University media students are unstoppable

The easing of Covid-19 restrictions by the Government meant that students on practical courses returned to campuses on March 8. University of Gloucestershire teaching spaces are once again full of creativity, as face-to-face teaching resumed in a Covid-secure way.

A special part of studying for a degree at the University of Gloucestershire is the Your Future Plan weeks, when normal lectures are paused and student take part in activities to develop the skills, experience and confidence they’ll need to make their career dreams a reality. These weeks are all about building students’ employability skills.

The School of Media just held one of its Your Future Plan weeks but this was even more special than usual, including enabling students to showcase the work they have been doing in lockdown and capture what life is like back on campus.

Dr Tom Bradshaw is the School of Media’s Employer Engagement and Employability lead and the lecturer who organises the School’s Your Future Plan activities.

Dr Bradshaw said:
“After an unprecedented year, we stretched our thinking and used our ‘Unstoppable’ blog site as a focal point to celebrate our students’ ongoing creativity and also their recent return to campus. We named it our Unstoppable Your Future Plan week.

“Supported by teaching staff, we empowered our students to take-over the social media accounts of the School of Media and also of their various courses. Our students were able to show their work to a wider audience and there were collaborations across year groups, across courses, and with industry.

“Viewing the content our students produced as part of the week was inspiring − everything from podcasts and films to innovative social media.”

The content published during the Unstoppable Your Future Plan week was as diverse as the School of Media’s students themselves. A hashtag #UnstoppableUoG was used to pull together all of the students’ activities and work.

Lowri Jacob, Ulani Seaman and Katy Homewood, studying different courses, recorded an Unstoppable podcast.

Final-year Sports Journalism student Charlie Hynes spoke with Tom Bradshaw about his time on placement during the pandemic covering Gloucester Rugby for Reach PLC.

Students from the MA in ‘Communications, PR and the Media’ got together with lecturer Jenny Eastwood to discuss the good and the bad PR of the week.

Despite Covid-19 restricting aspects of work placements for many courses, the Animation students took full advantage of opportunities open to them and spoke about the placements they have done remotely with studios.

With a break from assessments and projects, first-year Journalism student Zac Lewis shot a video as he and his housemates took a riverside breather during Unstoppable Week.

Second-year Sports Journalism student Lowri Jacobs reflected on her challenging and rewarding journey through University.

Lowri Jacob said:
“I was completely overwhelmed by the reaction to my article on the Unstoppable blog. I definitely did not think at the start of the week that I’d be talking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire about it.”

You can view the students’ work, and follow their activities, by visiting the School of Media’s Unstoppable blog site and by following on Twitter or Instagram.