Syllabus

DIGM 502 Advanced New Media Topics

Spring 2014

Dr. Michael G Wagner, wagner@drexel.edu

Office Hours: By Appointment

Course Description

Advanced Seminar in New Media Topics. This Seminar is dedicated to topical readings and in-depth discussions in Digital Media ranging from virtual reality to digital art and the socio-cultural impact of the Internet.

Course Purpose

The purpose of this course is to prepare students for thesis development. It gives an introduction to theoretical frameworks of knowledge creation by discussing the fundamental principles of the philosophy of science as well as by presenting an overview of relevant research methods.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students will learn to understand the principles of the philosophy of science and how it relates to digital media research and its research methods.

Required Reading

Course Journal

Students are required to keep an online journal of the work related to this class. Journal entries have to be submitted at least once a week, Tuesday midnight before class, and have to at least include:

    1. Total number of hours spent on this course within this week

    2. A detailed description of the activities completed within this week

    3. Expected activities for the next week

Students within the accelerated program can base their weekly journal entries on the format used in the Senior Project class. Students are expected to work between 10 and 15 hour per week for this class.

Course Outline

Final Presentation

Prepare a presentation (powerpoint of similar, approximately 20 minutes) detailing the following:

    1. What is your research question? (Don't worry, you can still change it over the Summer.) How does it contribute to the creation of new knowledge? Is it falsifieable? Is there a special epistemological position that you need to follow?

    2. How do you intend to answer your research question? What is your research methodology? If you are using an empirical methodology (qualitative or quantitative) explain what kind of data you are collecting and how.

    3. Give a step-by-step overview of the individual steps you intend to take in order to follow your research methodology? If you are using a qualitative method, how do you intend to set up your interviews/focus groups, etc? If it is a quantitative method, what questionnaire do you intend to create? What questions do you intent to ask? How do you chose your subjects?

    4. Provide an academic article that uses a similar approach to the one you are proposing. (It does not need to be in a related field.) How did the authors of this article approach the methodology? What can you learn from their work? What is different to what you want to do? What is similar?

Grading

60% Class participation

20% Weekly journal entries

20% Final presentation

A+: 100-97, A: 94-96, A-: 90-93, B+: 87-89, B: 84-86, B-: 80-83,

C+: 77-79, C: 74-76, C-: 70-73, D+: 67-69, D: 60-66, F: 0-59

Attendance

You are expected to attend all classes. Class participation is an important part of your grade. Missing 3 classes results in automatic failure. If a student must miss class, it is the student's responsibility to contact me by phone the day prior to the missed class. Students will also be responsible for getting missed notes from the other students.

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, and Cheating Policy

http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/academic_dishonesty.asp

http://drexel.edu/studentaffairs/community_standards/overview/

Students with Disability Statement

http://www.drexel.edu/oed/disabilityResources/students/

Course Drop Policy

http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/course_drop.asp

Course Change Policy

The instructor reserves the right to change the course during the term at his or her discretion. These changes will be communicated to students via the syllabus, website announcement, or email.