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Not available at this time

This course will provide an overview of the theories, tensions, and debates within the study of critical media literacy as it applies to K-12 classrooms and community organizations. Current practical and analytic research in this area will be examined. This course has a required civic engagement component; students will work with and on behalf of youth in the community on media literacy-related projects. This course is one of the required courses for the Media Literacy Certificate and satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Comm majors.

An exploration of the counter-cultural movements of the 1960s and 70s and later, hosted by someone who was there and lived to tell the tale. Through the medium of documentary and fiction films, we will delve into the musical, sexual, artistic, political and spiritual upheavals that rocked America and Europe back then and that continue to reverberate today. This course satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Comm majors.

This course explores the influence of the mass media on the social world, particularly the media's impact on audiences. We will investigate various approaches utilized to determine if, when, and how media influence viewers, listeners, and readers. We will examine this issue from both scientific and cultural studies perspectives. Some of the questions we will consider include: How does television violence impact society and individuals? Can watching sex on television and film lead to teenage promiscuity?

This course introduces analytical and theoretical tools used to make sense of visual culture. Topics include the relationship between real-life vision and looking at images, persuasive images, images as evidence.

This course introduces analytical and theoretical tools used to make sense of visual culture. Topics include the relationship between real-life vision and looking at images, persuasive images, images as evidence.

Semiotics is the study of meaning within society. It deepens our understanding of culture, communication and philosophy, and provides us with a theoretical and practical framework for analyzing the world. The course will introduce and develop the semiotic approach, using literature, politics, film, TV, music, and our everyday surroundings and conversations.

The concerns, controversies, theoretical perspectives, and body of knowledge on the issue of violence on television, in video games, on the Internet and in social media are examined. All students will work in groups to conceptualize and carry out an original research project on the topic. Social science research studies on the topic of media violence comprise the weekly reading assignments, and students submit brief reflection papers on the main points from the readings each week.

In this class, we focus on acquiring a principled understanding of everyday, face-to-face interaction as the process by which we create, maintain, and manage social experience. Students acquire vocabulary and concepts to account for, analyze, and evaluate interpersonal communication in social and cultural context. (Gen. Ed. SB)