Digital Media: Professional Practice

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• manage an independent research project effectively.
• reflect on your own capabilities in the context of independent learning and professional development.
• match a digital artefact to its target audience.
• work independently and in teams to fulfil a specific brief.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate an ability to work with appropriate professional processes.
• comment on the agenda and priorities of professional practitioners.
• locate, synthesise, evaluate and organise evidence as part of the process of addressing social media issues professionally.
• design and critique social media texts whether this is your own work, that of your peer group, or of a professional practitioner.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the processes involved in the production, distribution, exhibition, reception, and consumption of selected types of digital output.
• how to apply the skills and techniques studied during your degree to the benefit of industry and society.
• the sources of information and contexts relevant to your target audience.
• the contexts in which social media artefacts function.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• advise on some of the technical aspects of digital media design and production and be able to offer a critical review of professionally-produced materials.

In this module, you will learn how to produce a social media strategy in response to a client brief using professional tools and processes. The module will address issues such as the building of professional social media presence; social media strategy design principles; processes for implementing and managing social media strategy in professional contexts; tools and techniques for social media content creation, curation and analysis; and basic digital media metrics. It will involve students learning to think strategically, planning and producing content, testing and selecting appropriate distribution channels, and managing workflows and budgets, as relevant.

Teaching and learning methods

In this module you will produce a social media strategy in response to a client brief that is appropriate to your subject and sensitive to the tone of your target audience. Accordingly, during the module, some teaching activities will include industry guest speakers. Outside of these sessions lectures will introduce you to key issues, concepts, and case studies and interactive seminars will provide you with opportunities to collaborate with your peers and to discuss and apply theoretical concepts to real world scenarios. Screenings and online activities engaging with digital media texts and objects relevant to an understanding of weekly themes, lectures and readings will also be part of the teaching and learning methods for this module. You will spend time working towards producing content and experimenting with relevant tools and processes in collaborative project led experiences. Opportunities to receive regular formative feedback will be provided through learning interactions during teaching sessions and in online activities, as well as during structured, self- and peer-reflection sessions.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Annmarie Hanlon (2019). Digital Marketing: Strategic Planning & Integration,. London: SAGE.

K.A. Quesenberry. Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield.

Rob Wallace et al. (2020). Smartphone Smart Marketing: A layman’s guide to content marketing, social media strategy, photography, video production, audio and live streaming. London: Rob Wallace Media.

Simon Lindgren (2017). Digital Media and Society. London: SAGE.

Robert McKee and Thomas Gerace (2018). Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World. NY: Grand Central.

Assessment strategy

In this module there will be three assessment tasks that will assist you in gaining an understanding of how to design, manage, and evaluate social media strategy. First, you will produce a social media audit report; second, you will respond to a social media crisis; and third, you will generate a social media strategy in response to a client brief.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal