Grady College to offer accelerated master’s degree in Emerging Media
The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication has unveiled a new master’s concentration in Emerging Media that will teach students to identify emerging media needs and solutions, develop content and applications, and strategically manage emerging media platforms to further their personal career goals and those of their employers.
“Just being able to code or come up with a product is insufficient,” said Jeff Springston, associate dean for research and graduate studies. “You need to have the theoretical and strategic understanding of how and when it’s going to be effectively used and how to manage projects from the initial idea until implementation. What I think our students will get when they come out of the program is the ability to be makers, but also be able to strategically manage these things for organizations that they join or for businesses they start up on their own.”
The degree is designed to appeal to students from a variety of different undergraduate backgrounds—business, communication, computer science or other disciplines.
“For a student that has an expertise in a content area like public health or engineering, this could be a powerful complement,” Springston explained.
Available in an accelerated format beginning with the 2016-17 academic year, the Emerging Media degree can be completed in three or four semesters. The program is residential, except for a leading online summer course on basic web design and coding for those who do not demonstrate the requisite skills through a competency test.
“We’re scheduling it in a way so that working professionals can do it,” said Springston. “We’re trying to load up classes in afternoons and early evenings two days a week.”
Instructors from the UGA New Media Institute—housed in the Grady College— and research faculty from around the college have developed courses for the program such as Digital Media Design & Aesthetics, Media Interaction Design and Usability, and Social Network Analysis. In addition, students will complete and present an Emerging Media capstone project they’ll begin at the onset of the program.
To learn more about the curriculum, go to http://grady.uga.edu/pdf/handout.EmergingMedia.pdf.
Informational sessions will take place on the following dates and times in Journalism Room 205:
• Thursday, Feb. 4, 12:20-1:20 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 17, 12:10-1:10 p.m.
Information about the Graduate Studies application process is available at http://grady.uga.edu/graduate_studies.
Date: February 2, 2016Author: Stephanie Moreno, s.moreno@uga.edu
Contact: Jeff Springston, jspring@uga.edu