PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

RICKY SPEED
FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Full time/Part time degrees - Media design and production is rapidly shaping
our lives and society. Studying creative media design allows you to explore this
digital revolution and the cultural and political change it's creating.
You could get into online media, mobile or location-based apps, physical
computing, experimental video and photography or media installations for
exhibitions. This industry will stretch and challenge you - creatively, intellectually
and technically.
A bachelor's or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded
by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three
to seven years (depending on institution and academic discipline).
A master's is usually a second-cycle academic degree awarded by universities
or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a
high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional
practice.
FULL TIME DEGREE
Full time degrees - Media design and production is rapidly shaping our lives
and society. Studying creative media design allows you to explore this digital
revolution and the cultural and political change it's creating.
You could get into online media, mobile or location-based apps, physical
computing, experimental video and photography or media installations for
exhibitions. This industry will stretch and challenge you - creatively, intellectually
and technically. In a full time degree you wont find much time to yourself as you
will spend most of your time studying and attending lectures, it might be hard to
have a part time job whilst pursuing a full time degree but the rewards are
definitely worth it, you will come out with the most qualifications you can get
from a degree and will be able to pursue a good job in the future, basically the
full time degree will open a lot of doors for you that wouldn’t have been open
otherwise.
PART TIME DEGREE
A PART-TIME LEARNER IS A NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENT WHO PURSUES HIGHER EDUCATION,
TYPICALLY AFTER REACHING PHYSICAL MATURITY, WHILE LIVING OFF-CAMPUS, AND
POSSESSING RESPONSIBILITIES RELATED TO FAMILY AND/OR EMPLOYMENT. PART-TIME
STUDENT STATUS IS BASED ON TAKING FEWER COURSE CREDITS IN A SEMESTER THAN FULL-
TIME STUDENTS.

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE NUMBER OF PART-TIME STUDENTS ROSE 16 PERCENT

BETWEEN 2004 AND 2014. IN 2015, 23 PERCENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT 4-
YEAR INSTITUTIONS ATTENDED PART-TIME, COMPARED TO 61 PERCENT OF STUDENTS AT 2-
YEAR INSTITUTIONS.

IN IRELAND, THE COURSE LOAD THAT CONSTITUTES PART-TIME STUDENT STATUS VARIES
BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, FOR EXAMPLE, DEFINES A
PART-TIME UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AS ONE ENROLLED IN LESS THAN 80 PERCENT OF THE
STANDARD 30 CREDIT-HOUR COURSE LOAD. THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEFINES THE
PART-TIME UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AS AN INDIVIDUAL ENROLLED IN LESS THAN 60
PERCENT OF THE STANDARD FULL 30 CREDIT HOUR COURSE LOAD. THE GOVERNMENT OF
CANADA NATIONAL STUDENT LOANS PROGRAM DEFINES A PART-TIME STUDENT AS ONE
WHO IS ENROLLED IN 20–59 PERCENT OF A FULL COURSE LOAD.
FOUNDATION DEGREE
Foundation degrees are ideal if you’re unsure about taking a full degree or if
you want to study while you work. Whether you’re working in or towards the
role now, you can gain professional and technical skills to further your career –
within a shorter time frame than a full degree.
They usually take two years full-time to complete, or longer for part-time
students.
Normally you can continue for a further year to gain a full honours degree,
which is useful if you decide to go for a full degree after all. They are great
because they allow you to study while you work and wont have tonnes of
pressure on you whilst studying, you will get this while pursuing a full time
degree as they are very difficult and require a lot of work.
BACHELOR DEGREE
In creative media a bachelors degree is great as it will give you a lot of
training and a lot of opportunities. A bachelor’s degree is a four-year degree
meaning it typically takes four years of full-time study to complete your
bachelor’s degree. In these four years, you will complete 120 semester credits
or around 40 college courses. If your college uses a quarter system rather than
a semester system, you’ll need to complete a minimum of 180 quarter credits to
earn an accredited bachelor’s degree.

