Professional/Short course Social Media and Web Science

Entry year: 2025/26
Course code: Z41000095
Application: University
Level: Professional/Short Course
School: School of Computing and Creative Technologies
Campus: Frenchay
Duration: Twenty sessions, scheduled over Twenty-four weeks
Delivery: Through weekly lectures
Course Director: Dr Paul Matthews

Introduction

This course can count towards one of our postgraduate qualifications within our Information Management and Information Technology Awards.

Accreditations and partnerships:

A scientific approach is crucial to the planning, implementation and evaluation of social media and web campaigns. At the same time, social media and web-based evidence can shed light on a range of sociological and societal phenomena. This module will focus on developing strategic and technical competencies in using social media tools and data.

Entry requirements

Participants are expected to have a first degree at 2.2 level or above (or equivalent), or alternatively have industrial experience.

If you are a non-UK student you will need to show your passport on entry to the UK. Please check your eligibility to visit and study in the UK. If you are a non-Irish EU national currently resident in Ireland, please contact us directly for further advice.

If English is not your country's first language, you will be required to provide evidence to show you meet the UK Border Agency and the University's minimum English Language requirements. Further details are available on our English Language Requirements webpage.

We strongly recommend that you speak to the course tutor prior to the course if you are unsure about your suitability to complete the assessment.

Careers / Further study

This module can be taken as a standalone module, or used to build up credit towards a named postgraduate qualification (PG Certificate, PG Diploma or Masters) within our Information Management and Information Technology awards.

Structure

Content

This module will cover the following topic areas:

History, trends and global patterns in social media and the web.
The current range of social media tools and their relative strengths; social UI patterns and practice.
Best practice in social media usage; cultural and ethical dimensions of social media and social media research.
Theoretical models of engagement, persuasion and social behaviour online.
Social media metrics and impact; use of social media in the workplace; social media strategies and their evaluation; case studies.
Web science principles; relevant socio-technical, philosophical, psychological and sociological models/theory.
Social media, the web and society: politics, disaster management and governance; diversity, bias and the diffusion of information; privacy, security and trust.
Collective intelligence and online communities; crowd sourcing and social machines
Tools and methods of social media and web-based research: Archiving; data mining; algorithms and inference; social network analysis; visualisation.

Learning and Teaching

The module is delivered through weekly lectures and workshops, which take place on consecutive weeks.

Teaching will focus on the assignment tasks and aim to equip students with the resources and tools needed to complete group and individual components. Along with practice of tools and techniques, in-class time will be allocated for idea generation, iteration and feedback on project work.

Independent learning includes hours engaged with essential reading, data gathering and analysis, assignment preparation and completion etc.

Study time

This module (course) will involve 2 hours direct contact time per week for one semester.

A 15 credit module, like this, is expected to take 150 hours to complete:

24 hrs contact time through lectures and face to face discussion
30 hrs coursework preparation
86 hrs assimilation and development of knowledge
10 hrs exam preparation

Assessment

Assessment will be through a group-based social media campaign project and an individual research project on a theme of interest.

For more details, see our full glossary of assessment terms.

Features

Professional accreditation

This module is accredited by the Chartered Institute for Library, Information and Knowledge Professionals.

Study facilities

The University has excellent facilities, accessible to all students, as required; however, it is expected that much of the work will be carried within the work environment.

Find out more about the facilities and resources UWE Bristol has to offer.

Take a personalised virtual tour of the Computer Science and Creative Technologies facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.

Prices and dates

Supplementary fee information

Course dates

This course is planned to run again in 2025. Course dates, updated fees and online booking forms will be published here in the summer of 2024. Please complete our online enquiry form below to be notified once these details are made available.

Cohort February 2025	Time	Location
Twenty sessions, scheduled over twenty-four weeks	TBC	Frenchay Campus

Course fees

All prices are VAT exempt

Cohort	February 2025
UK students	£792.00*
International students	£1,333.00*

*Fees displayed are based on 2023/24 entry and are an indication only. Please note there might be a small increase for 2024/25. Please complete our online enquiry form below to be notified once these details are made available.

For information on fees, managing your money and determining your fee status, please go to our fees and funding pages.

Course location

UWE Bristol, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY

How to find UWE Bristol

How to apply

As this module carries university accreditation, please note that once you have submitted your booking form, you will be required to provide the following supporting information for the Tutor to be able to review and formally accept your application as required by the university:

An up-to-date copy of your Curriculum Vitae (including contact details of a work or academic reference)
A brief personal statement to support your application
A copy of your highest qualification certificate and transcript of modules studied
A copy of photographic proof of ID (i.e. driver's licence/passport). For non UK students, this must be a copy of your passport

Cohort
February 2025		Enquire Now

For further information

Email: Please contact us using the online enquiry form link above.
Telephone: +44 (0)117 32 81043 (option 1, then option 3)