Beginning:

This is an online course, and no hard copies of lecture records are provided unfortunately.
But the following course outline will be beneficial for proceeding this assignment:

Week 2. Conditions of media work: Flexibility and precarity

 Introduction

This week, we consider the conditions under which many media professionals
work, and how those conditions shape the values and challenges of a career in
the media industries.

Our approach will be historical and evaluative. We'll be asking:

 What are the forces that have influenced the conditions of media work
over time, and how have they shaped media work today?

 How do those conditions give rise to opportunities for good work,

while also leading to outcomes that make the pursuit of good work
difficult or impossible?

 How do we judge good and bad work in a media career, and what are
the conditions that might lead towards one or the other?

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe how flexibility and precarity shape the experience of

contemporary media work

 Explain how flexibility and precarity are related, and how they have
emerged as major structural conditions of the contemporary economy

 Analyse the consequences of flexibility for individuals, institutions,

and society

 Evaluate flexibility as an institutional and personal value

 Propose some tactics for negotiating conditions of flexibility and

precarity in your own work contexts.
In-class

During tutorial this week, you will:

 Discuss the appeal of working in the media industries – what qualities do you associate
with working in your area of media (such as journalism, screen, or PR)? Why do these
qualities seem attractive to you?
 Consider how the conditions that make those attractive qualities possible might also have
a downside. What are some of the risks and challenges of pursuing a career within your
specialism?
 Explore some principles for pursuing good work under these conditions, and test our
assumptions and judgements about the purpose and values of a career in the media
industries.

Readings:

Week 3. Forming (and performing) professional identity

 Introduction

By now, we should understand that to become a professional requires more

than the acquisition and mastery of technical skills. Becoming a professional
also involves a shift in self-perception and self-presentation – the
development, in other words, of a professional identity.
 This week, we explore what a professional identity is, how it differs from
both your personal identity and your identity as a student, and why the self-
conscious development and articulation of a professional identity is vital to
your pursuit of a successful media career.

A central aim of the workplace simulation that begins in Week 5 is to provide

a space in which to practice the performance of your emerging professional
identity; this week lays a foundation for that core aspect of our work in Media
Professions Lab.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe the elements of professional identity

 Differentiate between personal and professional identity

 Explain how a well-developed and articulated professional identity is

important to your career

 Analyse examples and expressions of professional identity by others

 Reflect on and articulate your own developing sense of a professional

identity

In-class

During tutorials, we will:

 Address any last questions regarding Assessment 1

 Further clarify what a professional identity is, what it consists it, how it can be achieved,
and what importance it has at the outset of one's career
 Share and discuss examples of professional identity (including its failure) and consider
how they might serve as models for our own professional conduct
 Continue to discuss the simulation exercise that begins in Week 5.

Readings:
Week 4. Professionalism and reflective practice in the media industries

 Introduction

This week, we address questions of professionalism the media industries.

We'll start out by exploring the nature of the professions themselves, before
considering whether it makes sense to think of most media work as belonging
to a profession, and how this matters to your practice as aspiring media
workers. Along these lines, we'll ask:

 Why are some kinds of work considered to be professions, while others

are not?

 What makes a profession, and what kinds of work in the media fit this
description (if any)?

 How might different ways of defining the professions shape the way
we understand different kinds of media work?

Along the way, we'll discuss the process of professionalisation and the
familiar (but vague) term "professionalism". To clarify these ideas, we'll ask:

 How has media work undergone professionalisation over time?

  What distinguishes professional from non-professional media work?
How might different concepts or models of professionalism help or
hinder your practice?

Ultimately, Elliott will argue that the most helpful models of professionalism
are those rooted in a particular approach to reflective practice. Over the
following weeks, and during your workplace simulation, you'll continue to
deepen your understanding of reflective practice and its value, while
developing your capacity to engage in and learn from it.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Articulate and analyse different meaning(s) of professionalism in

relation to different examples of media work

 Describe the qualities of professionalism to which you aspire

 Develop and articulate your own vision for becoming a professional in

your field

 Explain what reflective practice is and how it is important to

professionalism in media work

 Describe and evaluate different models of reflective process

 Apply principles of reflective process to your own work and

experiences.