A bachelor’s is a post-secondary undergraduate degree. Historically, the term

“college degree” meant a bachelor’s or traditional four-year degree. Bachelor
degrees are also sometimes called baccalaureate degrees. Regionally
accredited liberal arts colleges award most of the bachelor degrees in the
United States.
MASTERS DEGREE
A master’s degree is an academic qualification granted at the postgraduate
level to individuals who have successfully undergone study demonstrating a high
level of expertise in a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
Students who graduate with a master’s degree should possess advanced
knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics, a high level
of skills and techniques associated with their chosen subject area, and a range
of transferable and professional skills gained through independent and highly
focused learning and research.
Master’s degrees typically take one to three years to complete, through either
part-time or full-time study. The specific duration varies depending on the
subject, the country in which you study and the type of master’s degree you
choose.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Work experience is a great way to get experience in a field of work which
would other be hard to get experience in, this is the case for creative media as
media jobs are highly sought after and don’t come around too often, they also
usually require experience which is hard to get when you have no experience.
The work experience allows you to get experience which in return helps you get
a job in the future, work experience is done in year 11 at school and can also
be done in college but this is optional and dependant on if the college can get
you a place at the type of field you’d like to work in. It also allows you to make
connections and contacts in this field which you wouldn’t have had the chance to
do otherwise. You might really impress your employer and make ask to keep
you on part time or even say you can have a job once you’ve finished college or
school.
TRAINING ON THE JOB
In creative media training on the job is hard to come by, this is because training
for these jobs is quite difficult and requires a lot of time so university and
college is the best place to get training. Training on the job is one of the
earliest forms of training. It is one-on-one training located at the job site or
office. This means that people are taught how to complete the task while they
are doing the job, instead of being taught prior to being put in the real
scenario. Training on the job is a great way to earn money and learn at the
same time, if you were to go college and learn but have a job as well you’d be
doing a lot of work, training on the job makes this a bit less work and much
easier on your life. In creative media you could learn a very specific job like
making leaflets for a company, this would be something you could do with
creative media.
SKILLS ANALYSIS
Skills analysis is where you can identify your own skills, technology
skills, personal development plan. Someone who has a qualification in
creative media will be able to identify that their skills will revolve
around things like graphic design and animation, these are important
skills to have when pursuing a job in creative media. personal
development planning is the process of creating an action plan
based on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for
personal development within the context of a career, education,
relationship or for self-improvement. Personal development plans are
important in keeping yourself on track but may not necessarily be
needed if you can do these things yourself. Being able to identify
your skills in creative media is very important as it will allow you to
workout your best skills and then use them to your advantage, you
could apply for jobs in these field or further develop them through
university or college.
SOURCES OF INFO
There's a lot of sources of information on the internet when you’re looking into
further education, you can look for university places, work experience and
everything else you can imagine. There are many sources of information you
can find on the internet, you can find out lots of information about universities,
this is great as the websites have a mass of information which will tell you
everything you need to know about further education, Wikipedia also has
information for anything you would like to know, but be wary as anyone can
upload information to Wikipedia so you should double check what you read
from there, try googling the information you get from there and see what
results come up, if it seems legitimate then you know its true information.
TRADE UNIONS
A trade union or trades union, also called a labour union (Canada) or labor
union (US), is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve
common goals; such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety
standards, and attaining better wages, benefits (such as vacation, health care,
and retirement), and working conditions through the increased bargaining
power wielded by the creation of a monopoly of the workers.[1] The trade
union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union
members (rank and file members) and negotiates labour contracts (collective
bargaining) with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or
unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment".[2] This
may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules
governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety
and policies.
 CAREERS SERVICE
The National Careers Service is the publicly funded careers service for adults and young
people (aged 13 or over) in England.
Launched in April 2012, it brings together elements of previous publicly funded careers
services for adults and young people.
The launch was reported by the BBC and commented on by organisations such as NIACE, the
Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, and NAEGA.
The National Careers Service provides information, advice and guidance on learning, training,
career choice, career development, job search, and the labour market. It can be accessed
online, by telephone, and face to face (for people aged 19 and over).
The aims of the service are to provide:
“high-quality information about careers and skills, and independent, professional advice and
guidance”
“a focus on specialist careers guidance, built on the principles of independence and
professional standards”
“information, advice and guidance both to inform and to stimulate demand for further
education, work-based training and higher education
TRANSFERRABLE SKILLS
Personal attributes
Personal attributes are often the subject of college admission essays, job
interviews, psychological assessments and most anything where the
personality of an individual is a subject of curiosity. Attributes can be
positive or negative, constant or changing, and differ according to the
opinion of the describer. In creative media your personal attributes may
affect your chance of getting into university as they will want people that
stand out, this includes things like creativity and traits that not everyone
has, they will probably want you to be funny, smart and creative. Your
personal attributes are very important as they make up who you are as a
person and are the only thing people will see in an interview. You want to
make a good impression so sometimes you might have to put this on and
act more flamboyant than usual.
Knowledge and skills
In creative media knowledge and skills are very important, these two things
together make up how well you will perform in a certain job, employers
will want you to have these things as it will make you a much better worker.
Knowledge is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. For
example, an employee might have knowledge of the ADDIE model used in
