Future media professionals are experts in applying new, sustainable technologies in media production

Inspired by different research and customer projects at the Mediapolis campus, a new master’s degree was developed and started at Tampere University of Applied Sciences in 2019. The Master’s degree programme in Emerging Media focuses on exploring the possibilities that new media technologies have to offer. During the programme, the students update their knowledge on technologies such as virtual reality, machine learning, and various forms of social media.  

The study programme has a notable objective to merge emerging media and sustainability, including environmental, social and economic dimensions. More importantly, the students are called to cooperate and to tackle local and global challenges when working with emerging media production. All this gives the graduates a great advantage in the job market.  

Mentoring instead of teaching 

Characteristic in these master studies is a focus on mentoring the students rather than applying traditional teaching routines. As a result, the students will have a personalized degree and a portfolio to advance their career path. 

The 1,5-year master’s degree programme is designed to accommodate students with various backgrounds. The eleven students of the pilot group that started in the autumn 2019 represent at least five nationalities. There are students from Finland, USA, Estonia, Syria and Italy. Additionally, the students come from journalism, music and audiovisual production, digital art, AI, IT and business.  

“The diverse professional and cultural background of the students created an environment excellent for exchanging ideas in the classroom,” Principal Lecturer Leena Mäkelä underlines the importance of diversity. 

Creative ideas put into practice 

The degree programme in Emerging Media supports individual learning and inspires the students to invent commercial use for emerging media technologies or apply them to art. The new knowledge is put to the test in their work environments, and the master’s theses generally focus on students’ emerging media projects.  

“Things are student-centered. You can constantly apply the teaching to your own personal needs,” says one of the students in the programme. 

The degree’s structure allows scheduling one’s studies around work. There are two separate on-site intensive weeks during the first fall semester. Otherwise, the programme is offered online, including a video lecturing slot every second week and individual or team course tasks.  

“We are proud to be offering a flexible degree with personalization possibilities. The degree modules are specifically designed to allow each student to focus their learning on personal goals and needs,” tells Mäkelä. 

Following the principle of sustainability, together with focused tutoring by the lecturers, the students are steered to explore a variety of resources and tools available online. Likewise, the students can find creative ways to acquire study credits for graduation.  

However, the flexibility of the study modules set a challenge for those students that are not used to such freedom of selecting their own focus by the course pallet. At the same time, it also opens a unique opportunity for them to personalize their degree. This is clearly an asset for professionals in the media industry.  

 

Application period 9 December 2020 – 20 January 2021 

Learn more: Master’s degree programme in Emerging Media 

 

Text: Dimitra Panopoulou-Huovila