About Professional Communication, MA - at Sheffield Hallam University
This course is for people who want to develop their skills and knowledge as professional communicators.
You select modules and topic areas to suit your needs from a wide choice in professional communication.
The course improves your practice as a professional communicator and develops your knowledge of the complexities of human communication in professional contexts. You can balance academic or research-led topics with applied topics to suit and improve your communication practice. You can negotiate assignments with tutors to reflect your needs.
Attendance is part-time through distance learning, or you can combine distance learning with some face-to-face learning in the University.
Associated careersWe aim this course at a range of careers in areas such as:
technical and corporate communications
business and organisational communication
teaching and caring professions
public relations and some media professions
The course benefits any occupation where communication is a significant part of the business.
AssessmentAll assessment is by coursework - there are no examinations. There is one assignment for each module, equivalent to a long essay which you negotiate with your tutors.
We use different forms of assessment according to the learning outcomes of the module. To qualify for MA, you must complete a dissertation of approximately 10,000 words.
The dissertation will be on a topic of your choice, entirely supervised through remote learning.
Course contentCertificate level
One from:
portfolio of professional reflective practice
communication planning and theory
introduction to corporate communication
plus two from:
news making
information design
language and writing
digital media and society
practical public relations
public relations in society
plus a portfolio of professional reflective practice
Diploma level
One from:
research design
project
plus three from:
collaborative work
visual communication
software interface and documentation
the theory of persuasion
persuasion in practice
communication ethics
hypermedia design
digital media and communication
MA level
dissertation
Entry requirementsYou must have one or more of the following
a first degree
recognised professional qualifications in a communication field
at least four years’ work experience in a professional communication field, or a closely related field such as science communication or information design. If you don’t have a recognised qualification you must show that you are capable of sustained academic study and motivated towards a course of this kind. This is done through an interview.