instructional design. This doesn’t mean the employee knows how to be an
instructional designer. It means they know the model.
Skills are the proficiencies developed through training or experience. Using
the ADDIE example, the employee has demonstrated skills in applying the
ADDIE model when designing training programs. Skills are usually
something that has been learned. So, we can develop our skills through the
transfer of knowledge.
Commitment
Commitment usually evokes a strong sense of intention and focus. It
typically is accompanied by a statement of purpose or a plan of action.
Very often, we utilize this word in regard to proclamations we may make
about the seriousness of our goals For example, “I’m committed to my
degree in graphic design” or “ I’m completely committed to animation.” In
such circumstances, what exactly are we saying? We take it for granted
that the word or the expression means the same thing to all of us. I can
assure you that it doesn’t. In creative media commitment is very important
as something like animation or graphic design requires a lot of work, it
requires practice all the time to keep the skills fresh in your head, it also
requires a lot of memory as you need to memorise key binds and what
each tool does.
Efficiency
In creative media you need to be efficient as if you waste time by getting
something wrong and having to go back on yourself this could cost you a
lot of hours, getting something wrong in graphic design or animation can
cause you to have to backtrack days of work, it can even cause you to
have to start again if you don’t have a copy of your work which was
unaffected by the errors.
Efficiency is very often confused with effectiveness. In general, efficiency is
a measurable concept, usually determined by the ratio of useful output to
total input. Effectiveness is the simpler concept of being able to achieve a
desired result, which can be expressed quantitatively but doesn't usually
require more complicated mathematics than addition. Efficiency can often
be expressed as a percentage of the result that could ideally be expected
Reliability
Reliability in creative media is things like your university giving you
consistent assignments and not giving you a deadline for a month one
assignment then a deadline for a week with an assignment which requires
the same amount of work.
If findings from research are replicated consistently they are reliable. A
correlation coefficient can be used to assess the degree of reliability. If a
test is reliable it should show a high positive correlation. Of course, it is
unlikely the exact same results will be obtained each time as participants
and situations vary, but a strong positive correlation between the results of
the same test indicates reliability.
There are two types of reliability – internal and external reliability.
Internal reliability assesses the consistency of results across items within a
test. External reliability refers to the extent to which a measure varies from
one use to another.
Attendance and punctuality
Creative media at university may not require you to attend all lectures as
long as you get your assignment done, however, it is much better to attend
all your lectures as you wont miss anything. School is, of course, different to
university, and for some people such disengagement is not a problem.
Higher education, they argue, is about independent learning, and students
have the right to manage their time as they see fit even if this means
missing class.
But while it's important for students to have freedom and flexibility during
their studies especially given the amount which they are now paying for
their education a lax attendance policy damages both their own studies
and the university itself.
Punctuality displays a person's respect for people and time. In a scheduled
appointment, the late-comer usually gives an impression that he/she
doesn't value the other person's time or considers his/her time more
important than that of the other.
Self presentation
Self-presentation is the attempt to produce particular self images in order to
influence public perception of the individual. The individual's own goals and
beliefs have an impact on the type of impression they try to portray to others.
Social desirability is a key factor in the creation of such self-presentations when
applying for university or a job, how you present yourself at a university
interview could result in you getting the job as you have already impressed
them on paper to get the interview, all that’s left is to impress them in person,
how you dress and act are factors in this. Cracking an appropriate joke is a
good way to stand out as making someone laugh is usually a sure way to get
them to like you, using humour to your advantage is something other people
might be afraid to do which will also show confidence, overall you want to come
across confident, well presented and funny.
Functional skills
Functional Skills are practical skills in English, Maths and ICT for all learners aged
14 and above. Functional Skills provide an individual with essential knowledge,
skills and understanding that will enable them to operate confidently, effectively
and independently in life and work. There are functional skills which are specific
to creative media, this would be things like creating storyboards or basic
photoshop skills, these should be known by everyone in the creative media
industry as they are very basic skills which don’t take much to learn. Knowing how
to create a proper storyboard is very important as it shows you have basic
planning skills, creating a proposal also falls into this category as it is a basic skill
which is required when creating a product for a client, for example you need to
be able to communicate with your client and a proposal is the perfect way to do
this .
 Time management
In college there is virtually no one monitoring where you are and what you’re doing.
Keeping to a regular routine and structure is very important in helping you avoid the
pitfalls of procrastination and avoidance; which then leads to feeling overwhelmed
and stressed out. Setting up recurring “appointments” in any of your calendars will
go a long way in helping you develop new routines and habits. Become used to
scheduling your “up” and “down” time, such as blocking off time in between classes
for specific activities, such as reading, studying, running errands, and other important
college-life activities. The more consistent you make your days, the more productive
you’ll feel. Creative media assignments can be quite tedious, you expect to be doing
a lot of graphic design, animating and hands on work but in reality most of your
time is spent typing up research or proposals, this can be frustrating at first but
actually becomes quite easy and not a problem, just make sure you use your learning
plan and if you aren’t given one then work out how much work you will need to do
each day.
 Personal responsibility
Personal responsibility in creative media links in very much with time management,
it your own personal responsibility to manage your time and there are other things
you’re responsible for, like coming into university/college on time or attending
every lesson and even making sure you have the right equipment for each lesson,
as you are over 16 its time to take on more responsibility, you aren’t a child
anymore and if you’re attending university you’ll be over 18, this means you are
legally an adult and are responsible for all your own actions. When personal
responsibility is defined as a person’s “response-ability,” that is, the ability of a
person to maturely respond to the various challenges and circumstances of life.
Personal capital is also closely connected with character, when character is
defined as a person’s moral or ethical quality, and the character of a person gives
them advantages to respond to the challenges of life.