Developments within New Media technologies often take place behind the closed doors of technical labs and similar environments, far removed from the creative artists who will eventually integrate the results into their work.
Within EMEX, coordinator Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and a European consortium explored emerging media storytelling technologies for over three years. Together with the University of Applied Sciences and the University of Tampere, Finland, and the Lincoln School of Film & Media, (University of Lincoln, Great Britain), collaborative teaching approaches were developed to investigate the influence of new media technologies on storytelling of the future. The Innovation department of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (German public service broadcaster) and the Media Innovation Studio of the University of Central Lancashire. participated in the project as partner from the professional world of practical research and development of interactive media technologies.
Prof. Dr. Björn Stockleben, EMEX project manager at the Film University, explains: "With EMEX we addressed three core problems of the digital economy: we provided research institutes and start-ups with brilliant showcases for their technological innovations by creating unique pilot content. Secondly, we removed the boundaries between design and technology by training creative technologists that the digital media industry desperately needs. And finally, we joined forces with small but agile European universities to offer high-quality degree programmes."
EMEX was funded through the Erasmus + Strategic Partnerships funding programme. The programme aims to support transnational projects in developing and exchanging innovative practices and in promoting collaboration and peer learning in higher education. EMEX provided a impressive example of how online collaboration with short- and long-term student mobility can form a pragmatic basis for transnational study programmes, thus also furthering the Film University's successful internationalisation efforts. In transnational online courses, the students became familiar with innovative media technology and jointly worked on new concepts in online courses. In the following semester students took part in international workshops and realised their projects on location at one of the partner organisations. Due to Corona, two of the three planned courses in the internationally-mixed groups were completed entirely online, supporting the development of EMEX as a hybrid teaching format.
EMEX built on proven approaches developed in the earlier Erasmus+ project "OnCreate", which investigated the medation of creative processes in transnational online cooperation courses.
