Understanding Mass Communication

COMM 360 :: Fall 2009

 

          

Professor:  Dr. Jeffrey Jones  

Office:  BAL 3012

Office Phone:  683-6267      

E-mail:  jpjones@odu.edu

Office Hours:  Tuesday 3:00-4:45, and by appointment (via e-mail)

Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30-2:45 p.m., Mills Godwin Building (MGB) 101

Web site:  http://www.odu.edu/al/jpjones

 

Course Overview:

This course is a general introduction to the study and analysis of mass media—television, film, newspapers, radio, magazines, books, and the Internet. Students will learn the basic frames through which mass media are studied and the major questions that structure that analysis.  Students will also interrogate the place and role of media in society—as economic commodities and industries, suppliers of narratives, socializing agents, creators of social and political reality, sites of pleasure and distraction, sources of identity construction, and global cultural forces. Students are encouraged to link what they are learning in class to their own patterns of media consumption and use.  Likewise, students are also encouraged to challenge their own thinking about media and its place and role in “mediating” our world.

 

Evaluation:

  1. Tests:  Three (3) objective tests (multiple choice) consisting of approximately 50 questions each.  Each test will cover the lectures and videos shown in class, as well as the corresponding readings.  Please note that the class lecture may not cover everything in the reading.  In fact, on occasion, the lecture may not mention the reading at all.  Nevertheless, you are responsible for knowing the material in each reading for the tests.  The final test is not comprehensive.  Each test is typically scaled in order to throw out questions that were poorly worded or inadequately taught.  Please bring a BLUE scan sheet and a pencil with you to every test.  Grades will be posted to Blackboard within 48-hours. Dates for the exams are Sept. 29, Nov. 3, and Dec. 15.  Each test is worth 30% of your final grade.

 

  1. Blackboard Discussions: Because this is a large lecture class, the opportunities for class discussion are somewhat limited.  Hence, class discussion will largely take place on-line.  Each student should use the opportunity to post their questions, comments, arguments, etc. about the readings and lectures on the Discussion Board in Blackboard.  Students can also post links to articles they’ve found or bring up other items from media culture, but all discussions should relate in some way to our class.  You are required to make at least 10 postings per testing cycle.  That is, you should either create your own post or reply to someone else’s post prior to each test.  While it might be tempting to sit down and do them all at the least minute, you are defeating the purpose of this assignment: a running discussion that follows the conversation we are having in-class. Students who therefore post at the last minute will be penalized. This assignment counts for 10% of your final grade.

 

 

 

Required Readings:

1. Croteau, David and William Hoynes. Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2003.

2. Blackboard Readings

 

Class Policies:

Knowing this syllabus:  The first exam will include two questions on class policies as described in this syllabus.  Therefore, you should read this thoroughly.

 

Grades:

If you would like to discuss how to improve your grades, please come see me during office hours—I don’t discuss graded work in the hallway or after class.  There is a 24-hour “cooling off” rule on the return of graded work.  That is, 24-hours must pass before you are allowed to communicate with me about your grade (in person or via e-mail).  To repeat, that means no heated verbal discussions or flaming e-mails.  After 24-hours, I will be happy to talk to you about your grade.  That includes the period after the posting of final grades.  Also, please no e-mails telling me what it is you “deserve” in the class.  We all deserve great things in life, including happiness.  But happiness, like grades, is something to be earned, not awarded by someone on high.  Hence, you should do what it takes to earn the grade you desire.  But please spare me e-mail appeals that reference what it is you “deserve.”

 

Tests:  All three exams require a blue scan sheet, available for purchase in the university bookstore. See the last page of the syllabus for tips on taking multiple choice exams, as well as ways in which you should study and prepare for this class.

 

Missed Tests:

Excused absences for missing a test include only the following:

·         Illness that requires medical treatment (must provided written documentation of doctor or health clinic visit)

·         Death in immediate family (must provide obituary)

·         Official college sponsored activity (must provide note from college personnel)

 

Review Sessions and Study Guides: 

The PowerPoint slides should serve as your study guide.  If an item appears on the slide, then you are responsible for knowing it for the test.  Please also see the last page of the syllabus for helpful study tips and test taking techniques.

 

Attendance:

There is no official attendance policy.  I do not take roll, so you may attend as you like (no need to notify me of your absence).

 

 

 

PowerPoint Slides of Lectures: 

Slides are available only during class (that is, I do not post them on-line).  Attendance is therefore highly recommended.

 

Participation:

Beyond the discussions on-line, students are invited and encouraged to participate in class.  Please speak loudly so your peers can hear you.

E-mail account activation

As a participant in this class, you are required to have an active ODU e-mail account (your Midas account).  This is important for class communication, as well as required for you to access Blackboard and to fill out the teaching evaluations at the end of the semester.

 

Contacting the Professor:

The best way to reach me is via e-mail (rather than office phone).  While the medium encourages instantaneous communication, recognize that it may take at least 48-hours before I can respond to all e-mails.  Therefore, please be patient if a response to your inquiries is not at the pace you would prefer.  Also, please put “COMM 360” in the subject line of your e-mail messages to me.

