MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

This course introduces the student to the history, philosophy, epistemology and analysis of media and mass communication. The class covers social, cultural, and political changes triggered by new media and communication technologies and presents current theory and research models. Students will specifically focus on the implications of the phonetic alphabet, the invention of the printing press, television, and cyberspace and will participate in a mixture of lectures, readings, discussions, experiments and projects.

• CLASS INFORMATION
  
• CLASS SCHEDULE

• MATERIAL
  
• REQUIREMENTS
  • Attendance
  • Assignments
  • Online Participation
  • Out of Class Optional Projects
  • Midterm Exam
  • Final Exam/Presentation
  • Grading Policy
  • Academic Integrity
  • Course Access

The lectures introduce a great deal of material that is not covered in the readings. Lectures are essential for passing the course; therefore students are required to attend every class meeting and to arrive on time. More than two absences will result in the loss of 10 percentage points from the final grade. More than three absences from lecture or two absences from section without prior consultation with the instructor will result in a failing grade for the class.

In any case, students are responsible for all work assigned at each class period and any assignments lose at least 5% for each calendar day that they are late. Absence from class must be excused in advance, with an expectation of a written submission of the material of the day. Any unexcused absences may substantially harm class partition grade.

Because it is essential for the course to learn and evaluate methods, solutions, ideas and programs designed by class participants, assignments must be completed on time. Students are expected to submit all completed assignments on the due dates indicated on the class schedule. Late assignments will only be accepted at the sole discretion of the instructor up to one week after the due date. Handouts of presentations have to be prepared and distributed to all students prior to the presentation. In fairness to students who complete assignments on time, late assignments will be assessed the loss of one grade. After the one-week grace period, late assignments will not be accepted.

In addition to placing all written assignments in a designated box that will be set out outside the office until 4:00 P.M. on the day they are due; all assignments are to be submitted online to the bulletin board. Do not leave assignments in the professor or teaching assistants (TA's) office or mailbox. Everyone has to register to the online classroom.

There will be projects, exercises, assignments and a final exam/ presentation for the class. All projects will follow the spirit of the academic and open source community, the GPL license in particular. Each group project will be documented with a final project and product documentation that clearly details the contributions and efforts of each member of the team. The documentation will serve two purposes: it will explain, demonstrate and sell the product and it will be an integral part of the final grade for each student. (The product documentation can follow the documented Corporate Identity CI or Graphical User Interface GUI/Theme.) All written assignments will be prepared in English, based on templates provided to the class, following the style guides of the Modern Language Association and including a current student portrait measuring 100 pixel x 140 pixel.

Assigned readings are to be completed by the dates indicated on the schedule.

Participation in asynchronous, online discussions and other course activities is mandatory. This course will require significant weekly participation in the online environment. Students are required to submit each week two questions to the bulletin board/online classroom on each reading assignment, topic, problem or section. These questions will form the basis for class discussion. Each student will then select two questions from another student and respond to that question in the online classroom. All students are required to read, evaluate and grade the answers of their peers in the bulletin board.

Students must do assigned readings and participate in discussions and collaborations. Students must participate in critiques of projects, providing feedback about other students' work. Students who are having apparent difficulties in the course will be asked to arrange to meet with the instructor.

All students are encouraged to develop and propose an optional assignment. Each project, worth up to 5 points, may be used to improve your grade. A written report must be submitted at the final presentation of each optional project. Examples of optional projects can include but are not limited to: researching of a particular area of education, preparation of class materials and handouts, and/or maintaining a weekly electronic discussion. A maximum of 2 optional projects may be submitted.

Taking the midterm is a requirement of the course. Missing the midterm without a valid excuse will result in a failing grade for the entire course. To be considered valid, an excuse must be proffered prior to the exam that is to be missed, if at all possible. The excuse must be in writing, and it must be verifiable. These criteria are necessary, not sufficient, however. I reserve the right to deem an excuse meeting the above criteria invalid. If a student does have a valid excuse we reserve the right to decide to give a written make-up, to give an oral make-up exam or to give no make-up exam and put extra weight on the problem sets and final exam.

The Final Exam will be a certification-style exam consisting of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and short essay questions to demonstrate mastery of the material covered; questions will be based on the learning objectives for each topic.

The grading criteria for the class will be as follows:

(USA – letter grading system of the United States,
GPA – United States grade point average,
D – European university grading system.)

Final Course Grade Calculation:

Grades will depend largely on level of effort, with class contribution, participation and attendance influencing borderline decisions.

All requests for regrades must be submitted in writing within one week of the exam being handed back or graded.

Students are expected to maintain high standards of ethical conduct and academic integrity. Cheating and plagiarism in any form are unacceptable and will result in a grade reduction and possibly grounds for a failing grade. Students are responsible for adhering to the ethical policies and the policies for responsible computing, which can be found online at the following location: http://www.informatik.fh-kl.de/dm/organisation/po_aktuell_text.html

All students are expected and encouraged to discuss topics and questions raised by this course. Students shall also identify appropriate resources, authorities and projects, Open Source projects in particular, that will help them preparing their assignments. Ideas or material incorporated from outside sources or another student however, must be documented appropriately. Similarly, in the case of group work and Open Source projects, the bounds of what was contributed by whom or from which source, should be explicitly and clearly delineated in the final individual reports. Any material quoted or paraphrased from other sources must be fully identified, including secondary and original sources according to the MLA (Modern Language Association) style guides. (The latest version of the MLA Style Manual, the standard guide for graduate students, teachers, and scholars, can be found online at the following location: http://www.mla.org/.)

Each student will have access to the course resources during the semester, generally for a period of 6 months from the day of enrollment in the course. Please read our Courseware and Groupware License for more details.

Remark: The information presented on this website does not represent an offer to buy or sell anything, it is intended for educational purposes only. The European Graduate School is evaluating an Associate status with Amazon.com. Although it is advisable to use the aforementioned material for reading assigments and class studies, there are other publishers, editions and sources that might serve the same purpose.

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