Media business education project

Exploring skills for employment in the media industry

An investigation into classroom strategies

Victoria Grace WaldenTeacher of Media, Strode’s CollegePhD candidate, Queen Mary, ULU [email protected]

AIM

To develop a scheme of work and resources for vocational media

teachers which helps them deliver a curriculum suitable for developing

the skills young people need to thrive in the media industry.

Autumn Term: Progress

BEFORE

NOW

Preliminary secondary reading: media education & media industry skills

Secondary reading: vocational education & pedagogyPrimary research: Organisations, industry survey,Teacher interviews, student surveyDevelopment: scheme of work, lesson plans, resources

Findings - recapMedia vocational education• Public perception of media = academic emphasis in media education• Led vocational media still to be taught with ‘academic slant’ - ‘pre-vocational’

Media industry

• One of the UK’s most successful sectors• Striking skills gaps: business management skills (not the focus of media vocational

curriculums)

Vocational education

• Wolf: Need to develop English and maths skills, employability and work skills• But... Scepticism about large scale reform

• Good practice: project-centred learning, real-life scenarios, simulations, competition, modelling, reflection, problem-solving, and creative and critical thinking

Conclusions• ’21st century industry focus’ = business / project management skills

• Educational space, not just workplace simulation

• Heed Wolf’s warning and history of Diploma: is it time for something completely different or is it more productive to think about how those on the frontline can develop students’ skills within existing frameworks?

• Good practice: business management methodology meets excellent pedagogical practice (both have similar aims).

• Focus: • Developing independent learners who take responsibility for their own development• Reflective learners• Problem-solvers• Creative and critical thinkers • Adapt their thinking skills to different scenarios• Industry scenarios but with feedback, support and guidance from teachersWe cannot predict the shape of the media industry in the future (it changes so rapidly), but we can help prepare young people to be those at the front of these yet unknown developments.

Survey: Professionals V studentsProfessionals:

Most important: Project managementCreative thinkingProblem-solvingProfessional English

Recognised courses:BTEC / 1 mention of A Levels

Students:70% largest proportion of industry jobs are creative &

technical

Project management is most important aspect.Then: Creative thinkingTechnical skillsDesign and Creative skills

(Entrepreneurial skills and Professional English were scored very low)

[Students have misconceptions about terms ‘project management’ and ‘creative thinking’

Aims of classroom strategies• A structure with purpose needs:

– Instruction/ modelling –• student-centred approach • Transparent learning process

– Real-life scenarios and simulations• Competition• problem-solving• thinking creatively and critically• Open problems

– Support of industry professionals • Inspiration• contextualise learning

– Reflection and evaluation • ‘agile’ project management• Self-reflection

The project • Teaching instructional

pack• Live brief• Online blog space:

tracking the project and resource sharing

• Business strategy and excellent pedagogical practice

PedagogyEducation• Student-centric• Personalised learning experience

(students define own deadlines) • Creative thinking exercises• Application of creative thinking

techniques• Reflective learning• Flipped vocational classroom –

large amount of the doing is completed in own time

• Contextualised, project-based learning

Business skills• Agile project management• SCRUMS:

– 5m: Define project backlog (list of project requirements as priorities, what is the next sprint)

– 15m: KICKOFF: Define the sprint backlog– 10m: SPRINT PLANNING: Develop schedule (how long

will each task take realistically and who will do them)– 10m: DAILY SCRUM: Individuals state:

• What did you do since last scrum?• What are you doing until the next scrum?• What is stopping you getting on with your work?(NOTE: This is about making commitments rather than

blame or problem-solving)– 5m: SPRINT REVIEW MEETING: Scrum’s plan is

presented to the client (teacher) –informal meeting based on negotiation and discussion

– EACH SCRUM: New version of the scrum artifacts should be saved:• Product backlog• Sprint backlog• Burnout charts

SOW: Week exampleMonday Training day

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

This lesson is dedicated to ‘training’:

Hands-on exercises with equipment

Analysis and enquiry (for theoretical element of the unit)

Flipped classroom applied

1st ½ of lesson:STARTER: Creative thinking task

GROUPS: Apply thinking from starter to own project

SCRUM

2nd ½ of lesson: Implement project development

PLENARY: (15m) Reflection (blog)



SCRUM





SCRUM





SCRUM



How it will happen• Training for teachers (remote / workshop)

• Implementation of project

• Evaluation from teachers and students intermittently– Initial thoughts (from first lesson)– After first week– At production stage– End of project

Problems and limitationsThe reform of vocational education –could this be a good thing? Could this research offer

practical improvements to the current system? How will changes affect the viability of this project in the long-term?

Initial plan: Extra-curricula project aimed at those wanting to work in the industry focusing on a broad, open problem: design a media product teenagers don’t realise they want.

Positives: - as a part-time teacher it allows me to supervise project - abstract problem allows for creativity

Problems - too disassociated from working context - too much extra demand on teachers (thus lack of enthusiasm) - issue of rooming/ equipment demand - extra workload on students as exams and final deadlines approach

- potentially too abstract- time limitations (1-2 hours per week with students working in free time)- not a live brief (thus potential for de-contextualisation)

Assessing success• End result? – problematic – are students really

developing the skills or are they just lucky?

• Reflective stages – teacher observation and student self-assessment– Confidence rating in different skills– Qualitative comments (Teacher)– Initial skills assessment– Exit interview– Teacher evaluation

What next?

BEFORE

NOW

NEXTWorkshops with teachersPublication of researchSharing of resources (TES)Teacher online forum –sharingbest practice