Year 12 - Introduction to NDM: reading and blog task

For Year 12 Media students...

Your first task for our new/digital media topic is to read some recent Media Magazine articles and consider the impact these changes have had on your life.

Go to our Media Magazine archive and open up MM56 - April 2016. You need to read the following articles:

Page 10: Living and learning in a digital age.

Page 46: Periscope and the implications of live streaming.

Page 53: A2 A* exam essay on Spotify.

Note: You'll need to set up your Year 13 MEST3 Exam and MEST4 Coursework blogs before you can complete the blog aspects to this task.

You then need to complete the following tasks on your new MEST3 exam blog:

1) Read the first two articles. Write one paragraph on each summing up the key aspects.

2) Now read the A2 A* essay. Why do you think it was so successful? 

3) Finally, answer this question in a well developed paragraph on your blog: How has digital media changed your life in the last 5 years (for positive or negative)?

Finish this for homework - due Friday.

Welcome to Year 13!

Although you are officially still in Year 12, in Media we are starting Year 13 from Monday 5 June. This means you need to working here on our Year 13 Macguffin Blog from now on.

(If you're a Year 13 student looking for last-minute MEST3 exam resources, just scroll down - and good luck!)

One of the first things you need to do if you're not doing so already is follow the blog on Twitter. We'll be posting crucial links to interesting Media stories, homework reminders and deadlines throughout the year. In fact, we'll even be doing a lot of your homework for you and posting it up on the Twitter account. You'll find us:

@blogmacguffin

If you haven't joined Twitter, do so this week: it's a brilliant way of keeping up with what's happening in the media and you don't have to publish tweets yourself if you don't want to. Once you're on board, follow the following Twitter accounts to give yourself a comprehensive daily update on the media world:

Newspaper media sections
Media Guardian  @mediaguardian
Independent Media @TheIndyMedia
Telegraph film   @TelegraphFilm
Viral stories from the Independent @indy100

Useful Media Studies-related accounts
The Media blog    @TheMediaTweets
Brilliant Ads   @Brilliant_Ads
Pete Fraser   @petesmediablog

Big media personalities
Rupert Murdoch  @rupertmurdoch
Piers Morgan  @piersmorgan
Alasdair Campbell  @campbellclaret

Journalists
Owen Jones @OwenJones84
Roy Greenslade  @GreensladeR
Mehdi Hasan   @mehdirhasan
Nick Sutton   @suttonnick
Nick Davies   @Bynickdavies

Other media-related accounts
Film4    @Film4
Everyday Sexism blog @EverydaySexism
YouGov polling  @YouGov

There are many, many more Twitter accounts you can follow to keep up on certain aspects of the media and anything else you're interested in. Get involved and immerse yourself in the world of the media - you cannot achieve an A grade in Year 13 without an understanding and appreciation of the wider media.

We really believe you can achieve great things in Year 13 and learn the skills you will need at university and beyond. Good luck!

Y12 task: Set up your MEST3 Exam blog!

For current Year 12 Media students...

Your first task in Year 13 Media is to create your TWO new blogs for all Year 13 work.

The first blog you need should be called MEST3 Exam Blog.

In the comments section (at the end of this post) submit your new 'MEST3 Exam Blog' address with your first name in the comment so we can link to your blog.

This is where you'll include all the preparation work/research for the two hour MEST3 Critical Perspectives exam in June 2017:

Section A (40%) 1 hour

• Unseen stimulus materials - TWO media texts e.g. DVD clip/website screengrab (15 mins viewing/annotating) 
• Three short answer questions (45 minutes, 32 marks)

Section B (60%) 1 hour

• Pre-set topic area: The impact of New/Digital media
• One essay question from choice of two (1 hour, 48 marks)

Make sure your MEST3 Exam Blog is set up today!

Y12 task: Set up your MEST4 Coursework blog!

For current Year 12 Media students...

Your first task in Year 13 Media is to create your TWO new blogs for all Year 13 work.

