BA (Hons) Communication and Media

Bachelor's degree

In Bournemouth

£ 9,250 + VAT

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Bournemouth

If you’re unsure about what area of the media you would like to work in this is an excellent course to choose. It not only provides a fascinating overview of the sector, but also focuses on academic study of the media and society, whilst teaching you all the practical skills necessary to work in this fast-paced environment.
On this versatile course, you'll embrace approaches taken from humanities and social science disciplines and examine the different ways in which people communicate, including face-to-face interaction, everyday language use and through the media.
90% of our students said they were satisfied with the quality of the course. Come along and meet us and find out for yourself what makes this course so good.
From a practical point of view, you’ll learn how to write in a variety of styles and formats, such as: scripts, short stories and pieces for online and digital media. Then, in your final year, you can choose specialist options in advertising, public relations and journalism to cultivate a learning package that is better tailored to your future career plans.
All statistics shown are taken from Unistats, Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE), BU institutional data and Ipsos MORI (National Student Survey) unless otherwise stated.

Facilities

Location

Start date

Bournemouth (Dorset)
Fern Barrow, Talbot Campus, BH12 5BB

Start date

On request

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Reviews

Subjects

  • Evaluation
  • Teaching
  • Creative Writing
  • Quality
  • Public Relations
  • Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Public
  • Industry
  • Writing
  • Quality Training
  • Communication Training
  • Media
  • Humanities
  • Social Science
  • Learning Teaching
  • Writing Skills

Course programme

Course details On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry. Year 1 Core units Communication & Marketing: You'll discover marketing and branding theory, contextualising the marketing mix and the techniques of persuasion and research within the media and communications industries. Media & Society: This unit analyses the role of the media in society by examining the nature, history, structure, social and cultural roles of print, broadcast and digital media. Introduction to Communication Theory: You will explore and critically examine major theories of communication processes from different perspectives, and engage with relevant contemporary issues related to the study of communication. Adaptation: You'll discover the study of adaptation, focusing on key theoretical perspectives and debates, for example about fidelity and medium-specificity. Academic & Writing Skills: This unit supports students in their transition to undergraduate study by focusing on core academic and writing skills. Language Matters: You will examine the complexities and possibilities of language use in both oral and written communication, and across a wide range of media. You will be introduced to key theoretical and analytical tools to equip you to undertake textual analysis of a variety of discourses. Year 2 Core units Media & Marketing Research: You will be introduced to the aims, principles and techniques of social, media and marketing research and will be equipped with the skills needed to conduct primary research. Media: Messages & Meanings: This unit examines how messages are constructed, conveyed and received over a range of media and by different audiences. Web & Mobile Communication: This unit aims to give you a strategic overview and knowledge of the role played by web and mobile communication in contemporary society. Narrative Structures: Contemporary narrative texts will be analysed and evaluated, providing a theoretical overview of a variety of contemporary narrative texts from film, television, journalism, magazines, the internet and prose fiction. Writing for the Media: The unit aims to strengthen your professional journalistic skills and your creative writing skills. You'll also learn how to use industry-standard software and will lay out your writings in magazine format. Option units (choose one) Popular Texts & Intertexts: Studying a variety of popular texts across the media including literary, cinematic, televisual and graphic, you'll encounter genres including detective, romance, horror, fantasy, children’s literature, chick lit/lad lit, fan fiction and online communities. Global Current Affairs: You will engage with current debates in international and multimedia journalism, while being introduced to major global developments and their impact on news reporting. Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year. Year 3 Choose either a 4 week or optional 30 week (minimum) placement, giving you the chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future. Year 3/4 Core unit Dissertation: You'll undertake original and independent research to produce a 10,000-word dissertation on a topic or problem of your choice, using a communication, humanities or social science approach. OR Creative Dissertation: An original piece of writing such as a set of short stories; a script for tv or screen; an extract from a novel, supported by a rationale and critical evaluation. Option Units (choose four) Celebrity Culture: This unit will introduce you to celebrity as a site of cultural and political power, and equips you with the skills to evaluate the risks and opportunities that celebrity culture poses for contemporary media as a site for democratic debate Advertising: You'll discover how advertising can be used as a strategic marketing communications tool and will gain strategic and tactical skills in developing advertising campaigns and the evaluation techniques and measurements used to assess advertising success. Public Relations: This unit introduces the theory and practice of public relations. Media, Crisis & Conflict: Periods of crisis, such as war, conflict, civil unrest, epidemics, famines, and natural disasters, can alter the complex relationships between media, audiences and governments. This unit will analyse these relationships through four interrelating themes. Media & Trauma: This unit aims to explore critical and cultural responses to traumatic experience and death across a range of media or texts from print and broadcast journalism to filmic and literary representation. The unit will focus on how trauma is interpreted, recorded, represented, constructed and produced across a range of media and in a variety of social, professional and medical contexts. News & Journalism: This unit seeks to provide you with a critical perspective on journalistic outputs and the ability to report and produce news and other forms of journalism in a digital world. Writing, Editing & Publishing: A practical unit which combines study of publishing processes and practices with creative writing. Fact & Fiction: This unit explores the diverse panorama of non-fiction works produced in the realm of literary, or narrative, journalism. It will analyse ethical issues such as objectivity, accuracy, and the social and historical context of the genre over the centuries. New Media Narrative: You'll examine the evolution of narrative forms in relation to the development of new (digital) media, especially exploring non-linear and interactive narratives and make critical evaluations of theoretical, critical and creative texts. Community & Digital Engagement: This unit will help you develop a critical and practical understanding of community and digital engagement with a view to acquiring advocacy techniques that can engage citizens in local problem-solving. Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year. Scheduled learning and teaching activities Contact hours This is a broad academic course with some vocational units and a strong emphasis on writing skills. The course is designed to help you develop analytical and evaluative skills through the study of literary and media texts, as well as enabling you to operate in dynamic environments such as the workplace and new media. Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, workshops and one-to-one tutorials. In addition, to these scheduled sessions, there will also be multimedia screenings, interactive exercises, media experiments and other innovative forms of learning & teaching, allowing you to develop a range of both transferable and subject-specific skills. Year 1 – 16% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 177 hours Independent learning: 1023 hours Year 2 – 17% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 190 hours Independent learning: 1010 hours Year 3/4 - 15% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 169 hours Independent learning: 1031 hours 79% of the course is assessed by coursework Year 1: 65% Year 2: 83% Year 3/4: 90% The majority of your assessed work will be coursework; however you will also be expected to undertake practical and written exams during your study. Assessment methods include essays, written and oral exams, case studies, portfolios of journalism, research and creative writing, pitches and presentations. Other methods include a Dragons’ Den exercise, the development, delivery and evaluation of a Communication Skills Training programme and a poster display. Programme specification Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for BA (Hons) Communication & Media. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

BA (Hons) Communication and Media

£ 9,250 + VAT