In-class

During tutorial this week, you will:

 Share your thoughts and experiences of professionalism in general, and in media work
specifically
 Clarify your understanding of the reflective process and how to engage in it
 Develop and share brief reflections on media projects you have completed in other BMC
units
  Meet your fellow teammates for the simulation exercise, and begin discussing the project
briefs.

Readings:

Week 5: Time management in the digital workplace

 Introduction

Work in the media industries is often performed under the pressure of

deadlines. Multiple projects are pursued at once, as workers negotiate a tangle
of tasks with competing demands. Days can be fast-paced and unpredictable,
and, reflecting the flexibility of the digital age, work can be carried out – and
fretted over – not only anywhere but any time.

It's therefore no surprise that time management is a highly prized skill of the
media professional. We may easily think that the most effective and successful
are those who are best able to manage their time in order to be more
productive.

This week, as you embark on your simulation projects, we focus on the quest
for time management. We will examine the conditions that have made time
management such a prominent part of working life, and explore some
attributes and attitudes that might help you find a better way to approach and
 organise your use of time. In a more critical vein, will also consider the
implications of organising our lives around the imperative to be productive.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Explain the relationship between time management and productivity,

especially in workplace or industrial contexts

 Identify challenges to time management, both in terms of obstacles to

managing one’s time and the psychologist costs of trying to do so

 Analyse your own attitudes to, and practices of, time management

 Evaluate different practices of both individual and group time

management, and the attitudes towards productivity which they
reflect

 Develop strategies to support communal or shared ways to organise

work and recognise achievement within your workplace groups.

In-class

During tutorials this week, we will:

 Discussing the first prompt for our simulation exercise

 Reflecting on our experience and approaches to the simulation so far
 Discussing our attitudes towards time manage and how they shape our experience of
work

Readings:
 Week 6. Communication (I): Workplace communication

 Introduction

As we begin to settle into our workplace simulation, and to work together in

our teams, it seems fitting to consider perhaps the most fundamental skill
required of media professionals: communication.

We'll be exploring different facets of workplace communication over the next

three weeks. In this week's online lesson, we'll examine some fundamentals of
communicating effectively in the workplace. Questions we'll ask include:

 How does workplace communication differ from communication in

other contexts?

 What are the key principles that should guide communication in media
workplaces – both in general, and in specific areas and modes of
work?

 How are the expectations, challenges, and risks of workplace

communication shaped by its various media – such face-to-face
engagement, email, messaging apps, or Zoom?

 How might we reflect on our daily communication practices in the

workplace?

 How can a reflective grasp of workplace communication be applied in

your work on the simulation project?

Good communication will be vital to the value and success of your

engagement in the simulation exercise. Try to use this week to build as
foundation for effective teamwork across the remainder of semester.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Explain why good interpersonal communication skills are essential to

effective work in the media industries

 Identify the distinctive challenges of communicating well in the

contemporary workplace
  Articulate key principles of good workplace communication, especially
in digital and team-based working environments

 Evaluate instances of workplace communication, identifying strengths

and weaknesses while demonstrating more desirable practices

 Incorporate principles of effective team-based and digital workplace

communication into the way you communicate within our workplace
simulation.

In-class

During class this week, we will:

 Discuss, reflect on, and develop your approaches to workplace communication within the
simulation exercise
 Analyse examples of good and bad workplace communication, and apply those lessons to
your own communication requirements both within and outside the unit.

Readings:

Week 7. Communication (II): Teamwork, leadership, and feedback

 Introduction

This week, we continue our exploration of effective communication by

focussing on the collaborative nature of much media work.

To collaborate is to work with others towards a common goal; collaboration

thus presents a range of difficult communication challenges.

We'll focus on three central aspects of communication in a collaborative

environment – teamwork, leadership, and feedback – by asking the
following questions:

 What principles and qualities of communication contribute to

effective teamwork? How can we incorporate those into our daily
practices?

 How do good leaders communicate with their teams? Can people

outside of leadership positions communicate in ways that
nevertheless offer valuable leadership?

 Why is feedback important to effective teamwork? What are some

obstacles to giving good feedback, and how can we avoid them? How
might we best receive feedback (whether it is given well or not)?

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe the dynamics of both dysfunctional and effective teamwork

 Identify the principles that underpin effective approaches to team

organisation, including delegation and leadership

 Evaluate and analyse your own group's approaches to teamwork and

develop proposals for improvement

 Describe qualities of both poor and good leadership in different work

contexts

 Reflect on and evaluate your own attitudes towards leadership

 Identify opportunities for taking further leadership within your group

  Practice applying principles of effective feedback.

In-class

During tutorial this week, you will:

 Reflect on and evaluate your group's approaches to teamwork

 Identify features of both desirable and dysfunctional leadership
 Discuss how every role within a team provides opportunities for leadership
 Reflect on the ways in which you and your team members provide feedback to one
another in the simulation activities
 Analyse, critique, and revise examples of feedback
 Practice giving and responding to feedback

Readings:

Week 8. Communication (III): Intercultural communication

 Introduction

Contemporary media work takes place in a highly globalised world. Media,

money, and people are increasingly mobile, with flows of information, capital,
 and labour crossing boundaries more easily than ever before. Alongside this
globalism is an increasing investment in diversity as a valued feature of
society. Almost any work you do in the contemporary media sectors will
therefore involve various forms of intercultural communication.

This week, we focus on how to identify, understand, and respond to the

challenges of intercultural communication in various settings, from
interpersonal engagement within the workplace, to communication between
different groups or institutions, to the way media producers imagine and
address their publics.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe the dynamics, challenges, and importance of intercultural

communication in the contemporary media industries

 Evaluate different approaches to, and examples of, intercultural

communication

 Articulate the principles that underpin intercultural competence, and

apply strategies for developing and applying it in specific contexts

 Reflect on and analyse the way in which your group has approached/is
approaching intercultural communication, both internally within the
team, and in terms of the way your project addresses its audiences

 Develop vocabulary for effectively describing your understanding of

and approach to intercultural communication, and the value it plays
in your work as an aspiring media professional.

In-class

During tutorial this week, we will:

 Reflect on challenges and practices of intercultural communication within your groups

 Focus on intercultural communication as a dimension of your simulation projects, and as
a key consideration in media work more broadly.

Readings:
 Week 9. Networking and sociality

 Introduction

This week, we address one of the most important skills for establishing and
then developing your career: networking.

Networking is a term that many people dislike. It can evoke a certain kind of
exploitative seeking of industry contacts, a way of instrumentalising the
people we know to extract something from them: further contacts, leads,
opportunities to publish or display our work, or, above all, a job.

My aim for this week is for us to develop a more positive view of networking.
We don't do this by just accepting that networking is nasty but essential.
Instead, we'll try to see how the activities we call "networking" are simply part
of what I'll call "professional sociality" – the development and fostering of
beneficial social relationships with the colleagues in our field.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe and evaluate both negative and positive views of networking

as a professional activity
  Explain the important of networking to a career in the media
professions

 Identify the elements of more positive approaches to networking and

why these are desirable in professional media contexts

 Develop ways of responding to the challenges of networking, whether

personal or structural challenges, both online and offline

 Chart your own professional network and develop a clear plan for
developing it towards a career goal

In-class

During tutorial this week, we will:

 Share our views on networking and our experiences of engaging in it

 Reflect on the use or avoidance of networking in relation to your careers so far and the
simulation project in particular
 Consider how your project might benefit from networking
 Map your existing professional networks and develop a plan for their useful expansion.

Readings:

Week 10. Professional presentation

  Introduction

In Week 11, you'll be presenting your pitches.

So this week, we'll be focussing on professional presentation. We'll consider

this idea in two respects:

 How you present yourself in a range of everyday work situations and

environments, both in person and virtually (including in online
portfolios like the one you will create for Assessment 3)

 How to make presentations in ways that are fitting to your work

context and professional identity

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Describe the qualities that constitute good presentation in various

contexts within the field you aim to work in

 Analyse and evaluate standards of desirable self-presentation in

professional contexts

 Articulate and apply principles of effective visual communicatin

 Reflect on and evaluate your own approaches to oral presentation

 Apply principles and techniques of performance when planning and

delivering oral presentations

 Describe the features of an online professional portfolio that are most

useful to recruiters

 Analyse narrative storytelling and the articulation of professional

identity in portfolio examples

 Apply those techniques to your own developing ideas for Assessment 3

(Professional portfolio).

Readings:
 Week 12. Career narratives: Beyond success and failure

 Introduction

Welcome to the final week of Media Professions Lab!