The second blog you need should be called MEST4 Coursework Blog.

In the comments section (at the end of this post) submit your new 'MEST4 Coursework Blog' address with your first name in the comment so we can link to your blog.

This is where you'll include all the planning/research for the Research and Production Unit, worth 50% of the A2...

Critical Investigation (48 marks: 60%)
2,000 word fully researched and referenced essay on a media topic/text of your choice.

Linked Production (32 marks: 40%)
Media production of your choice linked to your Critical Investigation.


Make sure your MEST4 Coursework Blog is set up today!

Unit 3 Revision Checklist

Use this checklist to organise your Media revision: there is more than enough here to help you get a top grade...

Mainly for Section A

• Section A Practice Questions (with model answers)

• Revision Express Textbook

• 'Identities & The Media' Lessons

• AQA A2 Textbook

• Media A-Z Glossary

• Theory Quotes

• Section A: Q2/3

Mainly for Section B

• Section B Questions

• New & Digital Media Lessons

• NDM Quotes + Marxism/Pluralism

• New and Digital Media: Useful Revision Articles

• NDM Case Studies

Section A and Section B

• Unit 3 Key Theories

• NDM Theories/Issues/Debates Summaries

...start working on this NOW and put together a revision plan to cover it all before the exam on Wednesday June 7th.

Section A Practice Questions (+ model answers)

There are THREE excellent sample papers/responses on MediaEdu... 
(login first: username: greenford; password: greenfordedu)

• Video Game Trailers (Missing Fable Legends clip)
• Britain's Got Talent/Celebrity
• Political Party Election Broadcasts (Missing Labour Party clip)

Make sure you do these yourself, under timed conditions, then check the model answers to compare how you did. There is no substitute for practising using exam questions and applying what you've learnt - this is the most important aspect of revision! And, of course, bring in any practice essays to us for marking!!

Revision Express Textbook

This is a fantastic resource! Really concise.

You are advised to learn all the key terms (in bold) and have a go at the exam questions at the end of each section (these are good for practice although NOT the typical ones you'll get in the exam; see the list of Section B questions for that).

This download covers most of the key issues & debates that you MUST be able to apply to the Section A texts you have to analyse/compare in the exam...

Advertising, Advertising & Marketing, Audience Profiling, Cult of the Celebrity, Effects Theory, Globalisation, Marxism, Media Ownership, Narrative Theory, News Values, Pluralism, Postmodernism, Reception Theory, Uses & Gratifications

...Revision Express Textbook

Identities & The Media Lessons

Section A will have one question (Q2 or Q3) that  that asks you to consider identity/representation issues in the two texts, as well as linking them to other texts you can discuss.

This is where you should be able to make some use of the representation theories/examples you covered in your 'Identities & The Media' lessons on Post-Colonialism and (Post)-Feminism, so make sure you revise them.

AQA Textbook

Read and make notes on this text book, written by the exam board - great for revising...

Contents

1. Critical Perspectives

2. Media Theories

3. Approaching Texts Critically

4. Approaching Topics Critically

Media A-Z Glossary

Make sure you keep reading this during your revision, using it to look up straightforward meanings of any theories/theorists/keywords you need to be clear about.

The more media terminology you include in the exam (all the terms covered in this book) the more marks you will get, so keep testing/re-testing yourself on what's in here...

Media A-Z Glossary

And here is a checklist of the media Issues/Debates and Theories that the specification says you need to know (the AQA textbook has more detailed explanations/examples of all of these)...

Issues/Debates

• Representation and stereotyping
• Media effects
• Reality TV
• News Values
• Moral Panics
• Post 9/11 and the media
• Ownership and control
• Regulation and censorship
• Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century
• The effect of globalisation on the media

Theories

• Semiotics
• Structuralism and post-structuralism
• Postmodernism and its critiques
• Gender and ethnicity
• Marxism and hegemony
• Liberal Pluralism
• Colonialism and Post-colonialism
• Audience theories
• Genre theories

...make sure you have some keywords/theorists for each one that you can apply to whichever texts appear in Section A, or in response to typical Section B questions.

