JOU5003 - Reporting Skills

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

Content:

This module will begin with a week-long reporting skills bootcamp to refresh and extend students’ foundation skills learned at Level 4. This will cover sourcing stories, interviewing, news writing and photography & image editing skills.

Students will practise key areas of news reporting through formative and summative practical exercises to further develop their newsgathering, writing and photography skills in order to source and produce original news articles that meet legal, ethical and regulatory standards. Students will also learn the importance of house style and excellent use of English.

Students will build on their Wordpress skills to create and display their multimedia content online (e.g. headlines, text, images, captions, hyperlinks) and promote their work via social media.

Skills learned during this module are aligned with those examined as part of the NCTJ diploma.

Students will also build on their professional development skills to prepare for their placements. Placement may be taken for example one day a week across the year, and/or in a block at the end. Students must complete a total of 150 hours.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Boot camp workshops
Hours: Intensive week at start of Sem 1 or 20 hours
Intended Group Size: Max 20 to allow one-to-one support for practical workshops

Workshops
Hours: 40
Intended Group Size: 20

Placement preparation workshops
Hours: 10
Intended Group Size: 50

Placement
Hours: 150

Guided independent study
Hours: 80

Further details relating to assessment
The Portfolio may include employability related materials such as CV & cover letter, Journalism & Media Week coverage, etc. Students also include a short report as part of the portfolio, outlining any legal, ethical and technical considerations, and outlining their sources and approach to their stories.

The Individual Presentation reports on their placement: the nature of the host organisation, the student’s individual role and experiences, and lessons learned.

Early Assessment: there will be a formative assessment within the first 4 weeks and this will help unpack the assignment details for the 1st assignment as well as guide and inform student preparation and help introduce the University grading system.

Assessment:

001 Portfolio; 4,000 word equivalent; end of semester 1 80%
002 Placement; 5 weeks; end of semester 2 0%
003 Individual presentation; 5 minutes; end of placement 20%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Jennifer Kean
Level - 5
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5YL

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