Teaching

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 Communication 245:  Media and Culture (Group C breadth requirement)

• Offered Spring semester on campus to COMI majors ONLY.

• Offered WINTER and SUMMER ONLINE to ALL students.

  1. Who owns what you watch / consume and why does it matter?

  2. How has the internet (and social media in particular) transformed business, entertainment, politics, and government?

  3. In what ways are we affected by media (tv, news, social media) and how do we test it?

  4. How have newspaper / magazines/ television / movies evolved and how are these industries functioning now (in the face of digital technologies)?

This course explores the relationship between media and culture.  We will examine the history, functions, and industries of mass communication and will explore certain topics (technological convergence, consolidation of ownership, news economics, & media effects research) in depth. Students will acquire a broad understanding of how the mass media affect and interact with individuals and society.

When offered as a 5 Week online Course, students watch / listen to actual lectures (delivered during spring course) online, and complete the corresponding coursepack pages along the way. Grades are based on online quizzes and discussion boards.

Communication 418/618:  Special Topics: Entertainment and Politics

For years politics and entertainment have had a flirtatious and tumultuous relationship.  Nixon's appearance on Laugh-in, to the political comedy of the Smothers Brothers, to the realistic presidential drama of The West Wing, to presidential candidate appearances on late-night comedy programs.  In this course, we will look at some examples of this relationship throughout history, with a specific focus on the latest trends in "politico-tainment" from 1992 to the present.   We will also examine the other side of this equation - that is, while politics is integrated into entertainment programs, so to are public affairs programs becoming more entertainment-oriented in both content and style. In an increasingly fragmented media environment with dwindling audience shares, news programs have been getting creative with their content and production choices - often incorporating more celebrity "news,"  more dramatic stories, more of the bizarre and unusual, and more coverage of entertainment. We will discuss both sides of this phenomenon, examine causes and effects of these trends, and critically examine the normative implications for citizenship and the healthy functioning of a democracy.

Communication 408:  New Media Project Development

This course will integrate communication theory into the practice of web design, focusing on the social psychology of site usability.  The course is designed to provide students in the New Media Minor an opportunity to apply their knowledge of design and programming to a project for an actual non-profit client.  Students in this course should already have experience in and knowledge of web design and programming, as those will not be taught in this course.  Instead, we will learn how to apply social science to the study of new media, review literature on communication and usability theory, and integrate our observations into the production of a website for a client. 

Prereqs include Computer Science 103 and Art 307.

Communication 452/652:  Communication and Persuasion

This course explores the fundamental processes of persuasion – including psychological, sociological, and communicative processes.  In doing so, we will consider various aspects of messages, both verbal and visual, and how these elements can influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors.  We will explore each of these categories of persuasion techniques in detail and apply them to persuasion in the context of advertising and marketing, politics, and health campaigns.  In addition to acquiring skills as communication practitioners, we will also be exploring these processes as critical consumers of mass media – better understanding the tactics used by message senders to influence our attitudes, opinions, and behaviors.     

Communication 310:  Honors Seminar: Consuming the Romantic Utopia

This seminar offers students an opportunity to engage in an in-depth examination of Eva Illouz's, "Consuming the Romantic Utopia:  Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism."  Illouz explores the commodification of romance - how mass mediated messages have affected how we thinking about, envision, and engage in romance.  The book details years of field interviews, and analyzes the content of music, films, advertisements and advice columns that speak to and construct our culture's relationship with love.  Drawing upon the teachings and philosophies of Durkheim, Bell, and Weber, Illouz reveals the negotiations and tensions of meaning that exist in people's conceptualizations romance and the symbolic world of romance found in mass media.  Throughout the semester, students will critically examine the text, dissecting one chapter each week and relating its content to issues and events in the world around us.

Communication 450:  Mass Communication Effects

In this course, we will explore the effects that mass mediated messages might have on individuals and society.  We will examine the processes through which the mass media might influence behaviors, opinions, and cultural trends.  Discussions will focus on the processes underlying these effects in the context of various kinds of content, including politics, advertising, entertainment and news.  Throughout the course, students will become critical readers of media effects literature, critical users of mass mediated messages, and will grow familiar with the current controversies surrounding media effects (Are they real? How strong are they?  For whom are they strongest?).