Theory Quotes

Here is a list of some of some useful quotations that will really impress the examiners if you can incorporate them...

Theory Quotes

They will also help to clarify some key Media Studies concepts...

hegemony, Marxism, cultural imperialism, globalisation, liberal pluralism, web 2.0

You should try to memorise a few (or simply a phrase or two from them), thinking about how you could include at least one of them in each of the Section B essay questions (although they are just as useful for Section A too).

Theories, Issues and Debates Summaries

Easy to revise from - some of the key ideas/theorists you need to know...

Theories Issues and Debates Handout A2

UNIT 3 Section B Questions

A big part of your revision will be going back over your Case Studies for New/Digital Media.

Make sure you refine your research - adding to it over the final few weeks with up-to-the-minute info from sources like MediaGuardian, and new articles that will be posted up here.

Read through all your blog postings on your weekly NDM stories (using your really useful index) and look at other students' from both classes too for some of the key topics over the last year.

This is also a really helpful summary of some key ideas...

New & Digital Media Theories & Concepts

You should be able to answer all the typical questions for Section B in the exam (the most recent ones are towards the end and quite a few you've done already)...

New/Digital Media

• “Digital media have, in many ways, changed how we consume media products.” Who do you think benefits most – audiences or producers?

• “Media institutions are right to feel threatened by new/digital media.” Consider this statement and show how media institutions are reacting to technological developments.

• The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

• “The new generation of UK media power players are going stratight to their audience via the web” www.mediaguardian.co.uk Monday July 14 2008. How have media institutions responded to the opportunities offered by new/digital media?

• Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?

• Why and with what success are traditional media institutions adapting to the challenge posed by new/digital media?

• The world first heard about the death of Michael Jackson from the online gossip website TMZ. How has new/digital media changed the ways in which information reaches audiences and what are the implications?

• ‘New and digital media erodes the dividing line between reporters and reported, between active producers and passive audiences: people are enabled to speak for themselves.’ (www.indymedia.org.uk) Have such developments made the media more democratic, with more equal participation by more people?

• New and digital media offers media institutions different ways of reaching audiences. Consider how and why media institutions are using these techniques. 

• ‘To connect, to create, to share creativity or thought, to discuss, to collaborate, to form groups or to combine with others in mutual interests or passions.  If you can’t see the point of any of those things, you will not see the point of Facebook.’ (www.guardian.co.uk) What opportunities and/or disadvantages do new and digital media have for audiences?

• Although new and digital media may promise audiences more freedom, it does not necessarily give them more power. Discuss.

• New and digital media is creating one global culture. Do you think that this is true?

• The only way to survive in the digital world is to keep innovating. Do you agree?

• Most of the traditional media’s attempts to compete with new and digital media have been too little and too late. Does your case study support this view?

• The internet is a democratic space, where we are all free to participate equally. Using your own case study, discuss whether the impact of new and digital media is democratic.

• New and digital media offer a wide range of competing ideas and opinions from experts and journalists to bloggers and social networkers, making it harder for audiences to know who to trust. In such an environment, how does the audience know who to trust?

• Does your case study suggest that new and digital media have had a positive impact by offering audiences a more diverse range of values and ideologies?

• New and digital media have led many media producers to involve their audiences more. However audience involvement is only superficial and media producers have ensured they maintain control. Use your case study to evaluate whether new and digital media have changed the role of producers.

• New and digital media have contributed to the process of globalisation: the idea that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected through one global culture. Using your own case study, evaluate the impact that new and digital media have had on globalisation.

• Use your case study to evaluate whether new and digital media are a threat or an opportunity for media producers.

• One of the great benefits of new and digital media is that they have enabled audiences to set their own agenda in terms of how they use the media. Does evidence from your case study support this view?

