Module: MCO4107-20 - Media Today

Level: 4

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Rebecca Feasey

Module Tutor Contact Details: r.feasey@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

Media Today aims to provide you with the opportunity to study the key debates in contemporary media studies, from representations to franchising and from moral panics to music sub-cultures in a wide range of media texts and contexts. The syllabus will begin by interrogating representations of masculinity and femininity, class, wealth, disability and national identity before exploring debates around media audiences, music cultures and media franchising. The module will encourage you to develop your research and writing skills and your personal development planning while advancing your critical thinking abilities.

2.Outline syllabus

• Doing media studies

• Interrogating gender

• Rethinking class

• Looking at disability

• Sport and national identity

• Music and moral panics

• Media franchising

• Planning and research skills

• Writing and reference skills

3.Teaching and learning activities

Media Today will cover a number of key debates relating to the representation of gender, class, disability and national identity in contemporary media texts and contexts, with each debate being introduced in a formal lecture and then challenged, considered and reconsidered in the ensuing seminar. Each debate will require looking at the relevant lecture slides, the essential reading, specific media texts and a range of supporting materials as outlined in the weekly schedule.

The module will draw on expertise from the Library and the Writing and Learning Centre, and the final weeks of the module will offer lectures, tutorials and workshops that will equip you with the skills and competencies necessary to write for both academic and broader audiences, with a focus on research, structure, argument and referencing.

The Minerva site for the module will act as a research centre and will contain both weekly support materials (lecture slides, essential and further reading) and broader research materials including reviews, demographic data, academic journal articles and popular media case studies.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Essay (2000 words)

• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Research Folder (2000 words equivalent)

• % Weighting: 50%