Creative Digital Media BA (Hons)
What makes Creative Digital Media at Worcester special?
This is an exciting course, noted for its breadth, opportunity to try new fields and the encouragement to experiment. With digital increasingly mediating how we interact with each other and the world, expertise in creative digital media production has never been so highly sought after; the creative industries now generate £8 million every hour for the UK economy.
This is a course designed by professionals to produce professionals. At Worcester, we don’t just want to teach you how to animate or use a camera, we support your development as a skilled digital media professional. Alongside your exploration of a range of established and emerging media, you will build theoretical insights that will help inform and drive your practice, as well as the real-world experience and portfolio you will need to launch your career.
Key features
- Excellent facilities including the Digital Arts Centre with broadcast standard film and sound studios, as well as industry standard photography studios and computer suites
- Extensive industry links, including live professional briefs run in collaboration with major organisations, expert guest lecturers and our own commercially experienced staff team
- With options in film, graphic design, animation, illustration and photography, you can develop the multi-disciplinary expertise required in this rapidly evolving sector
- Showcase your talent with our final year Degree Show. A prestigious private view opens the exhibition, your chance to share your work with top industry professionals
Entry requirements
What qualifications will you need?
104
UCAS tariff points
Entry requirements
104 UCAS tariff points.
Shortlisted applicants are invited to attend for interview and to provide a portfolio for consideration.
Other information
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.
Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from http://www.ucas.com
Creative Digital Media Course Video
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What will you study?
Here is an overview of current modules available on this course. Regular updates may mean that exact module titles may differ.
Year 1 |
Mandatory
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Optional
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Year 2 |
Mandatory
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Optional
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Year 3 |
Mandatory
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Optional
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The fact that I can ‘pick and mix’ from so many modules (from film, to photography, to art) is great; the course gives you the chance to have a go at everything. The tutors are very knowledgeable too.
David Birch, Creative Digital Media BA (Hons)
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Case study
Jack Moss
Motivational, helpful and inspirational teaching staff would be high on most students’ list of priorities when selecting a university to attend and a course to study. For Jack Moss, these factors were of primary importance, and he is full of praise for the contribution his lecturer, David James, made throughout Jack’s time at university. Jack, who graduated with a First Class Honours degree, says: “I was really inspired by David. I wasn’t entirely sure which path I wanted to follow until I had a motion graphics lecture with him at the end of my second year. Motion graphics was a great discovery for me; I could do the 2D animation that I was fond of but also incorporate that with 3D elements.
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Case study
Alan Headspeath
Alan Headspeath studied at the Open University before coming to Worcester. During his undergraduate course, he was the Mature Students Officer.
Alan chose Worcester because it offered the course that he wanted and because it was local to where he lived. He felt that the University has good facilities and offers a friendly, outgoing sense of community. He says of the programme, “The course is very diverse but the subjects that it encompasses are also linked.” Alan appreciated the fact that the tutors are friendly and approachable and excellent within their specialist fields.
Active in the Red Cross, Alan decided to undertake voluntary work in third world countries on graduation, using the subject, creative and management skills he gained on his course.
Teaching and Assessment
How will you be taught?
The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.
Teaching
You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and individual research activities.
The subject of Creative Digital Media lends itself to a wide range of assessment methods, many of which help prepare for employment. These include lectures, seminars, practical workshops, tutorial activities, group work, independent individual research, digital media artefact analyses, report writing, portfolios of examples, independent and group presentations, blogs and learning journals.
Studio workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and studio software practicals are focused on developing subject specific skills.
In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course. You have an opportunity to undertake a semester long placement in the second year of the course, supervised for agreed projects by a work-based mentor and a University tutor.
You use industry-standard design software and have access to state of the art mac studio facilities throughout the course.
Contact time
In a typical week you will have around 16 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.
Typically during each of the four sessions, contact time will be structured around:
- 1 hour of whole group lectures
- 1 hour of group work or seminar discussion
- 1 hour of practical workshops
- 1 hour of tutorial based activities
Independent self-study
In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve designing and developing practical work, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group project briefs, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework and presentations.
Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, The Digital Arts Centre, the Printing Room, the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.
Assessment
The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.
Assessment methods include:
- Practical media output
- Presentations to the module tutor or group
- Pre-production and production
- Online blogs
- Written learning journal
- Learning reports or reflective critical evaluation.
The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:
Year 1
- No exams
- 6 x practical media pieces with blog / learning journal
- 6 x Learning reports / reflective critical analyses
- 2 Presentations
Year 2
- No exams
- 4-6 x practical media pieces with blog / learning journal
- 8 Learning reports / reflective critical analyses
- 1 Presentation
Year 3
- No exams
- 3 x practical media pieces with blog / learning journal
- 4 Learning reports / reflective critical analyses
- 1 Group Practical
- 1 Group Presentation
- 1 Degree Show
- Major Independent Study Practical with 3000 word learning report
Feedback
You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is also given on a regular basis during sessions. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss further with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate, and we welcome requests for one-to-one tutorials.