 

Course Evaluations

As a participant in this class, you are required to fill out a student evaluation of teaching performance on-line at the end of the semester. This also helps me in modifying the class in the future to make it better.  Beware of the ranking system: remember that all of the questions are put in the affirmative.  Therefore, 5 (“strongly agree”) is best, while 1 (“strongly disagree”) is worst.

 

Blackboard Readings

A few readings are posted in .pdf files (readable with Adobe Acrobat) under the “Course Documents” section of Blackboard. 

 

Withdrawing from the Class

The last day to drop the class without a penalty is November 10. Grades for your first two tests will be returned prior to that date, so please make an informed decision about continuance by that date.

 

Students with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodations are provided for students with disabilities.  Students should present me with the appropriate documentation from the Office of Disability Services and contact me as soon as possible to discuss the appropriate accommodations. 

 

Disruptive Behavior

The Office of Student Judicial Affairs has published a guide on College Classroom Conduct.  In short, you should refrain from: 

 

Therefore, please turn off cell phones (including the buzz mode), and no text messaging.  And again, please note:  The usage of laptop computers, cell phones, personal assistants, or Blackberries are prohibited.   

 

Schedule (subject to change):

 

T 9/1:  Class Introduction—Studying Mass Media

 

Societal Context

TH 9/3: Chapter 1—Historical Considerations

 

T 9/8: Chapter 1—Media and Society

 

Production

TH 9/10: Chapter 2—Media Economics: Ownership     

 

T 9/15: Chapter 2—Media Economics: Advertising

 

TH 9/17: Merchants of Cool (No reading)

 

T 9/22: Blackboard Reading—Culture Industries

 

TH 9/24: Ch. 4—Media Personnel and Organizational Constraints

 

T 9/29: **Test 1

 

TH 10/1: Ch. 3—Legal Regulations

 

T 10/6: Ch. 3—Bureaucratic Regulations

 

TH 10/8: Ch. 3—Self-Regulation

 

Texts

T 10/13:  **No Class; Fall Break**

 

TH 10/15:  Ch. 5—Media and Ideology

 

T 10/20: Ch. 6—Media Representations

 

TH 10/22:  Ch. 6—Media Representations

 

T 10/27: Media Representations (no reading)

 

TH 10/29: How to Read a Media Text (no reading)

 

T 11/3: **Test 2

 

TH 11/5: Ch. 7—Media and Politics

 

T 11/10:  Ch. 7—Media and Politics

**Last day to withdraw from the class without penalty

 

TH 11/12: Ch. 7—Media Effects

 

Audiences

T 11/17:  Blackboard Reading—Media and Politics (Satire and Entertainment)

 

TH 11/19: Ch. 8—Active Audiences

 

T 11/24:  **No Class

 

TH 11/26:  **No Class; Thanksgiving Holidays

 

T 12/1: Fan Culture (no reading)

 

TH 12/3:  Blackboard Reading—Fan Culture

 

T 12/8: Blackboard Reading—Internationalization and Globalization

 

TH 12/10: New Media/Social Media (no reading)

 

T 12/15: **Test 3, 12:30 p.m.

 

 

 

Test Taking Skills

 

Appropriate Study Behaviors:

  1. Read and come to class.  Perhaps best to read prior to coming to class, then review the reading and your notes after class.  How did the lecture clarify the reading?
  2. Compare your notes with a peer—what did he or she get that you didn’t?
  3. Integrate the readings into your notes.  Using the PowerPoint slides, go back through the readings and locate the materials there.  How does the reading help you more fully understand the point made in lecture?
  4. Rewrite or organize your notes into a structure that helps you memorize or learn it better.  Can your notes be distilled into an outline or matrix that facilitates better learning?
  5. Create a study group that meets prior to the night before a test.  [The night before a test should be reserved for your own private study.]  Go through each lecture and take turns quizzing each other on major points.  Explain difficult concepts to each other.
  6. For difficult concepts you do not understand, ask the professor for clarification during office hours (as opposed to e-mail), especially after you have tried to understand an issue better by referring to the reading.  The smartest thing you can do is admit you don’t understand and seek to rectify it.

 

Three primary ways of testing:

  1. Recall—simply memory work.  Can you recall information as given?
  2. Comprehension—do you understand the concept enough to put it in your own language? Can you explain the concept? On a multiple choice test, therefore, the question and answer may be in different language that it was in your notes, but they mean the same thing.
  3. Application—can you apply what you know to a new situation?  Can you give an example?

 

Tips for taking multiple choice tests:

  1. Underline key words or phrases—what is the question asking you?
  2. Eliminate bad or farcical choices by scratching through them.
  3. Try writing the answer to the question to the side without looking at the choices you are given.
  4. Rephrase the question or simplify it.
  5. Read the entire question with each individual answer (that is, read the question and each answer together as a whole).
  6. Beware of “all of the above” questions—make sure all choices are correct.
  7. Beware of “all of the following EXCEPT” or “which of the following is INCORRECT” types of questions—remember you are looking for answers that are false.
  8. Pay attention to qualifying words (“must”, “always,” etc.)
  9. Stick to what was covered in this class, not what you might remember from another class or from mainstream thinking.