• “We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas.” Hillary Clinton, former United States Secretary of State, January 2010. Does your case study suggest that new and digital media have made a positive contribution to humanity?

• “As a result of developments in new and digital media, traditional media institutions face a struggle to survive.” Use your case study to discuss this statement. 

• Data is “retained and subsequently used without the subscriber or registered user being informed… private lives are the subject of constant surveillance”.  European Court of Justice – April 2014. With reference to your case study, discuss the extent to which you agree that ‘private lives are the subject of constant surveillance’.

You should have detailed plans for each of these essays and have practised as many as possible under timed conditions (ONE HOUR for each).

Remember, the examiner is looking for the following:

• A sophisticated and detailed evaluation, showing very good critical autonomy.
• Sophisticated and detailed application of a wide range of wider contexts.
• Supports answer with a wide range of examples from other media.
• Articulate and engaged.

New & Digital Media Lessons

Use these to help you revise, by going through each slide/linked article and making summary notes/mindmaps on revision cards and then testing yourself...

• New Digital Media Lessons Y13

The News Case Study: Murdoch/NewsCorp, paywalls, adblocking, UGC, citizen journalism, gatekeepers, news agendas, Galtung & Ruge, Marxism/pluralism, democratisation, globalisation, conglomerates, Alain de Botton, News on the Tweet...

• Introduction to New & Digital Media Y12

Some key quotes/ideas (Briggs/Burke, Castells, Gutenberg/Internet Revolution, Keen, Pareto's Law...)

NDM Key Quotes + Marxism/Pluralism

Make sure you memorise some of these quotes from critics/theorists/media professionals and include them in your Section B essay answers...

NDM Key Quotes

Also, ensure you always make reference to both key critical perspectives in your essay - Marxism and Pluralism...

Marxism/Pluralism summaries

New & Digital Media: Useful Revision Articles

You should try to read ALL of the following, making revision notes/mindmaps and understanding how you can apply the key points to the Section B essay questions:

From MediaEdu...

(login first: username: greenford; password: greenfordedu)

• A2 AQA MEST3 Revision New and Digital Media Example Question
• The Impact of Digital Media Revision
• 24 Hour News Case Study
• We Media, Democracy and Convergence

From MediaMagazine...

(access via our Media Magazine archive)

• The Rise and Rise of UGC. MM30, page 55. 
• Participation debates - media and democracy. MM39, page 12. 
• Web 2.0 - participation or hegemony? MM39, page 58. 
• Participating in the Arab Spring. MM39, page 14.

NDM Case Studies

Remember that you have TWO case studies that you need to incorporate into your Section B essay:

1. The Impact of NDM on News 

This was the one we covered as a class and should form the bulk of your answer. 

We covered things like: the decline of the newspaper industry (include statistics), paywalls vs. free content, UGC, citizen journalism, News Corp/Murdoch, gatekeeping, news values (Galtung and Ruge), Marxism/pluralism, democratisation, the Arab Spring, globalisation, conglomerates, hyperreality (Baudrillard), Alain de Botton, etc. 

Each week on your blog you should have been posting a story on this topic too so go back and revise them all (using your blog index).

2. Your Own Independent Case Study on an Aspect of NDM

You had to come up with your own topic area and research it - a paragraph or two on this will be more than enough in the exam. 

You should have answered all the NDM Case Study Questions on your blog as well as completed the final task - the Ignite PowerPoint presentation.

Unit 3 Key Theories

A helpful resource - that we gave you as a hard copy recently - divided into three sections...

1. Critical Debates/Key Concepts
Includes globalisation, Marxism/hegemony, pluralism, audience theories (Blumler & Katz, cultivation, desensitisation), Barthes, etc. Don't try to learn any new theories now though - just make sure you really know those that we've covered in lessons.

2. Representation

3. New and Digital Media

Unit 3 Key Theories

Section A: Q2/3

Section A, Q2/3 will ask you to link the texts to issues/debates relating to NDM and Identities as well as expecting you to refer to other examples you can think of that are relevant.

