General OverviewAll students will join the BA (H) Journalism degree programme, with students who wish to specialise in the field of sports journalism being given the opportunity at the end of level 8 to join the pathway that will enable them to develop their knowledge and skills in this area and to exit with the award of BA (H) Journalism/Sport.
The programme will produce graduates who are ready for the world of work in the dynamic, competitive, multi-platform world of journalism.
In reality this means developing a curriculum that reflects what the actual experience of the rapidly changing newsrooms will be and the skills required to operate successfully in these environments at a practical and intellectual level. This is allied with the need to achieve those ‘graduate’ skills that will enable the students/graduates to explore, analyse and critique Journalism in a forensic way to more fully understand why the news/ethics/managerial decisions being made in the newsroom are being made. The students will also develop a very firm grasp of the role of Journalism in the social, economic, civic and democratic life of our societies.
As such, the UWS Journalism programme will seek to be responsive to this need to produce graduates who have the ability to master the technical skills required by the news media, but also have the intellectual skills to critique, analyse and interpret the news. The curriculum explores the world of news and journalism from both UK and international perspectives. As the news media has become more global in its presentation and, indeed, in its business model, the need for students to have an understanding and knowledge of the global nature of news and the opportunities it provides is key.
Therefore, the curriculum will be the bridge across which we provide the graduates who met the professional requirements of the industry as well as meeting the academic standards of a university graduate.
Learning and teaching on the programme is focussed around the development of skills and knowledge that reflects both the demands of the university, the expectations of what makes a graduate and the preparedness and skillset expected by the news media.
We will also seek to support students to explore opportunities to develop their own academic careers by providing opportunities, either within the subject area or more broadly in the School and University, to provide pathways into postgraduate programmes. Students typically will be well positioned to continue to study Journalism and related fields at Masters and other PG levels.
The design of the curriculum will seek to meet these expectations.
The programme is unique in the Scottish HEI sector, offering as it does the opportunity for students to specialise in sports journalism. The re-designed programme builds on the success of the BA (H) Journalism and BA (H) Sports Journalism who have performed well in terms of recruitment, student employment and NSS.
Please note there will be no L7 + L8 intake for September 2022
Levels 9 & 10 will offer the pathway choice for students.
BA (H) Journalism pathway
Those who opt for the Journalism path will continue to build on what has been offered in earlier years with opportunities to undertake work placement, produce portfolio-based work in news, features, specialist magazine journalism across a range of digital and online formats.
Critical thinking skills will be developed in modules that explore the wider role of journalism – we will explore how we can work more collaboratively with colleagues across the School to develop modules that deepen students ability to analyse and critique, these could encompass exploring issues around crime & the news media, the sociology of mass culture, psychology of news, mediation of political news etc.
Developing research methods will be a key part of the structure and the skills developed here will be most widely used in the final year dissertation module. The final year will also see students producing a substantial piece of portfolio-based work as part of the journalism portfolio that will enable them to showcase their work to a professional standard, as well as allow some of them to shape their work into specialist fields if this is appropriate. Enhancing their employability skills will be the focus of the entrepreneurship module that students in both pathways will undertake.
BA (H) Journalism (Sport) pathway
Students who opt for the BA (H) Journalism (Sport) pathway will undertake some of the same modules as the Journalism pathway students, eg, research methods, newsroom practice, creative portfolios. However, the focus of their final two years will be in meeting the requirements of sports journalism, as well as their own aspirations. Modules will explore sports news production in a range of sports programmes, with news, features, commentary and live reporting being key (much of this will be focused around our involvement with a range of sports organisations & clubs).
Students will develop critical thinking skills in modules that will explore the role of sport in the media, in society and look at governance and policy issues that impact sport both nationally and globally tapping into the expertise which exists both within MCS and other Schools in the university.
In level 10, and in common with the Journalism pathway, students will complete the Creative Research project module that will seem them produce substantial piece of journalistic output and academic research. The Professional Journalism Portfolio module will enable students to produce work to a professional standard allowing them to showcase their skills and, if appropriate, specialist areas of expertise developed during their undergraduate careers. Enhancing their employability skills will be the focus of the entrepreneurship module that students in both pathways will undertake.
Students will have the opportunity to prepare themselves more readily fro the competitive world of work by undertaking practice in presenting themselves to potential future employers and in ensuring that they are aware of the need to build their own ‘brand’ around themselves are future employees and entrepreneurs.
All students will also have the opportunity to undertake modules from across a range of other programmes within the School, most notably L10 modules in the BA (H) Broadcast Production and BA (H) Filmmaking and Screenwriting programmes and will be given details of these in student handbooks and through induction processes etc.
The learning, teaching and assessment strategies adopted by the teaching team will focus on a sustainable approach to producing assessments that will prepare the students for the workplace, while at the same time progressive nature of assessment will be developing good critical thinking and analytical skills that support learners and build confidence.
The programme is reflective of the UWS ‘Enabling Plan’ which seeks to:
? offer inspirational and transformative learning within a flexible and personalised curriculum
? ensure transitions into, within and beyond UWS that raise the horizons for all stakeholders
? maximise staff and student engagement in a culture and environment of support and development
? ensure high quality information to support effective interventions in enhancement
? ensure that our graduates will be highly employable and able to make a difference locally and globally.
Learning, teaching and assessment in the programme will be aligned with professional practice through the amalgamation of assessments that meet the needs of the university and a range of graduate skills, yet also help prepare students for the demands of the working environment beyond university.
For example, aligned assessments are likely to include the production of a range of professionally produced news and journalistic artifacts that would be expected in industry and where effective communication, engagement and collaborative practice are key learning outcomes. The experiential learning opportunities in the programme will also students to learn how to work in teams co-operate with others in group projects, pose and resolve a range of problems both in the content and production of a range of journalism outputs, such as news, sports and magazine projects, and give and receive feedback through peer-review involving the whole class.
Teaching will comprise practice-based workshops, simulated newsroom environments, production days, seminars and lectures. All modules are supported Moodle, an online VLE which enables staff and students to both communicate and share content on assessment, learning activities, information sources such as online broadcast and print materials, discussion forums and support for teaching and learning. MCS has adopted as a key teaching strategy an inquiry-based learning approach, this will be embedded in the programme and developed throughout it.
This will provide students with an opportunity to become reflective practitioners in their own learning experiences and enable them to adopt a more creative and critical approach to journalism inquiry. Developing key transferable skills and academic literacy, as well as, illustrating understanding of the citizenship more broadly will be made explicit in assessments approaches and these will be progressive throughout the programme.
Assessment will comprise the production of portfolios of professionally produced work across all platforms and will typically include news and features type materials in a range of digital formats from short news pieces to longer analytical features programmes to digital magazines. Students will also illustrate their learning through pitches to teaching staff and industry professionals, seminar papers and presentations, essays and research projects, as well as examinations. Inquiry-based learning will be utilised to help prepare students for the progressive nature of the degree programme.
Learning and teaching on the programme is underpinned by the research activities of staff. The programme sits within the Culture and Creativity research hub and both staff and students benefit from the wider research activities of colleagues in the wider BCI environment.
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