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COURSE OVERVIEW

Please note, this course is not currently accepting applications for September 2023 entry.

Click here for MA Digital Media Practice

  • Choose from a range of specialist modules to launch your career in digital media
  • Develop your skills through work on live client projects
  • Push creative boundaries with opportunities to to experiment, innovate and take risks

The Digital Media Practice programmes at Winchester are designed to accommodate a wide range of specialist interests within the digital media industry. Build your theoretical understanding within the context of honing practical skills in a range of specialist careers. Develop new ideas and theories through your engagement with several live client projects, which may culminate in the real-time release of output through different media platforms.

Your practical work is supported and enhanced through masterclasses, seminars, discussions, workshops, tutorials and self-directed study, and work in professional contexts. Partnerships with professional practitioners and bodies give you the starting point to develop your own network of professional contacts. There is a dedicated, fully equipped digital design studio, with practitioner-based lecturers on hand to support you.

Your course consists of five core modules plus two optional modules, where you undertake individual projects and case studies relevant to your particular area of interest. Core modules include Digital Media Principles, Design Practice, and a project on Emerging Media. MA Digital Media Practice includes your choice of any two optional modules, while on the specialist pathways you choose two optional modules from a more specific selection. Examples of module choices include:

  • Motion Graphics
  • Transmedia Storytelling

Careers

Graduates pursue careers in the digital media industry as lead designers, design researchers, account directors, content writers and creative producers.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Suitable for applicants from:

UK, EU, World

Learning and teaching

Start Dates: September
Teaching takes place: Daytime

Students develop new ideas and theories through their engagement with several live client projects, which may culminate in the real-time release of output through different media platforms. Practical work is supported and enhanced through masterclasses, seminars, discussions, workshops, tutorials and self-directed study, and by undertaking work in professional contexts. There is a dedicated, fully equipped digital design studio, with practitioner-based lecturers on hand during core hours.

Location

Taught elements of the course take place on campus in Winchester.

Our validated courses may adopt a range of means of assessing your learning. An indicative, and not necessarily comprehensive, list of assessment types you might encounter includes essays, portfolios, supervised independent work, presentations, written exams, or practical performances.

Through the undertaking of projects, students engage with real-world tasks, with assessment reflecting the solutions and outcomes expected in the digital media industry. Assessment takes place throughout the life of a project in order to test and offer feedback on the process and integration of skills. Students are required to complete a final substantial piece of work in the form of either an appropriate digital media project or a written dissertation.

We ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve module learning outcomes. As such, where appropriate and necessary, students with recognised disabilities may have alternative assignments set that continue to test how successfully they have met the module's learning outcomes. Further details on assessment types used on the course you are interested in can be found on the course page, by attending an Open Day or Open Evening, or contacting our teaching staff.

Feedback

We are committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to you on your academic progress and achievement in order to enable you to reflect on your progress and plan your academic and skills development effectively. You are also encouraged to seek additional feedback from your course tutors.

Further information

For more information about our regulations for this course, please see our Academic Regulations, Policies and Procedures.

 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

This course is open to those interested in pursuing a career within the digital media industry. Normally a first or second-class Honours degree or professional experience in the area of study is required. Applicants are asked to submit a portfolio of relevant work along with a short written statement outlining the relevance of the programme to their previous experience.

If English is not your first language: IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in writing or equivalent

Course enquiries and applications

Telephone: +44 (0) 1962 827234
Send us a message

International students seeking additional information about this programme can email International@winchester.ac.uk or call +44 (0) 1962 827023

Applications need to be submitted by 15 May 2023. Late applications can be accepted throughout the remainder of the application year. For more information see our How to Apply section.

Visit us

Explore our campus and find out more about studying at Winchester by coming to one of our Open Evenings.

Year 1 (Level 7)

Modules Credits

Digital Media Principles 20

This module will provide students with a detailed understanding of the contexts and practice of digital media in terms of design practices and production technologies. Students will be able to examine digital media concerns from the perspective of their own background in order to evaluate and synthesise them within their own developing practice.

The module will celebrate and incorporate the student’s previous experience and practice so that the group as a whole can identify their own areas of strengths and weakness, highlighting aspects to enhance or explore from scratch. This will help students to select their optional module choices and therefore the named pathway.

Design Practice 20

This module aims to strengthen students’ development of their design process in practical and theoretical terms. The development of a design proposal will, within the wider context of the design research, support and enable the development of the students’ area of interest. Through the undertaking of a major design task, students can build on the skills and knowledge developed from other Digital Media Practice modules and apply skills from their undergraduate programmes or industry practice. This module is intended to exercise the students’ ability to create design proposals that embody clear and appropriate conceptual frameworks against which the design outcome may be tested. The conceptual frameworks should be derived from research that governs the rationale of the design proposal. The design outcome should be sufficiently developed through a process of rigorous testing to demonstrate the validity of the concepts in some detail.

