You will learn concepts related to everyday digital media use, media and AI literacy in educational settings, creativity, and popular culture, and how these are used by literacy, film and media educators in global contexts. Critical theory and creative practice are linked throughout the degree. Working alongside UCL and British Film Institute tutors, you will acquire skills in the reading and making of digital texts and artefacts, working creatively with a range of established and emerging media. You will also conduct your own independent research study, cultivating your own critical, scholarly voice as you explore a digital media topic of your choice.
This course is for anyone interested in digital media and AI literacy across different learning contexts. It will suit teachers and educators in any sector seeking continuing professional development in the field of new literacies, media education or film education. It will also suit practitioners in NGOs, social media, museums, galleries, youth and outreach workers or those in educational publishing, media production or any aspect of media education.
This course equips students with skills, knowledge and understanding of digital media and AI literacy. You will acquire practical skills in the reading and making of digital texts and artefacts in various forms. You will learn a range of methods in educational research, with an emphasis on ethnographic and qualitative approaches rather than quantitative methods.
Graduates of this course go on to a wide variety of careers in media and literacy education in colleges, primary and secondary schools, community settings, museums, libraries and galleries, and education-related settings. They also work in the private sector IT and technology, public relations and retail , NGOs, research organisations, and government departments. They are also well-placed to follow academic careers in educational research*.
Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2018–2024 cohorts.
UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is one of the world’s leading centres for education and related areas of social science. For the thirteenth year in succession IOE has been ranked as the world’s leading university for Education (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026). The Digital Media family of courses at IOE are some of the longest-established postgraduate media courses in the UK. They are based at the UCL Knowledge Lab , a leading interdisciplinary centre whose mission includes researching digital media and developing digital technologies.