10 things media students need to know: 1. No teacher can know everything about the constantly changing field of media studies, so students should take guidance from teachers to help them become experts through their own research. 2. The best media work is collaborative - students should share ideas, work, skills and mistakes to strengthen teamwork over competition. 3. Students should diversify their media consumption by exploring new genres, moving outside their comfort zone, and using the MediaMag archive to broaden their perspectives. 4. There are no right answers in media - students should apply concepts and skills across different mediums through a series of debates rather than focusing on set terminology.

1. 10 things media
students need to
know

2. Your teachers won’t know
everything
• No-one can! Media Studies is a huge field,
changing daily
• You can become the expert if you know
where to look …..
• . .. And your teachers can help you find it - so
take their guidance seriously

5. Collaborate!
• The best media work is collaborative
• Share ideas, research, work in progress,
skills - even mistakes
• Production work depends on teamwork, not
competition

7. Diversify
• Taste new genres of media
• Move out of your comfort zone
• Use the MediaMag archive to take you
somewhere different

9. No right answers
• Doing well in Media means how to
applying ideas from one medium to
another - skills, process and concepts
as much as content
• A series of debates
• Terminology can be helpful - but that
does need to be right!

11. Take risks
• Be prepared to fail sometimes - and
learn from it
• Learn by doing - dry runs, practice
tasks, second attempts will all improve
your production work.
• Think outside the box

15. Be selective
• Sort the wood from the trees
• Look at the big picture - history, context,
arguments for and against
• But . . . know when to use micro and macro
approaches

18. Make connections
• Between and across media – and between
your critical work and your practical work
• With other subjects - ideas from history,
politics, psychology, literature
• With the world - newspapers, journals, current
affairs
• Via weblinks, references, etc - but know when
to use academic texts

20. Get active
• Go beyond the basic requirements of your
spec
• Participate in Facebook groups; join the
college newspaper, radio station, Film Club;
etc.
• Build your portfolio with extra-curricular media
activity - you could even write for MediaMag!

22. Build your writing skills
• Writing helps you find out what you really
think - do lots of it and share it with your class
• Use terminology and theory accurately but
selectively
• Write concisely and unpretentiously
• Only use theory when its helpful – and test it
out on your own production work

23. And finally . . .
• Try writing for MediaMag - contact
jenny@englishandmedia.co.uk
• And have a great time on your course