Emerging Media Project 20

This module will give students the opportunity to work with media practitioners from different fields of practice in the development of a shared collaborative project focusing on emerging media forms. The module enables the individual student the opportunity to devise and direct their own shared project in collaboration with practitioners from a range of practical media backgrounds.

At the beginning of the module the individual student will scope out the nature of the project they wish to work on. The student will then source and build a team ensuring all the necessary practical skills are covered for the scope of the project. As project manager, each student will then work with and direct their team to deliver their project using a variety of production skills.

Students will be asked to reflect upon both the processes of practical production and the experience of collaborating with other practitioners from different media industries and fields of media practice.

Research Proposal 20

This module will provide students with a range of research tools that begin with the student’s own personal development and extend to those types of research most useful or appropriate to the individual student's research and career interests. The module helps students to engage effectively in relevant research strategies required in their production work and the more traditional forms of academic research needed in the preparation of their proposal for their major project or dissertation.

Additionally, this module provides an opportunity for each student to explore an area of industry practice production that develops their own career goals and aspirations, and identifies areas for development and consolidation in preparation for employment. These will be expressed as part of their Research Proposal.

Motion Graphics 20

Studying the Motion Graphics optional module provides a great opportunity to explore and understand how to best utilise the communicative potential of combining images, live-action and type in different interdisciplinary contexts. The main purpose of this practical module is to allow the student to develop motion graphic skills to an advanced level as a designer and/or researcher and establish their position within the varying contexts of motion graphics. Students will explore practical novel and emerging techniques for communicating ideas/concepts for either a client or a personal project. This practical exercise will help the student to select the tools required for the production of motion graphics as well as understanding the production process.

Transmedia Storytelling 20

Transmedia storytelling is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using traditional and digital platforms. To be a successful ‘campaign’ there must be active audience participation with the different story elements. The main purpose of this optional practical module is to allow the student to develop transmedia storytelling skills to an advanced level as a designer and/or researcher. Students will explore the design and production process of creating engaging transmedia storytelling elements and spaces/platforms through the selection and recognition of a suitable script as either a client or personal project. This practical exercise will help the student to understand the software tools required for the production of different visual narratives as well as understanding the production process, in particular audience participation.

Digital Media Practice Independent Study – Project or Dissertation 60

To qualify for a Masters level award it is necessary for all students to undertake a major piece of independent study. The study should build upon the knowledge and skills that the student has progressively developed throughout the programme and arrive at the production of original work in the realm of Digital Media Practice. In order to allow the widest possible scope to the professional and developmental interests of individual students, this major study may take the form of either:

a. a design project, comprising a research report, all necessary drawings and specifications and, where appropriate, a model or prototype of the completed design

OR:

b. a substantial research study presented as a dissertation, to include amongst its findings evidence of visual exploration, illustrated recommendations and the development of new approaches or ideas in relation to an area of Digital Media Practice
In both cases an appropriately demanding and rigorous quantity of personal research is required.

Please note the modules listed are correct at the time of publishing, for full-time students entering the programme in Year 1. Optional modules are listed where applicable. Please note the University cannot guarantee the availability of all modules listed and modules may be subject to change. For further information please refer to the terms and conditions at www.winchester.ac.uk/termsandconditions.
The University will notify applicants of any changes made to the core modules listed above.

Progression from one level of the programme to the next is subject to meeting the University’s academic regulations.

2023 Course Tuition Fees

UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man

Full-time entry | £9,550
Part-time entry | £4,775 p/a

Total Cost | £9,550

International Students

Full-time entry | £15,350
Part-time entry | £7,675 p/a

Total Cost | £15,350

ADDITIONAL COSTS

As one of our students all of your teaching and assessments are included in your tuition fees, including, lectures/guest lectures and tutorials, seminars, laboratory sessions and specialist teaching facilities. You will also have access to a wide range of student support and IT services.

Mandatory

Printing and Binding

The University is pleased to offer our students a free printing allowance of £20 each academic year. This will print around 500 A4 mono pages. If students wish to print more, printer credit can be topped up by the student. The University and Student Union are champions of sustainability and we ask all our students to consider the environmental impact before printing. 

SCHOLARSHIPS, BURSARIES and AWARDS

We have a variety of scholarship and bursaries available to support you financially with the cost of your course. To see if you’re eligible, please see our Scholarships and Awards section.

Key course details

Duration
Full-time: 1 year; Part-time: 2 years
Typical offer
Normally a first or second-class Honours degree
Location
On campus, Winchester