Curricula (re-design) – sustainable media

Project Sustainable multidimensional media contents - "SUMED"

Supported by the ERASMUS+ programme

Key Action No KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education under grant agreement No- 2022-1- PL01-KA220-HED-000089133

Curricula (re)design - revising and creating new curricula

Summary of activities carried out to date

An element of the "SUMED - Sustainable multidimensional media contents" project activities consists in developing concrete solutions constituting support in modifying existing or creating new curricula that take into account the principles of sustainable development.

For this purpose, the universities - the project's partners - carried out preparatory activities:

- They conducted surveys and consultations with external partners (employers in the media and media production area). The operation of media companies and enterprises was studied in terms of applying and implementing the principles of sustainable development. It was important for the studied organisations to identify the skills of the future in journalism and media professions.

- They reviewed the existing curricula at their universities, in selected fields of study.

- They carried out consultations with academics at their universities.

- They prepared criteria in terms of knowledge, skills, and social competences that take into account the objectives of sustainable development, based on EMAS

- They reviewed the teaching facilities that can be used in educating students (blueprints), especially in journalism and media-related subjects, including film production.

An important element consisted in an open workshop for university teachers (in English), aimed at developing their skills concerning preparing curricula using innovative teaching tools. The workshop entitled: "How to embed green media content in curricula" was held on 5 June 2023 in an online format. The workshop was prepared by the SUMED project team at the University of Gdańsk. The classes were carried out by experts Monika Masłowska Ph.D. (University of Malta), Ewelina Gutowska-Kozielska Ph.D. (University of Gdańsk), and Magdalena Bulińska Ph.D. (University of Gdańsk).

With regard to the criteria, proposals have been prepared for the universities - the project partners - to be taken into consideration for inclusion in their courses. Below is a prepared proposal:

Criteria for project partners taking into account sustainability and EMAS criteria (WP2) – to be selected and included in curricula descriptions (proposals University of Gdańsk):

KNOWLEDGE

• Has knowledge of the social and cultural conditions of social and media communication and the resulting regularities important from the point of view of media studies processes. Knows the application of this knowledge in professional activities related to the creation of sustainable media content.
• Has knowledge of the processes taking place in the modern world, directions of development, trends, and systems, as well as the conditions and dilemmas of their functioning in modern civilization in the context of the goals and principles of sustainable development, with particular reference to the creation of sustainable media content.
• Has knowledge of global issues included in the sustainable development goals and knows how to use them when creating sustainable media content.
• Has knowledge of the essence and specificity of the goals and principles of sustainable development in connection with social communication and media sciences, with particular emphasis on sustainable media content.
• Has structured knowledge of ethical principles and standards as well as professional ethics in creating sustainable media content based on the goals and tasks of sustainable development defined by the UN

SKILLS

• Is able to skilfully search and select sources of information regarding the goals and principles of sustainable development and environmental protection.
• Is able to describe, critically analyze, synthesize, and evaluate collected information, taking into account processes and phenomena based on the principles of sustainable development in economic, political, and sociological (social) terms.
• Correctly uses normative systems (e.g. media, legal, professional, ethical) to solve tasks and name problems in the field of principles and goals of sustainable development and environmental protection
• Creates media messages about various functions. Uses specialized terminology, methods, and tools, including modern and advanced information and communication techniques, to promote knowledge about the goals of sustainable development and environmental protection.
• Is able to plan and organize individual and team work, cooperate with people representing other fields of knowledge and scientific disciplines, and use knowledge about sustainable development goals, while respecting the principles of environmental protection.

SOCIAL COMPETENCES

• Uses acquired knowledge in the field of promoting sustainable development to solve cognitive and practical problems. Is ready to seek the opinion of experts in case of difficulties in solving the problem on their own.
• He is ready to take active actions for the public interest and individual social groups, based on the principles of sustainable development, taking into account the needs of the natural environment.
• Is able to think and act entrepreneurially, using eco-management techniques, in a way related to the improvement of environmentally friendly activities.

As a result of the above-mentioned activities, ten new or modified curricula were developed by the partners. These programmes take into account the principles of sustainable development in the context of media and social communication. Below is a table presenting the range of courses, the number of hours assigned to them, as well as the ECTS credits and the university. 

These programmes constitute the basis for preparing and conducting pilot courses at universities participating in the project.

7 courses are already at the implementation and practical verification stage as they are implemented since the 2022/2023 academic year. The 2024/2025 academic year will see courses developed by UPV and Team Management from TUAS. Courses are taught in the languages of the partner universities' countries.

In terms of the designed classes, students practise creating journalistic texts concerning topics related to sustainable development and learn video production in a sustainable media environment. These include, among others: Journalism  and Video Production at the University of Malta. Students also carry out journalism and public relations projects taking into account the principles of sustainable development and ecological topics, such as: a Media Relations workshop, a Public Relations workshop, and a Project Seminar at the University of Gdańsk.

Actions aimed at wellbeing and good working relationships are an important element. Conditioning in this respect is tested by students in the classroom, which takes place by working in small, task-specific groups (Project seminar, UG). The participants identify also interaction skills that enhance wellbeing and leadership methods that support the wellbeing of individual team members (Team Management, TUAS).

The courses also serve to raise environmental awareness. This concerns, for example, resource efficiency and waste reduction (Occupational well-being and Organisational Development, TUAS). The issue of environmental protection is considered in relation to the operation of specific media and media-related industries (Video Production, UM, Scriptwriting, UM).

The aim of the courses is to raise students' awareness in terms of the social and cultural determinants of sustainable communication, in spheres such as cultural management (Communication, UPV) or media functioning (Tabloids and Tabloidisations, UG).

Students also develop plans for a company's communication with the media that take into account the environmental aspects of the company's activities, respecting professional ethics (e.g. Media relations, UG).

After finishing the course, evaluation surveys are carried out among students in which students answer the following questions:

1. Has your understanding of what sustainable development is increased during the course?
2. Give an example of what you learned about sustainable development, if you learned anything:
3. What more would you like to know about sustainable development if you want to learn more?
4. What achievements in the classroom are you proud of?

The aim of all the activities described above is to carry out the main objectives of the project, i.e. promoting sustainable development, technology, and digital solutions in the higher education sector and the labour market by organising courses and workshops for teachers and students, and creating a common learning environment for teachers from the four European universities - the project partners. This will provide all project participants with attractive tools to implement new media education solutions in their organisations. All these activities are focused on the broadly understood media, including media education and production, creating media content, public and media relations strategy, advertising, marketing, image creation or market research. Sharing experiences, meaning the results of the conducted courses (e.g. student projects), as well as the framework descriptions of the pilot courses will be able to serve other teaching organisations and institutions in implementing the sustainable development goals.

Beata Czechowska-Derkacz Ph.D., Dominik Chomik Ph.D., Institute of Media, Journalism and Social Communication, University of Gdańsk

The proposed curricula prepared in the form of tables by each university constitute an annex to this summary.