This is where you should draw upon your weekly NDM stories that you've posted/analysed on your blog - you should have about 70 stories in your NDM index as well as the examples you came up with for the recent MEST 3, Section A Revision Taskhttp://mediamacguffin13.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mest3-section-revision-task.html.

Make sure you have pre-prepared ideas/plans about how you would approach these possible questions...

• Section A, Q2/3 (NDM)
• Section A, Q2/3 (Identities)

A2 Media wider reading

Well done to all students taking MEST1 this morning - it seemed to go very well.

Now the focus turns to our A2 exam: MEST3 on Wednesday 7 June.

You are going to be brilliantly prepared for this exam but remember for the very top grades you need an excellent knowledge and understanding of the wider media. This means reading and engaging with resources such as Media Guardian or the links on our blog Twitter account we've been posting all year. Keep updating your NDM stories - these could prove vital in Section A of the MEST3 exam. You should also be reading Media Magazine regularly - the latest issue is MM60 and looks at punk, surveillance movies, online trolling, transgender issues and the distribution of Marvel movies.

Please note we will be continuing teaching Media lessons right up until the Year 13 final assembly on Wednesday 24 May.

Keep up the good work in these last few weeks!

MEST1 re-sit: final notices and resources

You should now be in the middle of your final revision and preparation for Thursday's MEST1 exam re-sit.

We've got a few final notices and resources to help maximise your performance in the exam.

Firstly, a reminder that you do NOT need to attend lessons on Wednesday afternoon and can spend that time revising for your MEST1 exam.

Secondly, you need to attend Media at 8.30am on Thursday in order to hand over electronic devices and be supervised by staff from the official exam start time of 9am. If you want to get breakfast in the dining hall first at 8am that is fine. You will then be accompanied down to the main hall at 10.30am after a revision session in Media.

Finally, we've put together some exemplar essays for MEST1 Section B covering the British film industry case study films:

This is a MEST1 Section B essay we wrote in class with Year 12 today - looking at audience control. We also have an alternative exemplar for the same question that covers Spectre in addition to Ill Manors and A Field In England. Both of these exemplars contain plenty of critical autonomy - that crucial ability to engage with the question and offer a critical perspective in response.

Good luck with your revision - remember you have a whole YEAR of Media knowledge over the Year 12s sitting this exam around the country - so use all the theories, examples, issues and debates we have studied in A2 Media to really show how good you are!

MEST3 revision cards

Using revision cards is a far more active and effective revision technique than simply reading notes or highlighting text.

The active nature of distilling notes into a few key words, statistics, quotes or theories means you are MUCH more likely to remember them in the exam.

For MEST3 Section B, you need revision cards for the following topics:

• The decline of the newspaper industry – including stats!
• Paywalls – David Simon ‘Build The Wall’/Sun, Times paywall v free Mail Online and Guardian
• News Values – Galtung and Ruge
• News Corporation – Rupert Murdoch and newspaper industry
• User Generated Content (UGC), citizen journalists and hyperreality in modern news (Baudrillard)
• Impact on audience and institution – choice/trust (News on the Tweet – newspapers and Twitter)
• Marxism and Pluralism
• Alain de Botton – news as a form of social control
• Globalisation
• Your own, independent case study (this will obviously require multiple revision cards)

For MEST3 Section A, revision cards are an excellent method to ensure you have enough examples from the wider media for questions 2 and 3 (usually based around media debates to do with Identity and New/Digital Media). For this you need:

• TEN revision cards with examples linked to Identity (E.g. youth, feminism, race/ethnicity - post-colonialism, gender identity issues, identity and film, collective identity, identity and social media etc.)
• TEN revision cards with examples linked to New/Digital Media (E.g. Citizen journalism, #blacklivesmatter campaign, social media impact on news, streaming services and changes in the music industry, Netflix and Amazon Prime etc.

These need to be completed for homework - due date set by your exam class teacher.

