6 ECTS credits
180 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1021436CER for all students in the 1st semester
at
a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.
- Semester
- 1st semester
- Enrollment based on exam contract
- Possible
- Grading method
- Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
- Can retake in second session
- Yes
- Enrollment Requirements
- Students must have taken ‘Critical Thinking in Communication Studies’, before they can enroll in this course.
- Taught in
- English
- Partnership Agreement
- Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
- Faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
- Department
- Communication Sciences
- External partners
- Universiteit Gent
- Educational team
- Frederik Dhaenens
(course titular)
- External teachers
- Frederik Dhaenens
- Activities and contact hours
- 30 contact hours Lecture
150 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
- Course Content
In order to understand the political-economic and socio-cultural meanings of media and communication in contemporary societies, we must look at and learn from the past. This course offers the students different historical perspectives on media and communication, and demonstrates and illustrates how these historical insights can help us understand contemporary mediated phenomena.
The aim of this course is threefold. First of all, it introduces students to different tendencies and ‘theoretical milestones’ within media and communication history. Second, by elaborating on the notion of multiple histories, this course demonstrates that there is no singular way of writing (and rewriting) media and communication history. It criticizes the hegemony of certain historical accounts and argues that shifting the focus from technology to socio-cultural concerns may result in different histories. Concretely, the course zooms in on a selection of themes, events, and concepts that return throughout the histories of media and communication (e.g., propaganda, moral panic, celebrity culture). Last, the course stimulates students to be critical of historical accounts on media and communication.
- Course material
- Digital course material (Required) : downloadable powerpoint slides
Digital course material (Required) : additional scholarly literature (max. 2 book chapters or articles per seminar)
- Additional info
This course draws on the following learning methods:
- Lecture: The introductory lectures introduce students to key concepts, theories, and various historical perspectives on media and communication. The thematic lectures demonstrate various historical perspectives by discussing particular themes, concepts and practices into depth.
- Self-reliant study activities: Students individually and independently process and assess additional scholarly literature that deals with the content of the course.
- Learning Outcomes
-
General Competences
Final competences
- Being able to describe the key concepts, historical developments and important theories that deal with media and communication history.
- Being able to demonstrate the multilayered and complex character of historical phenomena related to media and communication.
- Being able to demonstrate a critical attitude towards media histories.
- Being able to argue what the relevance is of media and communication studies for the analysis of contemporary problems and, as such, demonstrate the societal role and responsibility of a media and communication scholar.
- Grading
-
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
- Written Exam
with a relative weight of 1
which comprises 100% of the final mark.
- Additional info regarding evaluation
This course uses one examination method: the written exam. The exam consists of questions of reproduction, insight and application:
- The questions of reproduction and insight test the student’s knowledge and understanding of the key concepts, important theories, and histories.
- The questions of application evaluates the student’s abilities to apply the key concepts onto contemporary, relevant events within contemporary media culture.
- Allowed unsatisfactory mark
- The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.
Academic context
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies