Manager, IT & Media Services met with the Heads of Schools of Professional Communication and Creative Communication to discuss the resource requirements of units in courses being restructured.
In particular, the units of concern were Advanced Broadcast Journalism 1 & 2, Television Production 2 & 3 (all four of which courses are heavy users of media facilities, equipment and technical staff, and all of which are proposed to be changed from 4 to 6 credit points), Communication Dissertation and Creative Project (both of which, at the discretion of the convenor or Head of School, can include substantive media production work).
It was agreed that the Advanced Broadcast Journalism courses both have a 20% increase in assessable items that include production components, and this would have an impact on the facilities, equipment and technical staff involvement with the unit. Students in these units would be expected to spend more time in the studio and lab environments than do those students currently doing the units, placing greater demand on supervising and technical staff.
Television Production courses would not require additional resources for the restructured units, but Creative Project was proving to be an issue that is being looked into by the School of Creative Communication. The unit is expected to be changed to reduce the pressure on equipment, facilities and technical staff, and any requirements for access to these resources would be coordinated with the Media Facilities Users Group, MFUG.
The convenor of the Communication Dissertation unit, where students can choose to do a substantive media production work as their dissertation, must liaise with the Division through MFUG, and get their agreement before the convenor can approve a particular substantive media production work where the facilities, equipment and/or technical staff of the Division are involved.