In this last week, we cap off our semester of reflective practice by looking
back over your experiences across the past 12 weeks. We'll be asking how
storytelling can help us to make sense of our experiences and achievements,
and how to tell those stories in order to best articulate the skills, capacities,
and ambitions that we can bring into new projects.

These issues will be directly relevant to your work on Assessments 3 (the

professional portfolio) and 4 (the simulation reflection), with both assessment
pieces being the focus of our workshop-based tutorials.

 Aims

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

 Articulate and analyse dominant values of success and failure that are
used to shape career aims and to evaluate work outcomes

 Interpret narratives of career reflection to discern the implications of

using success and/or failure as compass points

 Identify alternative frameworks for organising the pursuit of a

worthwhile career and for situating that career within a life

 Articulate and reflect upon your own ideas of success and failure and
the role these play in shaping your career aspirations
  Explore, develop, and propose alternative terms in which the value and
purpose of one's work can be understood and pursued.

In-class

During tutorial, we will:

 Reflect on your experiences during the simulation and workshop professionally beneficial
stories to tell about it
 Share and workshop ideas for your portfolios and reflections (Assessments 3 and 4).

Readings:
Appendix:

Simulation Prompt #1

Simulation prompt #1

This week, you should be aiming – as individuals and as a group – to build a solid but
flexible structure for pursuing your team's project across the semester.

There are two aspects to this, which relate to our focal topics across this week and
next:

1. Time management

 How will you structure your time and workload as individuals and as a group?
 How can your work be planned within project timeframe and within your other time
commitments?
 How will you ensure dedicated time each week for working "in sync" for live, real-time
discussion?
 How might you have shared oversight of each other's time commitments and workloads,
so that you know who is doing what when? (For example, who is crushed with deadlines
now, and who has some spare capacity?)

2. Communication

 How will your team communicate and share project information and resources?
 Consider how different channels (email, chat, voice, and video) might be dedicated to
different kinds of communication (quick requests or questions, sharing documents or
updates for future reference, discussions).
 How will this info be shared and made clear to all of the team, so that everyone has a
handy reference for how to communicate different kinds of information?
 How will you organise and maintain control over the information and resources being
gathered for the project?

Each team has three goals for this week:

1. Develop a broad project timeline which maps out the big chunks of work that need to be
done, and by when they should be completed; I recommend working backwards from
your final deadline (Pitch Day)
2. Develop both group and individual schedules for your work, setting aside time for a
weekly group meeting of at least 1 hour
 3. Decide on a communication and file-sharing structure for your team using Google
Workspace.

We will be discussing and sharing these time management and communication

structures in tutorial.

f your tutorial is early in the week, we will be discussing how to approach them; if
your tutorial is later in the week, I would hope that your team has already done some
work towards building your schedules and communication structures.

Simulation prompt #2

Alongside the continued development of your ideas foe the project, focus on fine-
tuning some of your team's communication practices.

It might be useful at this point to develop some protocols for how to:

 Handle situations in which some members of the team are unable to attend meetings.
How will you ensure that the information and decisions made at the meeting are
communicated with those who weren't present?
 Share the blocks of time that you are both available and not available so that people can
be contacted at appropriate times
 Develop separate channels of communication for particular aspects of the project, so that
key information can be located easily and focussed conversations can happen in
dedicated spaces
 Articulate clear expectations around communication during those periods that people are
live, or, if working asynchronously, how frequently and quickly your team are expected
to establish contact with one another.

Simulation prompt #3

Simulation prompt #3

This week, your ideas for the team's project might becoming in to view. You might be
sharing your different visions of the project's purpose, its form, and how to proceed.

In other words, there is going to be plenty of scope for providing feedback on your
ideas, and for getting feedback from others.
The prompt for this week is to simply attend to your ways of seeking, giving,
receiving, and making use of feedback.

 How is feedback sought and shared in your team? Is it explicit and deliberate, or
spontaneous and informal?
 What channels do you use for giving feedback? In writing, on Zoom, or face-to-face? Are
some channels more effective than others, especially when suggesting or discussing areas
for improvement?
 How are you responding to feedback from others?
 How do you and your team integrate feedback, and make sure that this is recognise and
understood? Or is feedback being acknowledged but not acted on?