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SAC8014 - Social Media: Communication, Innovation and Ethics

  • Offered for Year: 2025/26
  • Module Leader(s):  Dr Bethany Usher
  • Owning School: Arts & Cultures
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 0
Semester 2 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10

Aims

Social Media: Communication, Innovation and Ethics explores transformations to digital communication and multimedia production in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How can we seize opportunities, enterprise and optimisation strategies in an ethical and socially responsible way? From self-branded influencer culture to new landscapes for journalistic crime content and political communications, culture and art to consumer or activist campaigning, this module harnesses your passions to help you become an effective and ethical communicator who can innovate across a range of networked digital media ecosystems for a range of audiences. In short, this module offers leading-edge opportunities for research and practice stemming from new waves of social media, how platforms utilise generative AI and the ethical dimensions that shape and respond to communication and innovations.

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus may cover the following:

  • Evolution of social media
  • Political economy of platforms
  • Ethics, transparency, privacy and the potential for harm
  • Enterprise and audience building
  • Authenticity, misinformation, bias and discrimination
  • Value of social media in global/intercultural practices and contexts
  • Storytelling with social media
  • Content creation and communications skills using social media and generative AI
  • Social media management, strategies and policy including in relation to algorithms;
  • Audiences and parasociality
  • Social media policy
  • Content Moderation

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities Lecture 12 1:00 12:00 In person lectures to consolidate learning and understanding.
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities Small group teaching 12 1:00 12:00 Practical workshops and/or seminars to work on key aspects of learning
Structured Guided Learning Lecture materials 10 3:00 30:00 Digital interactive learning materials focusing on key aspects of learning.
Guided Independent Study Assessment preparation and completion 1 80:00 80:00 Portfolio preparation and production.
Guided Independent Study Independent study 30 2:00 60:00 Skills and research development in response to module learning
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities Drop-in/surgery 3 2:00 6:00 Online drop in tutorials to support assessment and skill development
Total 200  
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Interactive digital learning materials and structured guided learning prepare students each week for in classroom or online scheduled learning activities and allow them to consider key topics at their own pace. Lectures consolidate key areas of learning and keep students on track through emphasising key critical contexts for their work. Small group teaching encourages interaction and the development of cognitive and key skills and the ability to articulate ideas and findings. In a peer-supported environment, students are encouraged to articulate their aims, develop their critical position on skills and research development and discuss aspects related to the research, structure, production and presentation of their portfolio. Directed and independent research and reading is a core component of the teaching for this module (K1-K4).

Structured guided learning and online drop in tutorials allow space for conversation and support encourage students to articulate their aims, define their research ideas, and demonstrate their grasp of the contexts of their learning. These provide opportunities to provide advice to the student on all aspects of the research, content, structure and presentation of their portfolio and critical feedback on strengths and weaknesses of work in progress. These are responsive to student needs and individual ideas. (S1-S5)

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Design/Creative proj 1 2 A 60 Portfolio of social media (three posts) using generative AI and multimedia tools as appropriate for the platform, specified audience and content type.
Report 1 2 A 40 1500-word analytical report containing reflections on project and learning outcomes and how decisions were informed by a critical understanding of key research, strategies and ethics relating to social media and AI.
Zero weighted pass/fail assessment
Description When Set Comment
Written exercise 1 M Students submit a pro-forma ethical approval and risk assessment for the chosen project. Ethical issues are acknowledged and considered. Relevant risks and their mitigation are identified and evaluated.
 
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Assessment 1 (60%): A portfolio including links to three social media posts including video, text, images as appropriate (Learning Outcomes: K3; K4; S2; S4; S5)

The task-specific assessment criteria for the portfolio are as follows:

Production of digital content for a specified social media platform and audience using visual, audio, written and interactive technologies as appropriate and with accuracy;

Demonstrate the ability to use social media and AI to research, produce and disseminate content effectively;

Demonstrate the ability to use appropriate language, tone and methods to communicate with an audience on a chosen topic or area of interest.

Assessment 2: (40%) A 1,500-word written report comprises critical analysis of the social media portfolio. This should include a clearly articulated research context and the application of a theoretical context to articulate creative decision making and strategies. (Learning Outcomes: K1; K2; K3; S1; S2; S3)

Additional task-specific assessment criteria are as follows:

Demonstrate a critical and analytical definition of a chosen context for social media and AI, drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources,

Effective use of research context and theoretical framework to articulate how it informed the production of the social media posts and platforms.

Discussion of decision-making, ethical parameters and relationships between theory and practice.

Coherence and structure of the critical analysis, including appropriate academic tone for postgraduate work and clear, correct referencing.

The formative assessment comprises of a risk assessment and ethical form, which is compulsory but does not count towards the final grade. Students will be offered feedback to support their development towards the creative portfolio and the critical context.

Timetable