PMCRDIPW - MA Creative, Digital and Professional Writing

The rationale for the course is that, in order to make a living as a writer in today’s competitive media climate, students need to develop versatility and acquire a diverse range of skills. Today, novelists also write features for online magazines; nonfiction writers produce podcasts; there are no more ‘silos’ in the professional world. The range of modules and the specialisms they encompass are a distinctive feature of this course and address the needs of the current and emerging creative and commercial sectors. Through their core modules, students will attain proficiency in both creative writing and nonfiction, in both print and digital forms, as well as relevant research methods. They will have an enhanced awareness of creative and professional writing sectors and gain highly transferable knowledge and skills. At the same time, the course emphasises the ethical dimensions of writing. Through their various modules and assignments, students will consider the role of the writer in an era of global change and their own values, position and potential contributions as a practitioner.

Workshopping is at the heart of our teaching practice on the course: students will develop their critical and reflexive as well as writing and digital skills in a supportive setting, and at the same time learn professional rules, conventions and practices. Through workshops students will develop greater confidence in speaking in both small groups and whole-class activities, supplemented by one-to-one tutorials. Students will be encouraged to reflect critically not only on their own work but also dominant forms of writing and digital production and to understand the cultural and historical factors that have helped shape them. Students will be introduced to a wide range of texts (to which they add examples of their own), enabling them to develop an understanding of diverse writing styles, approaches and forms currently used and to reflect on how they might adopt, develop and challenge them as practitioners of the future.

The course has been designed in consultation with students and employers in order to ensure that it meets the aspirations of our students and the demands of the contemporary employment environment. It aligns with the University’s Strategic Plan, the Education for Social Justice Framework and Student Partnership Agreement in promoting accessible and inclusive education in an environment that respects and values the identities of our students and accommodates diversity in all its forms. Consideration has been given to the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Creative Writing 2019, the QAA Higher Education Qualifications Framework, and the University’s Academic Regulations.

The course promotes individualised learning opportunities and student choice in curriculum and approach to study. Employability is fostered through learning from direct experience of real-world scenarios, from guest speakers and where possible live project opportunities. Independent and critical thinking and awareness of our social responsibility to consider the impact of our decision and actions are fundamental to the course’s principles.

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) is used as a platform to support online and in-class activities: for example, to facilitate formative assessment and peer feedback on students’ own writing, discussion of published writing, evaluation of online video/audio artefacts, and to signpost online learning materials provided by research institutions, academic publications, professional organisations and other relevant sources.

The main aims of the MA Creative, Digital and Professional Writing are:

CA 1: to provide students with the means to research, write, produce and edit stories, both fictional and non-fictional, through advanced writing and digital production workshops;

CA 2: to offer a distinct and forward-looking approach to the field of creative, digital and professional writing with regard to potential audiences, markets, publication platforms, commissioning processes and professional roles;

CA 3: to develop students’ knowledge, skills and ethics as a writer together with their awareness of critical issues in contemporary cultural practice;

CA 4: to promote forms of scholarly and practice-led research appropriate to the professional ethos of the course;

CA 5: to enable students to write extensively and/or produce long-form audio, visual, audio-visual, or digital work, according to their interests, contributing to a project involving sustained independent enquiry and innovation;

CA 6: to enhance students' ability to reflect upon and evaluate their own writing processes and creative practice.

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of the relevant academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice.

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

Knowledge and understanding:

LO1 advance their knowledge, understanding and skills to postgraduate level (CA 1, CA 4, CA 5);

LO2 apply knowledge with originality, based on practical and theoretical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to generate and interpret knowledge in the field of creative, digital and professional writing (CA 1, CA 2, CA 3, CA 4, CA 5);

Cognitive intellectual abilities:

LO3 deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences (CA 1, CA 2, CA 3, CA 4, CA 5);

Behaviours and values:

LO4 demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline (CA 1, CA 2, CA 3, CA 5);

Transferable skills:

LO5 exercise self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level (CA 1, CA 2, CA 3, CA 4, CA 5);

LO6 learn independently for the purposes of continuing professional development (CA1, CA 3, CA 4, CA 5, CA 6).

Subject specific skills:

LO7 critically evaluate current practice, research and advanced scholarship in the field of creative, digital and professional writing (CA 3, CA 4, CA 6);

LO8 identify and apply methods and techniques appropriate to their own practice, research or advanced scholarship in the field of creative, digital and professional writing (CA 1, CA 2, CA 3, CA 4, CA 5, CA 6).

Subject Benchmark Statement: Creative Writing, December 2019

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure fairness, accessibility and inclusivity as well as manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes. Where appropriate, students are engaged as partners in the design of their assessments.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed prior to the start of the year, considering student, external examiner, professional collaborator and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of tasks and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of each module and are designed to be used as consistently as possible, to avoid unnecessary complication.