UWL lecture: presentations

Last week's lecture on digital media and news was very well attended and it's great to see those ideas already being used in lessons and exam essays.

As promised, the PowerPoint presentations from the lecture have been made available for further revision and study.

Citizen Journalism: Social Media in the Newsroom:

Digital Media in Practice:

If you missed the lecture for any reason, make sure you go through both presentations and make detailed notes of the examples and media debates.

Year 13 Media students: UWL visiting lecturer

Dr Sumaya Alnahed from the University of West London will be visiting us on Friday 5 May to deliver a lecture on the impact of new and digital media on news and journalism.

The key details:

• Friday 5 May
• Periods 3&4
• Lecture Theatre

In a world of fake news and alternative facts, the lecture will explore how social media and citizen journalism has changed the nature of reporting. Has this empowered audiences or merely flooded the modern media landscape with ‘clickbait’ gossip and listicles? Can audiences influence the news agenda or has the erosion of gatekeeping and editorial control meant that power and politicians are no longer being held to account? 

This is compulsory for Year 13 Media students (unless you have another timetabled lesson at that time) and we will be taking a register.

MEST1 mock exam - for re-sit students

If you are re-sitting the MEST1 exam you have a mock after school on Wednesday 10 May.

This will give you a great opportunity to check your revision is on track and that you are confident writing about the case studies from Year 12 - Ill Manors, A Field In England and your own independent case study.

The details:

MEST1 mock exam
Wednesday 10 May at 3.15pm
Lecture Theatre

You'll find a blogpost full of helpful revision links here. Obviously, your own blog from last year will be vital for this too.

There are also MEST1 practice papers and exemplar A grade essays available in DF07 - just pop in and ask for them. These will give you a great chance to look at what a top-grade exam paper contains and then practice the timing at home.

Don't forget: the real MEST1 exam is Thursday 18 May at 9am.

Good luck! 

Revision: MEST1 exam re-sit

Your MEST1 exam re-sit is on Thursday 18 May at 9.00am.

You need to be revising EVERYTHING you've learned in Media over TWO years - that should give you loads of confidence going in to this exam! 

These PowerPoints from Year 12 Media this year may also help you:

Film Language unit

MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit

MEST1 Section B - British Film Industry / Ill Manors / A Field In England unit

There's also plenty of other revision you need to be doing:

Check your old MEST1 Section B index and revise all the work you've done on Ill Manors, A Field In England and your completed independent case study.

There are MEST1 Section B past questions to revise, plan and practice here.

This is a revision PowerPoint summarising key theories and terminology for the MEST1 exam. 

One of the key lessons from last year's exam was the quality of notetaking and whether students made specific reference to the clip using media terminology and textual analysis skills. The Examiner's Report from last summer's exam contains more details on this. You also need to be writing enough for each question in Section A: a minimum of THREE well-developed paragraphs for EACH question in Section A. 

Finally, remember the most important thing for BOTH Section A and Section B:

READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTION!

Good luck with your revision - you will do SO much better with another year of Media behind you and remember that all the theories and examples we've learned in Year 13 can be used in the MEST1 exam if relevant. Good luck! 

MEST3 Section A: revision task

The key to top performance in Section A of the MEST3 exam is a wide variety of examples from across the media.

Although Q1 will always test your textual analysis skills with the media texts in the exam, Q2 and Q3 increasingly focus on wider issues and debates in the media. These will be related to the two Year 13 exam topics: Identities and the Media and New/Digital Media.

You need a wide selection of examples for BOTH these topics that you can call upon depending on the nature of the questions on the day. Assuming you need four well developed paragraphs at the very least for these 12-mark questions, you’ll therefore be needing an absolute minimum of three of these wider examples for each question.

Section A revision task

You need to look over your blog work, class notes and collection of NDM stories from the whole of Year 13 in order to put together a list of examples for Q2 and Q3 in Section A.