Peer assessment is carried out in small teams to inform you of peer feedback prior to formal hand in of each module.
We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.
Meet the team
You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, academic staff who are also current professional practitioners with industry experience, technical demonstrators and a technical support team.
Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and all permanent course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.
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Helen Holmes
At Worcester, Helen is Course Leader Creative Digital Media, and teaches Creative Digital Imaging and Typography; Publication Design and Design Skills and Theory, as well as Live Briefs, Industry Collaboration and Professional Practice for third years. Helen has extensive professional experience in design for the community, corporate identity, advertising, branding and - her speciality - typography.
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David James
David James gained his BA (Hons) Fine Art at the University of Reading, which he followed with postgraduate study at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. He later gained an MA Fine & Media Arts from the University of Gloucestershire whilst working in the television industry as a motion graphics designer and art director, heading the Design Group at ITV West. He was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers in 1987, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2005 and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 2015.
David teaches motion graphics, graphic design, photography, video production, illustration and contextual studies. In recognition of his portfolio of work, he has just been directly awarded Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, and Accredited Senior in Imaging in the Creative Industries of the RPS, the first candidate from the field of education ever to achieve these distinctions directly.
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Paul Hazell
Before becoming a full-time academic, Paul worked as a freelance multimedia designer while lecturing part-time at Falmouth School of Art and Design. Paul’s research interests also include aspects of pedagogy in applied media education. Paul is in the final stages of his PhD in Design History: Properties, functions and value complexes: exploring critical factors in the emergence of the utility Land Rover as an ‘automotive icon'.
Final Year Art Shows
Visit the websiteThe Worcester Degree Shows are the culmination of work from students on the University of Worcester's arts courses.
Careers
Where could it take you?
Employability
Our interdisciplinary approach gives flexibility and a wider view of the world, which is attractive to employers. Graduates have succeeded in a variety of careers that include graphic design, video production, animation, arts administration, multimedia and interactive design and teaching.
This course also provides an ideal base from which to go on to postgraduate study.
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Case study
Diane Noble
Diane, a mother of three, juggled family life and studies to successfully complete a BA (Hons) in Creative Digital Media with Graphic Design and Multimedia at the University of Worcester.
“As a mature student, married with three children (now 6, 7 and 12) and a part time job in the NHS, and with my husband also studying for a degree, living away from home and taking a degree course in Worcester was a massive decision,” said Diane.
“The learning gained and the people I met through the course have been inspirational, as have the highly experienced and passionate lecturers. I cannot deny it has been incredibly tough, and at time I felt like I couldn’t succeed, but thanks to lecturers, fellow students, family and friends, I persevered and I am so glad I did.”
She added: “Getting a degree at all, given my personal situation, is a great achievement, but to come out with a First Class degree is really a huge confidence boost and the icing on the cake. I also won the Boffy Award for Best Student in a Digital Arts Subject, which was an amazing accolade alongside my degree.”
Diane is now concentrating on her future in design and growing her experience in the area: “I have set up a freelance design business working from home, aimed at working primarily with churches and charities, building on my network of contacts through my voluntary and NHS work.”
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Case study
William Ruhl
"Since I was introduced to the Creative Digital Media course, I have been in control of my own learning, powered by my interests and driven by the diverse selection of modules and the examples set by the staff that lead them. In my second year, I was introduced to the world of Motion Graphics, where my two main interests of Animation and Graphic Design collided, allowing the creation of interesting pieces for the enjoyment and education of others. Since leaving university I have been working freelance for a variety of companies as both a motion graphic artist and graphic based on my skill sets gained in my time at Worcester."
Costs
How much will it cost?
Full-time tuition fees |
UK and EU studentsThe standard tuition fee for full-time UK and EU students registering in 2017 will be £9,250. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
International studentsThe standard tuition fee for full-time international (non-EU) students registering in 2017 will be £11,700 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
Part-time tuition fees |
UK and EU studentsThe standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students registering on this course in 2017 will be £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20 credit module and £2,313 per 30-credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
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Additional costs |
Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses. |
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Accommodation |
Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience, and our welcoming student communities are great places to live and study. We have over 1,000 rooms across our halls, 358 of which were new in 2009. We offer halls of residence to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £94 per week to the £153 per week 'En-suite Extra'. For full details visit our accommodation page. |
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Apply
How do you apply?
Applying through UCAS
Single Honours:
Creative Digital Media BA - W212 BA/CDM
Joint Honours:
Creative Digital Media and Film Production BA - P393
Creative Digital Media and Graphic Design & Multimedia BA - PW3G
Creative Digital Media and Journalism BA - GP45
Creative Digital Media and Media & Culture - WPF3
UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.
Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.
Get in touch
If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.
Admissions office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk
Course leader
Helen Holmes
01905 85 5496
h.holmes@worc.ac.uk
