum.

The BSc Media, Communications, and Journalism course involves study of various media institutions, content and audiences drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives. It considers how various media are produced and how they influence understandings of ourselves, and the world around us. It focuses on developing skills in print, broadcast, and social media journalism.

Now is an important and exciting time to study Media, Communications, and Journalism. The news and media industries are going through a time of unprecedented change: offering fascinating material for academic study, and significant opportunities for future professionals. Our course equips students to understand those opportunities, and identify future ones. It combines academic analysis of the most significant trends in a fast-changing media world with the teaching of the professional skills needed to begin a career in that world.

Students will benefit from the University’s strong reputation in Media and Communications research, and the wide-ranging, recent, top-level, professional experience of the journalism teaching staff – so they enter the employment market not only with an in-depth knowledge of the way the news and media industries work, but also with an understanding of the broader, global, issues.

The course is taught using a combination of traditional, and innovative teaching methods, fostering problem-based and inquiry-based learning, and reflective engagement. Active learning is supported by a combination of lectures, workshops, seminars, tutorials, online resources, work placement and field trips. Development of employability and professional practice is both integrated across the curriculum and addressed in specific modules. Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning process, preparing for knowledge creation, life-long learning and leadership.

A blended learning strategy is employed to enhance the learning experience, facilitate communication between students and tutors and develop collaboration among students. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) will be used as a platform to support online activities, facilitate formative assessment and related feedback, as well as a tool to integrate useful online learning materials provided by research institutions, academic publications, professional organisations and other relevant sources.

Students will develop transferable skills of value in a variety of academic and employment contexts, with various modules helping to develop a range of critical abilities, a creative and imaginative approach to problem solving, and skills of analysis and presentation.

The BSc Media, Communications, and Journalism will provide a high-quality education for the media and journalism professionals of the future. The course aims to offer students a detailed understanding of the way that the news and media industries work, as well as teaching them the core skills needed for employment. It achieves this by providing opportunities development of expertise in a wide range of knowledge and skills from theoretical, practical, creative, critical and technical perspectives.

The programme aims to:

1. Prepare students for employment in a dynamic job market by equipping them with the skills and competencies to succeed as media professionals.

2. Offer students the opportunity to develop expertise in media and communications theories

3. Teach students the basic skills of journalism as with the aim of their either using those skills in their future professional life, or using their understanding of the working of the news media in other professional contexts

4. Enable students to understand the theoretical foundations of a range of media technologies, tools and resources, and to critique the social, cultural, political, ethical and organisational contexts of media and their uses.

5. Ensure that students recognize the way in which changes in technology are affecting the way the news and media industries work, and understand the economic, social, and cultural implications of that process.

6. Provide an opportunity to develop a range of transferable skills and competencies, and to develop their independent learning

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on systematic understanding of the key aspects of the knowledge base of media, Communications and journalism, including a coherent and detailed knowledge of some specialist areas in depth.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1. deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within media, Communications
and journalism;

2. devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of media, Communications and journalism;

3. describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in media, Communications and journalism, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;

4. manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to media, Communications and journalism);

5. apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;

6. critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem;

7. communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

8. exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;

9. undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature.

Please check the latest Course Handbook for further information

Subject Benchmark Statement:

Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies [Oct-2016]

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/SBS-Communication- Media-Film-and-Cultural- Studies-16.pdf

The above latest subject benchmark statement is used in the design, delivery and review of the course and in facilitating the knowledge and skills normally expected of a typical course graduate.

The course combines practice-based and theory-based modules, and through the curriculum aims to teach professional standard journalistic skills, analyse the media and Communications sectors, and explore how these fit into contemporary industrialised societies. Relationships with other sectors of industry and national and transnational organizations are explored. Core modules require students to engage with both theory and practice in the field, and option module choices enable students to extend their expertise in specific areas of journalism, media, and Communications. The dissertation module enables students to develop an in-depth understanding of a sector of their choice.

The course makes use of formative and summative assessment strategies. Self-assessment and reflection on the process of learning are part of the modules’ assessment strategies. Media and Communications assessment is entirely coursework based, although journalism modules include timed, written, assessments designed to simulate the professional environment.

Assessment tools for each module are determined by the aims of the module and its learning outcomes. Students are expected to produce a mixture of written, visual and oral work and are required to demonstrate working within a team, working with different media and with multidisciplinary concepts.

Work related learning is undertaken as a part of the L5 module FC5W52 Work Related Learning for Media, in which students can either participate in a work placement or in simulated work related learning. Preparatory work for this is undertaken during the L4 Module Digital Work. In addition, students have the opportunity to be part of the Study Abroad programme which involves an exchange with universities in the United States. Further, our students can engage with the Erasmus study programme and spend a semester at a university in another European country

Reflective learning and personal development planning are core dimensions of this course. A variety of learning, teaching and assessment methodologies are deployed in order to assist the student in her self-reflected personal development and in acquiring the tools to engage in living as a citizen and pursuing economic activity in contemporary societies.

In the course of their study, students are asked to engage with theory and practice in a way that is grounded and concrete as well as dealing with abstract concepts. Reflective learning will vary across modules but will involve at all times engagement with peers and tutors in dealing with both formative and summative feedback on essays and reports; practice-based modules all offer the opportunity for reflection on abstract theory and critical analysis of academic literature and policies; theoretical modules present opportunities to engage with abstract theory and test this against concrete examples. Reflective learning is also integral to the practice-based creative work that is integrated into the curriculum.

PDP is integrated within the curriculum through the Work Related Learning (WRL) modules, which encourage students to reflect on their future career aspirations, and the ways of using their learning to achieve those aspirations. Students begin this at L4 in the module Digital Work, develop it at L5 through the module Work Related Learning for Media, and master this through their independent dissertation work at L6.

Students pursuing the BSc Media, Communications and Journalism develop the creative, analytical and communication skills to pursue employment in the field of Media and/or Post graduate study as evidenced by national statistics. Graduates also frequently pursue careers in media-related fields such as Marketing, Public Relations, and Social Media Management. Graduates often progress on to Masters Level study in the UK and other European countries, including pan European Masters Programmes, in a variety of field including Media, Communications and Media Production programmes.

Graduates can find careers within news organisations, advertising, digital media, education, market research, media production and management, public relations and publishing. You could also go on to undertake postgraduate study.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National or Advanced Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4 from 2017) or above (or equivalent)
• Applications are welcome from mature students who have passed appropriate access or other preparatory courses or have appropriate work experience.

If you do not have traditional qualifications or cannot meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing the Media and Communications Extended degree.

Applications are welcome from mature students who have appropriate Access or preparatory courses or appropriate work experience, or those without formal qualifications who are able to demonstrate enthusiasm, commitment, and the ability to benefit from higher education.

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.