If this cloud has the very faintest of silver linings, it is that we are able to continue teaching, and you are able to continue learning and engaging in media studies, even remotely, and far away from the college. We have planned extensively in advance of this event, and many of the systems we have used since the start of your course will help us to keep things as normal as possible.
Below are a series of questions, many asked by students, which should hopefully explain why we're doing what we are doing. If you have any additional questions, please do let your teacher know, and we will do our best to answer your questions.
Additions will be made to this post as we are asked more questions and as we watch the situation develop.
Both years
I do not have the technology necessary to complete the work. What do I do?
We have planned these lessons in such a way that you should be able to complete them with a mobile phone and an internet connection. However, we are anticipating many technical issues. Please do let your teacher know as quickly as possible if you have any technical issues, so we can work through things with you.
There's so much to do! I'm so behind! Argh!
The purpose of these lessons is of course to teach you media studies, but it's also to demonstrate your ability to produce quality work.
There's no deadline. Please focus on quality rather than quantity. I would rather see three good blog posts than six rushed ones. Slow and steady, please!
How do I do the work? How will my teacher see it?
Simply complete each lesson as a separate blog post, then make sure you hit the 'publish' button. We have links to all your blogs and will be checking them regularly.
Where can I find the work?
Right here on the blog! You can click here to find an index of all the work that has been set during the school closure. Remember to complete the sessions in order, working slowly and steadily to produce work to the best possible quality.
This stuff is really hard. What do I do?
The work being set is challenging, much like the work that is set during class. However, unlike in class, you won't be able to just put your hand up (or shout out) that you don't quite understand something. If there is anything you would like explained, or need reassurance with anything, please email your teacher!
I'm having a hard time motivating myself to do this now that the structure of the college day has gone. Any tips?
We strongly recommend that you stick to the timetable that you would normally have in college. Therefore if you have a lesson at 09:00 on Thursday, you should definitely work on A-level media and A-level media only from 09:00 - 10:30. For study periods (sometimes erroneously referred to as 'free periods') you can choose what to work on.
Stuff is going on, and I can't complete the work
Given the circumstances, we will of course be very flexible taking in work. But you need to let us know what is going on. This involves emailing your subject teachers and your progress coach. If you do not tell us about your situation, we will not know about it. Please do let us know, and we will do our very best to help you and to make reasonable allowances.
Second year
Will this working count towards my predicted grade?
Short answer: not really. Please remember that we have been testing you throughout the two years of your, and we definitely won’t be judging your performance just based on the remote learning work. It will be one factor among many that we will be using.
Why are we being set revision work if we are not sitting an exam?
With regards to revision and why we are setting revision tasks, please remember we're in a very strange situation. We have been assured that the exams have been cancelled, yet students can, apparently, sit an exam at a later date if they wish. There's also the issue that we as teachers will need to justify predicted grades that we give for students, though, at the time of writing this, we have had little confirmation from the government as to what this actually means. I want to make sure that every student is as prepared as possible for every eventuality.
Perhaps even more importantly for me, media studies is about more than the exam. While you will get a grade, from U - A* at the end of the course, which will tell universities and employers a rough and blunt measure of your aptitude for the course, I am personally more interested in teaching and assessing your knowledge of media. I teach this course because I am passionate about it, and I want you guys to be passionate about it too. I still use what I learned from my A-levels every day, and frankly, I have no recollection of what questions were asked in the exam. The reason that this has stuck with me is because I revised it. The theories, case studies, debates and concepts we have covered in media studies are essential to understanding our society. I really believe this!
What kind of things will we be doing in revision sessions?
I will be setting fairly straightforward revision tasks to allow you to review what we have learnt. The idea is that no new information will be posted, but it will allow you to make sure that you have fully understood everything on the course, and to demonstrate this understanding.
First year
What are we doing? And what's happening with coursework?
This all depends on how long this situation goes on for. However, we are going to assume that we will be out of college for some time.
Our current plan is to complete the bits of coursework that we are able to do remotely, and then to postpone the music video until after we return in September.
Of course, this is entirely contingent on if we return before the Summer holiday. If we are indeed going to be working remotely until the summer holiday, then we will move on to the next exam unit. This could be videogames, radio, or the TV industry. We need to work out which unit/s will be the most practical to teach remotely.
