Program Overview

Creating Credible Content

Course Overview

The Creating Credible Content course is designed to build awareness of the importance of sourcing high-quality, credible content for communications professionals. The coursework aims to engage students in the critical evaluation of various sources to determine their credibility and develop skills in sourcing information from key sources, including interviewees, and approaching the role as a communicator ethically.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply professional research and communication skills to evaluate the veracity of a range of sources to produce credible content.
• Apply ethical and professional decision-making skills to create and manage communication across various contexts.

Course Topics

The course covers the following topics:

• Researching credible content
• Using reliable sources
• Ethical and professional decision making
• Interviewing skills

Assessment

To be eligible for a digital badge for this course, students will need to successfully complete an assessment, which includes:

• Preparing a story proposal
• Interviewing for the story
• Evaluating performance in the interview This optional assessment is due at the beginning of week 7.

Course Level

The level for this microcredential is Proficient. The material for this course has been designed for students who have already demonstrated a high level of skill in the subject matter. Students must have relevant experience and/or have studied the course material before (at a competent level).

Intakes

Students have the option to begin this short course on the following dates:

• 11 May 2026 (Block 3)
• 26 Oct 2026 (Block 6)

University Level Expertise

Dr. Caryn Coatney, a Journalism Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, leads this course. Dr. Coatney has been an investigative news journalist in Australia and internationally and has worked in many fields of communication extensively. Her journalism research has won global awards and has been published in leading journals and books.

Course Credit

This Microcredential represents 0.25 units towards 1.0 unit of credit. Creating Credible Content can be taken as a stand-alone course. Additionally, it can be combined with other Microcredentials offered by UniSQ to achieve a total of 1.0 unit of credit. The other three Microcredentials in this stack are:

• UPC5011 Connecting with Audience
• UPC5012 Generating Social Media
• UPC5014 Crafting Professional Publications

Credit Eligibility

To be eligible for credit, students must first meet all program admission requirements and successfully complete four UniSQ UpSkill courses from the same course stack. The combined stack of Microcredentials can be used to apply for unspecified credit towards a program, provided the program rules allow it. To apply credit, students must first meet all of the program admission requirements, and there must be elective space within the program and approval from the Program Director.

Course Information

• Location: Online
• Cost: AUD 840.00
• Duration: 4 weeks
• Future Intakes: Next intake: 11 May 2026 (Block 3)