Task 1: List 10 stories/debates/examples that you could use for the Identities and the Media question. 

E.g. fourth wave of feminism (#everydaysexism); gender identity issues (e.g. Caitlyn Jenner; Chelsea Manning, North Carolina LGBT law etc.) If you’re not confident enough to use all 10 in an exam situation then research, revise and create notes/revision cards until your knowledge is sufficient.

Task 2: List 10 stories/debates/examples that you could use for the New/Digital Media question.

Here, there’s no question you’ll have enough examples (your two NDM case studies are perfectly acceptable here) so it’s more about quality. Choose your 10 strongest examples to prepare for exam use – e.g. Citizen journalism and the #blacklivesmatter campaign against US police brutality; social media impact on TV news and newspapers; streaming services and changes in the music industry etc. Again, if you’re not confident enough to use all 10 in an exam situation then research, revise and create notes/revision cards until your knowledge is sufficient.

If you complete all 10 on your blog, create revision cards for each example with the key details, statistics and quotes. 

If you don’t complete 10 examples for each topic on your blog, you MUST finish for homework as part of your ongoing MEST3 revision.

MEST3 PPE - Learner Response

You've now completed a full MEST3 PPE - vital preparation for the real thing in June.

The most important aspect of any mock exam is making mistakes and learning from them. You need to closely analyse your performance across each question and identify specific ways you will improve for the MEST3 exam in the summer. Complete the following learner response tasks in a new blogpost on your MEST3 Exam Blog called 'MEST3 PPE learner response':


1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A2 Media? If not, how many additional marks do you need across Section A and Section B to achieve your target grade?

Grade boundaries for complete paper (out of 80): 

A* = 75; A = 65; B = 55; C = 45; D = 36; E = 25.

3) Read through the mark scheme. Pay particular attention to pages 6-8 that have suggested content for each of the questions in Section A. How many of these potential points did you make? Did you successfully answer the questions? The original question paper is here if that is helpful.

4) Which was your strongest question in Section A? Why did you do better in that particular question? Note the number of marks each question is worth.


5) Which was your weakest question in Section A? Again, try and identify why this happened. Did you misinterpret the question? Did you run out of time? 

6) Now look at pages 11-12 of the mark scheme for Section B - New/Digital Media paying particular attention to the suggested essay content on page 12. How many of the broad areas suggested by AQA did you cover in your Section B essay? Did you successfully answer the question?

7) Read the Examiner's Report in full. For each question your answered, would you classify your response as one of the stronger answers or one of the weaker answers the Chief Examiner discusses? Why? What could you do differently next time? Write a reflection for EACH question in the paper: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q6 OR Q7.

8) Choose your weakest question in Section A and re-write an answer in full based on the suggested content from the Examiner's Report. This answer needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme. This will be somewhere between 3-6 well-developed paragraphs (depending on the question/number of marks available).

Work on this during the lesson you are given your paper back but you may need to complete for homework.

Coursework deadline: Wednesday 19 April

Your A Level Media coursework deadline is Wednesday 19 April.

You need to submit the following before you leave:

• A completed candidate record form to send to the exam board. You will be given this to complete in class.
• A printed copy of your Critical Investigation, fully referenced with footnotes and including a complete bibliography. It must be 1.5 line spaced with your name in the header.
• An electronic copy of your Critical Investigation submitted to Ms Quinn as a Word document. Save this to your folder in Media Shared and email Ms Quinn (A Quinn) with the file name she needs to collect
• A further electronic copy of your Critical Investigation posted to your blog.
• You must also submit your Linked Production to Ms Quinn. For video productions, an exported video file needs to submitted to Ms Quinn electronically (through Media Shared as above). If you have completed a print project, you need to print each page on A4 and submit with your Critical Investigation AND submit electronic PDF copies to Ms Quinn. Make sure your name is in the file name for each PDF.

You will have your first Media lessons after Easter to submit this work or can attend Media at lunchtime, after school or during free periods.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT miss lessons in any other subject in order to work in Media. This will never be requested or sanctioned by the Media department.

