MCH8012 : Freelancing in Media and Communications
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Paulina Kuranchie
- Owning School: Arts & Cultures
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This module aims to prepare you for opportunities for freelancing and collaboration work within an expanding sector, with short-term contracts prevalent across the media and communications industry. This could cover a range of activities such as brand promotion, freelance writing, video or photography, content production, influencer marketing, social media management or PR consultancy. By focusing specifically on freelancing, collaborations, networking and entrepreneurship within media and communications, the module aims to develop skills, knowledge and reflecttive understanding that will help prepare you for this competitive sector by identifying opportunities, enhancing their employability skills, identifying individual goals and developing your own personal action plan.
Outline Of Syllabus
- Outline of the freelance and collaborative sector within media and communications
- Setting up your reflective blog
- Identifying opportunities within the sector
- Personal branding and positioning
- Collaborations and partnerships
- Managing well-being
- Ethical and legal considerations
- Financial planning
- Identifying individual goals
- Developing a Personal Action Plan
- Enhancing employability skills
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 11 | 5:00 | 55:00 | Independent preparation for assessments |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | On-campus lectures |
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Interactive non-synchronous lecture materials delivered online |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 10 | 1:12 | 12:00 | Directed weekly to set texts and readings |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | On-campus workshops |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 1 | 1:00 | 1:00 | One hour zoom/online drop-in session for full group to support assessment submission |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 11 | 9:00 | 99:00 | Independent engagement with content and practice related to learning and assessment |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
The online non-synchronous learning materials will relate to syllabus materials for freelancing in media and communications. These will present an overview of the key practices for the sector and will be expanded upon within scheduled weekly lectures.
The workshop sessions will be held on campus, allowing students to discuss their practice in relation to syllabus materials and prepare for assessment.
Weekly lectures are held on campus. Students will engage with the lecturer to consolidate key learnings, participate in the key debates, as a class, and student contributions will be encouraged.
It is expected that all students will contribute to on-campus and online discussions.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 2 | A | 75 | Personal Action Plan and evaluation (approx. 2500 words) |
| Reflective log | 2 | M | 25 | Weekly reflective blog relating to course content. Approx. 1100 words in total |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
In this module students are looking at their individual skills, knowledge and expertise within the context of freelancing and collaborative working within the media and communications sector. (K1-K6 and S1-S3)
The Personal Action Plan aims to outline students' vision of where they want to be as a freelancer and how they plan to make that happen, with an evaluation which demonstrates their understanding of key knowledge outcomes. The reflective blog will be written by students weekly (approx. 100 words per week) to demonstrate their understanding built up as the module progresses.(S3)
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- MCH8012's Timetable