GMIT offers unique honours degree in Digitla Media & Society

GMIT is delighted to offer a unique and innovative new honours degree in Digital Media & Society in its Mayo campus, designed in collaboration with leading international ICT companies and organisations.

The new four-year Bachelor of Science honours degree meets a huge demand for a new type of interactive technologist who customises social digital media solutions for organisations, communities and individuals. It is the only third-level honours degree programme exploring how individuals, society and technology interact.

Graduates of the programme will be equipped with the skills and expertise to work in a variety of emerging national and international digital employment careers. Graduates will be able to work in exciting positions such as Digital Designer, Social Media Manager, Assistive Technologist, Web Quality Auditor, Digital Strategist, Digital Marketing Analyst, SEO Copywriter, Community Manager, as well as traditional web designers and developers.

The programme has been designed by IT, Business & Social Studies lecturers in the GMIT Castlebar campus - Noreen Henry, Sharon Boyle, Janine McGinn, Egbert Polski, Michael Gill (Head of the Department of IT, Business & Social Studies) and Dr Mark Garavan in consultation with companies and organisations such as Google, the Irish Internet Association (IIA), Intel’s Digital Health Group, and local enterprise development divisions of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce and Mayo County Council.

GMIT lecturer and programme Chair Sharon Boyle says there is a rapidly increasing demand for graduates of this kind of programme in Ireland and around the world. “We have been working closely with representatives of leading international companies that are at the cutting edge of the digital revolution and they have given us important feedback on industry needs.”

“The biggest challenge the industry faces is keeping up to date with trends in technologies and industry. Fostering innovation in the programme and in students is also identified as being very important. Our new programme offers modules that will address those needs,” explains Ms Boyle.

Karen Stolberg, Google, Dublin, who was part of the industry review team, commended the programme on its “practical and experiential content”, stating that “a diverse and contextualised programme such as this will suit positions to come”.

Joan Mulvihill, Irish Internet Association (IIA), also a member of the review team, welcomed the diversity of the programme and how it applies the theory to societal needs both for individuals and consumers. “The breadth of what is on offer, the ability to choose streams, means that students will come out with a degree of flexibility which will be an excellent resource for employers”.

"Technology and in particular, social media, is increasingly shaping how people and communities interact. This course is unique in that it has identified this societal impact and in so doing will allow students to contextualise their learning and will prepare them for future digital trends will which no doubt encompass the challenges that social media presents too," adds Ms Mulvihill.

The new CAO-listed programme will commence September 2013 in GMIT’s Mayo campus. Students can expect to spend most of the time working with technology, learning how to manage digital media from planning, creating and managing digital content to building fully functional websites that include form processing, social features, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), web analytics and much more. They will learn how to customise images, videos, podcasts & social media design solutions for voluntary and commercial organisations.

Students will get out into the business world on work placements, interacting with management, business owners and customers and actively participating in a team to compete for contracts. They will also have the option to learn or improve a language.

For further information on this new GMIT programme see: http://www.gmit.ie/castlebar/technology/bsc-hons-digmes.html