Good luck - there is an impressive standard across both classes already and this could be the best set of grades yet!

Independent NDM case study: Final tasks

These are your last lessons on your NDM independent case study - now it's time to prepare a presentation.

This case study will make up at least two crucial paragraphs in your MEST3 Section B essay on New and Digital Media. Make sure you complete the following:

1) Make sure you have answered every question in the original NDM case study blogpost in full.

2) Create a 20-slide, five minute Ignite presentation in which you teach the rest of the class about your chosen case study. Fill it with useful information that other students could use in Section A of the MEST3 exam - statistics, the decline of traditional industries, particular texts, artists or institutions etc.

3) Set your presentation to 15-second auto-advance and rehearse the delivery prior to presenting to class after Easter.

Final deadline for NDM case study and presentation delivery date: Monday 24 April

Independent NDM case study: Up-to-the-minute web research

The third research task for your New/Digital Media independent case study is find recent online articles about your institution and industry that give you up-to-the-minute examples, statistics and quotes.

The very nature of new and digital media means the landscape is constantly changing and examiners love seeing examples from the days and weeks leading up to the exam. 

You may want to look back at your index of NDM stories you have been collecting weekly since September - this is when finding great articles all year really pays off. Other good sources are the usual newspaper media/tech pages...

The Guardian: Digital Media 
The Guardian: Technology
The Independent: Media News
The Telegraph: Digital Media News

...but don't stick exclusively to these. Find your own too - there may be blogs, magazines such as the Economist, industry-specific sites and more. 

We've also been linking stories from our Twitter account all year - @blogmacguffin - so make sure you're following that and look back at what we've posted over the last couple of months too.

The original case study structure and task list is here - use this as a guide for your research but don't be constricted by it. Whatever relevant information you can find is going to be useful. Ultimately, you are working on a blog post similar to your critical investigation Notes and Quotes document - and the quality and depth of this blog post will largely determine your final MEST3 exam grade.

Your next deadline is 3,500 words on your NDM case study blog post by Tuesday 18 April.

Reminder: A Level Media Easter sessions

A reminder we have confirmed dates for A Level Media Easter coursework sessions.

The sessions will take place on:

Monday 3 April 9am - 3pm (Mr Bush & Ms Quinn)
Tuesday 4 April 9am - 3pm (Mr Halsey & Ms Quinn)
Wednesday 5 April 9am - 3pm (Ms Quinn)

We are VERY lucky to be able to open up the Media department for three days so make the most of it. Media computers and equipment will be available on all three days but if you want feedback and an idea of what grade you're working at you will need to see your coursework teacher on the relevant day or email them. Ms Quinn will be on hand for advice and guidance but will be running the Wednesday session single-handedly so please bear with her.

Good luck with the coursework and keep working to those phenomenal professional standards we know you are capable of!

NDM independent case study: Media Factsheet research

The second research task for your New/Digital Media independent case study is to use our archive of A Level Media factsheets.

This is a brilliant resource with 140+ A Level-standard factsheets on a huge variety of Media topics. There will almost certainly be a factsheet in the archive on your chosen industry or institution - and there may be several. A few examples include:

050 We Media
067 Lady Gaga and the digital music industry
083 The impact of new media on TV
104 Audiences in the digital age
112 Netflix
113 TV and social media
114 Online privacy: Google
122 The changing face of the music industry

You'll find the archive on the Media Shared drive:

M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Make sure you read the relevant factsheets in full - as well as making notes and highlighting key quotes and statistics.

The original case study structure and task list is here - use this as a guide for your research but don't be constricted by it. Whatever relevant information you can find is going to be useful. Ultimately, you will end up with a blog post similar to your critical investigation Notes and Quotes document - and the quality and depth of this blog post will largely determine your final MEST3 exam grade.

Remember your current deadline: 1,500 words on your NDM case study blog post by Monday 27 March.