Assessment methods on the course include: presentations, short stories, articles, features, audio-visual and digital outputs, research proposals, portfolios, essays. Tutors stress the need for professional standards, for example in the technical aspects of writing (grammar, punctuation, spelling, presentation, layout), as well as creative aspects.

In all modules, there is ongoing formative assessment and feedback prior to summative assessment at set points. This formative development occurs especially through the workshopping process, and also through individual tutorials. Feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement.

Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking, and external examiner scrutiny of the assessment process and marks, to ensure that they understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent.

Students may seek organised work experience through the optional module SJ7W01 Accredited Work-based Learning in the Creative Industries. The responsibility for finding a work placement is with the student; the course cannot guarantee a work placement, only the opportunity to undertake one and gain appropriate academic credit for it.

Work-based learning is embedded across the course through visiting professional speakers and where possible live projects, industry visits, or participation in public events. The majority of tutors and lecturers contributing to the course are practitioners who share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. Students’ understanding of professional standards and expectations builds as they progress through their programme. During their final project, students work towards completion of portfolio-quality work or equivalent.

Part-Time Structure

Part-time students can take the modules in any order: the course is designed to be flexible because it has both Autumn and Spring entry points. A typical pattern would be:

Year 1: 3 x 20-credit modules including at least one core module

Year 2: 3 x 20-credit modules including remaining core module(s)

Year 3: SJ7P01 Creative, Digital and Professional Writing Project/Dissertation

Default programme for Autumn entry:

Year 1: SJ7006 Creative Writing, SJ7108 Digital Storytelling, SJ7007 Feature and Arts Journalism

Year 2: SJ7009 Research for Creative Practice (Autumn period), SJ7109 Creative Nonfiction, SJ7037 Scriptwriting

Year 3: SJ7P01 Creative, Digital and Professional Writing Project/Dissertation (Autumn period)

Masters: 4 x core 20-credit modules (SJ7006 Creative Writing, SJ7007 Feature and Arts Journalism, SJ7108 Digital Storytelling, SJ7009 Research for Creative Practice), 2 x 20-credit option modules, and SJ7P01 Creative, Digital and Professional Writing Project/Dissertation

PG Diploma: 4 x core 20-credit modules (SJ7006 Creative Writing, SJ7007 Feature and Arts Journalism, SJ7108 Digital Storytelling, SJ7009 Research for Creative Practice) and 2 x 20-credit option modules (or a total of at least 120 credits including at least 3 core 20-credit modules)​​ ​​​​​​ ​​

PG Cert: 3 x 20-credit modules including at least one core (SJ7006 Creative Writing, SJ7007 Feature and Arts Journalism, SJ7108 Digital Storytelling or SJ7009 Research for Creative Practice)

The course’s principle of guiding learning through a practice-led curriculum promotes ongoing reflection and personal development. This is supported by regular formative feedback on work in progress that enables students to understand their progress and find opportunities for multiple and individualised routes to successful outcomes. Most modules are semester-long, with interim points of review, which ensures that students, together with their tutors, can devise study strategies appropriate to individual learning styles, while ensuring monitoring of engagement and progress.

Through employability focus within modules and sessions with guest speakers, students’ personal development for career planning is effectively contextualised in relation to contemporary creative practice and work sectors.

Students will reflect critically on their learning and on their personal development planning mainly within modules, through feedback and discussions of assessment, and also in tutorials. They will be required to keep and develop portfolios in a number of modules. All the modules involve guided self-analysis that takes account of personal, academic and practical skills and professional profile development. In many of the modules students have to submit, as part of their coursework, an analytic commentary in which they reflect on the development of their work and its professional and commercial aspects, whether in written or digital formats or both.

Writing and editing skills are valued today more highly than ever, and those who have developed the ability to communicate clearly, tell stories creatively and manage digital media are prized in a wide range of professional contexts. As well as developing the tools, knowledge and understanding to forge career paths in traditional and emerging media - as, for example, reporters, feature writers, editors, fiction writers and scriptwriters - students will develop skills that will be highly transferable into, for instance, public relations, advertising, marketing, corporate communications and online content generation. The course is also an excellent basis for further academic or professional research or development. Students can benefit from support and guidance from the Careers and Employability services and the University’s business incubator unit, ‘Accelerator’.

This master’s course will give you the skills needed to help you forge a career in the media and creative industries. Almost every commercial and public company now requires a communications manager, and as a graduate of this course you’ll be equipped with the specialist skills this role demands. More diverse roles will also be open to you, including creative writer (fiction and creative nonfiction), journalist, editor, publisher, arts manager, web designer, arts curator and consultant and events manager professions.

Sectors you could work in include the arts, creative, cultural, publishing, public relations, music, media and marketing industries. Our students have gone on to find success as writers, editors and digital innovators around the world. One ex-student, now teaching part-time on the course, is helping pioneer the use of virtual reality in journalism.

You will be required to have:

• a 2:2 UK degree or equivalent (a relevant professional qualification or experience will also be considered)
• two contrasting writing samples of 750 words each ready for submission