Courses

The training for students of the Master's programme Digital Media and Communication is composed of the following contents:

Title of the moduleECTS per semester

ONLINE EDITING

  • Research
  • Writing workshop - efficient and effective copywriting/press releases
  • Journalistic forms of presentation/genres
  • Editorial techniques - storytelling, interview
  • Online journalism, web specifics
  • Multimedia storytelling, audio-visual contributions - editorial planning, design, implementation
  • Corporate/image films - briefing, conception, approval
  • Optional: Excursion to nationally and/or internationally active cross-media editorial offices in media, organisations, companies

6

6

USER-CENTRED DESIGN

  • Basics of design - perception, design psychology, colour and form theory
  • Typography and layout
  • Corporate design & identity
  • Basics of designing time-based audiovisual media - video, animation, podcast, visualisation, screen design
  • Data and information visualisation - wire frames, mock-ups, design prototypes, templates
  • Video - basics, quality criteria, areas of application, tools, forms
  • Audio & podcasting - basics, quality criteria, areas of application, tools, forms
  • Participative design process - sound design, micro-speaking, editing, mixing, post-production
  • Basics of Experience - Human Centered Design, Persuasion, Concepts, Costumer Journey, Personas, Empathy Maps
  • Research & Evaluation - product development process, expectation management, UX methods, usability methods
  • Design Thinking - basics, application scenarios, implementation
  • Customer Experience Management - 3 Vs (Voice of Customer, Employee, Process), 5E Experience Model & Journey Map, CX Strategy Canvas
  • Optional: Excursion to internationally active organisations in the creative industries

12

6

MEDIA INFORMATICS AND WEB TECHNOLOGIES

  • Introduction to computer science - basic concepts, history
  • Introduction to web technologies - networking, protocols, formats, security, web analytics
  • Server and Cloud Basics - Web Services
  • Services - Cloud, Messaging
  • Server architectures and databases
  • HTML, CSS, Javascript and Ajax
  • CMS (backend) - overview, selection process: Wordpress and other current CMSs
  • Frameworks (frontend) - application purposes, overview, site integration, plug-in installation, insight into programming
  • Mobile, Responsive, Technical Design and App
  • Organisation of web development - tools, workflow, technical challenges
  • Applied web technologies - advertising, tracking, IT security, data protection
  • Technical IT project management - OML, ERD, functional specifications
  • Economic IT project management - estimation methods, agile management, functional specifications

6

6

6

MARKETING COMMUNICATION

  • Basics of marketing and its disciplines - promotion, advertising, dialogue marketing, sales promotion, product placement
  • Fundamentals of public relations and its disciplines - event communication, lobbying, investor relations, corporate social responsibility (CSR)
  • Integrated communication
  • Basics of social media communication
  • Online & social media marketing with a focus on campaigns
  • Crisis communication
  • Reputation management
  • Brand communication & branding

6

6

CAPSTONE PROJECT (formerly developmental editing)

  • Planning, implementation and evaluation of a real-life practical project in a self-selected focus area (content, PR, marketing, IT, UX)
  • Concept
  • Project management
  • Strategy
  • Presentation & pitching

6

4

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

  • Community Management in Digital Media - Moderation, Guidelines, User Generated Content, Social Media Monitoring
  • Communication and marketing psychology
  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Advertising (SEA) & Web Analytics

6

COMMUNICATION LAW AND ETHICS

  • Copyright law
  • media law
  • trademark law
  • data protection law
  • Communication and media ethics

6

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

  • Fundamentals of business administration and management with a focus on communication and media
  • Leadership in the communications industry
  • Negotiation and conversation skills
  • Innovation management

6

SPECIAL TOPICS IN DIGITAL MEDIA

  • "Career Master Talk": Communication as a career field today
  • Current digital media and communication landscape
  • Furthermore, special topics in the field of digital media and communication, for example: Data Driven Marketing, Performance Marketing, Marketing Automation, Growth Hacking, Neuromarketing, Digital Advertising, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the communication industry.
  • Optional: Excursion to a digital media hotspot, e.g. Dublin

4

RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION METHODS

  • Theories and models of communication science with a focus on impact research
  • Applied statistics and data analysis
  • Quantitative and qualitative methods of empirical social research

6

SEMINAR ON THE MASTER'S THESIS

Preparation of the structure of the Master's thesis in three parts/phases:

  • 1. exposé
  • 2. table of contents and structure of the theoretical part
  • 3. annex empirical part, method

2

2

MASTER'S THESIS AND MASTER'S EXAMINATION

Independent writing of a scientific thesis with individual supervision

18