by J. Butler, Content Development Specialist
As of this year, Birmingham City University will be offering a one-year Master's program priced at about £4,400 ($7838.87 in Canadian dollars).
The subject matter? Social Media.
It's no joke. Students will be able to perfect their netiquette in exchange for university credits. Arguably, most students spend a generous portion of time they should be studying on Facebook or YouTube, so it seems like a time-saver to simply surf the web for the sake of academics (ha ha). Students enlisted in the program will be taught the ins and outs of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo, as well as how to maintain a blog and produce podcasts and other media projects.
Course convener Jon Hickman calls the courseload "very relevant and very scholarly," exploring "the techniques of social media, consider the development and direction of social media as a creative industry, and will contribute new research and knowledge to the field."Social media will be studied through an intensely academic eye, with a focus on scholarly research and critical analysis. Hickman feels the course holds a great deal of appeal for students, particularly those intent on entering fields like journalism or PR.
While many already in the industry have lauded the course for focusing on the scholarly aspects of social media (without any limited focus on results or metrics), the question remains: is it worth putting in that much time, money and effort for the program, especially when you consider the practical experience you lose by being in school? As Dan Thornton from Way of the Web so succinctly points out:
Certainly anyone already established in a social media role at a managerial level should be able to tick pretty much all the boxes the MA aims to deliver - and are those roles going to be offered to those graduating the course, or people more like myself who spent time in journalism and publishing, gaining additional experience in marketing and social media, before making the switch?
In addition, some students have complained the coursework is too basic, as many of those enrolled have been self-taught for years. Some critics derisively call the programs a "Master's in Facebook." But, I've heard of plenty of new, experimental college courses in my time, and enrolled in even more of them (including one on comic books, one on the philosophy of modern horror films and a course in circus stunts) and more often than not, they get off to a wobbly start. Usually all these wobbly starts levels out and the course either works, or it doesn't. If the course is truly a worthwhile "academic exploration of communication," as Hickman says, then it will surely survive the criticism once it finds its stride.
See It Here: The Birmingham City University MA in Social Media
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