Media Studies
Form 7 (NCEA Level 3):
Prerequisites: Form 7 Media Studies is a course that is suitable as:
- A complementary subject to students who intend to study English in Form 7; or
- A replacement subject for students who have successfully studied English in Form 6, but are interested in focusing on media
Recommended achievement levels:
- Students averaging over 55% in Form 6 Humanities subject School examinations have an appropriate achievement level to study NCEA Level 3 Media Studies
- Students averaging 45-55% in Form 6 Humanities subject School examinations may find NCEA Level 3 Media Studies difficult
- Students averaging under 45% in Form 6 Humanities subject School examinations are not recommended to take NCEA Level 3 Media Studies
- Students who have passed two or more essay-based standards in English or History or Classical Studies are more likely to have an appropriate achievement level to study NCEA Level 3 Media Studies
Course description/aims: The following three strands are used to structure the learning objectives:
Media in Society: Students explore how the media operates within societal contexts and how they themselves can understand the place of media in society. These societal contexts can include historical, economic, social, cultural, and political perspectives. Students learn to understand their own relationship with the media in order to act as critical, active, informed and responsible citizens.
Reading Media Texts: Students study, and apply, media language and media texts. The analysis of the content of media texts, using appropriate media terminology, gives students the ability to understand how meanings are created in texts. Students look at groups of texts (genre), structures of texts (narrative), and they learn the skills of close reading so they can respond to the products of others as well as their own.
Media Production: Students learn to make media products that can entertain, inform, and challenge. They explore, develop, and communicate ideas through the development of their skills in the use of media technology. In the process, they use language, symbols, and structures to create meaning. In reflecting on their own and others’ products, students develop their production skills.
Course outline: This Media option seeks to give students the tools necessary for a career in the media. It also seeks to develop perceptive and critical students who will question the media around them and become ‘active’ global citizens. Students will learn about industry practices, how meaning is constructed by those who report the news, the role that advertising plays in New Zealand, and how to construct their own media product.
Methods of assessment: NCEA Level 3 Media Studies has six achievement standards:
- 3.1 – Demonstrate understanding of an aspect of a media industry [4 Credits, External]
- 3.3 – Demonstrate understanding of the media representation of an aspect of New Zealand culture or society [3 Credits, Internal]
- 3.4 – Demonstrate understanding of a relationship between a media genre and society [4 Credits, External]
- 3.5 – Produce a design for a media product that meets the requirements of a brief [4 Credits, Internal]
- 3.6 – Produce a media product to meet the requirements of a brief [6 Credits, Internal]
- 3.7 – Demonstrate development in the media [3 Credits, Internal]
Continuation of subject: There may be a cost associated with accessing editing programmes. Further information will be provided at the outset of the course.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our staff today.