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MPhil Studentship in Effective Digital and Social Media Storytelling

The University of Bolton - The Institute for Educational Cybernetics (IEC)

 

Applications are invited for an MPhil studentship to research factors influencing the uptake and effective use of Digital and Social MediaStorytelling, with a practical focus on developing open workshops and online resources for all staff and students in the university and a theoretical focus on evaluation of effectiveness.

The research will investigate the uptake and effective use of Digitaland Social MediaStorytelling, study factors influencing this, and propose, implement and evaluate different approaches. These factors to be considered may include institutional, organisational, pedagogic, cultural, competences, multimedia authoring and runtime web applications and software and their usability. Evaluation of the workshops and resources provided will cover the reactions of learners to the face-to-face and online offerings, what they learned from them, and the extent to which they subsequently effectively applied the learning in their own projects and activities. In the light of this analysis, one or more alternative approaches will be identified.

The successful candidate will be a European Union citizen who is eager to develop a deep understanding of the pedagogical issues raised by the effective use of digitaland social mediaapproaches to storytelling to convey ideas and information. They should have good communication skills to work with relevant teaching staff and learners of all kinds, understand their concerns and priorities and to engage them in the development process.

The successful candidate must have:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a project related area such as Film or Media Production, Digital Media Technology and/or Creative Writing
• Knowledge of the effective use of digital and social media for storytelling
• Good analytical and research skills
• Experience of working with digital and social media in a production capacity
• Some experience of training in digital media and/or storytelling
• Excellent communication skills and be able to interact effectively with various stakeholders
• Self-motivated and task-driven
• Preferably a desire to extend the MPhil to a PhD

They must have the skills needed to:

• Use the various audio, visual and textual media involved
• Make use of these for effective storytelling
• Develop workshops and online resources and evolve these in the light of feedback
• Report on their activities as a transmedia product

  They will be expected to collaborate with the team in publishing papers and reports, and organising and attending meetings and events.

  The successful candidate will work both with the Media Programme teaching staff and with the Student Union supporting the development of their YouTube Channel.

  This post attracts a tax free bursary of £15,000 p.a. with the MPhil fees also paid.

   

  Closing date for applications is Monday 12^th December 2011.

  Proposed Interview dates: 16^th December 2011

  Download the Application Form from here. The candidate wil

•  

• l ideally start as soon as possible.

   

   

  Please submit the form, your CV and cover letter by email to: b.olivier@bolton.ac.uk .

  For additional information, contact Prof Bill Olivier

  b.olivier@bolton.ac.uk or Stephen Powell on s.j.powell@bolton.ac.uk. Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.

   

   

  Bursary for an MPhil in Effective Digital and Social Media Storytelling

   

   

  The bursary is for an action research study into the most effective ways of conveying digital and social media storytelling as a generic life skill to undergraduates, post graduates and staff, enabling them to effectively communicate ideas and information by integrating the use of a variety of digital media.

   

  If the project is successful, it is hoped that digital and social media storytelling and communication will become a core skill offered by the University of Bolton.

   

  The post will be placed in and supervised by the Institute for Educational Cybernetics, but will work in close collaboration both with the staff running Media programmes in the Faculty of Arts Media and Technology, who are developing the Bolton StoryWorld, on the one hand, and with the Students Union, who are setting up a YouTube channel, on the other.

   

  The initial task will be to be to develop and run a series of open, non-certified, face-to-face workshops covering the creation and handling of digital media, together with the basics of digital and social media storytelling. This will be done using an evaluation loop used to refine the effectiveness of the workshops. Then, based on this experience, transfer the content of the workshops to digital media, again using an evaluation feedback loop.

   

  The evaluation will cover the reactions of learners to the face-to-face and online offerings, what they learned from them, and the extent to which they subsequently effectively applied the learning in their own projects and activities. It will make use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

   

  The MPhil is by practice, and assessment will itself be through patchwork media, presenting the products, evaluation and consequent enhancements, as a digital media production of the process.

   

  The bursary will be for one year in the first instance, but with potential to convert to a three year PhD if funding can be identified which would extend the work to develop the practice of assessment by digital media portfolio.