WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY
PROPOSAL FOR NEW COURSES
Department _Mass Communication_____ Date 11.13.05
MCOM356 ___Media and Society--International Three (3)______
Course No. Course Name Credits
This proposal is for a(n) ___X___ Undergraduate Course ______Graduate Course
Applies to: __X__ Major __X___ Minor __ __ University Studies*
_____ Required _____ Required
_X__ Elective __X__ Elective
Prerequisites _____None______
Grading method __X___ Grade only ______P/NC only ______Grade and P/NC Option
Frequency of offering Annually
*For University Studies Program course approval, the form Proposal for University Studies Courses must also be completed. submitted according to the instructions on that form. N/A
Provide the following information (attach materials to this proposal): Those Materials Are Attached
A. Course Description
1. Catalog description.
2. Course outline of the major topics and subtopics (minimum of two-level outline).
3. Basic instructional plan and methods.
4. Course requirements (papers, lab work, projects, etc.) and means of evaluation.
5. Course materials (textbook(s), articles, etc.).
6. List of references.
B. Rationale
1. Statement of the major focus and objectives of the course.
2. Specify how this new course contributes to the departmental curriculum.
3. Indicate any course(s) which may be dropped if this course is approved.
C. Impact of this Course on other Departments, Programs, Majors, or Minors
1. Does this course increase or decrease the total credits required by a major or minor of any other department? If so, which department(s)?
2. List the departments, if any, which have been consulted about this proposal.
D. University Studies Course Proposals
The form Proposal for University Studies Course must also be completed and submitted according to the instructions on that form. N/A
Attach a Financial and Staffing Data Sheet. That Form is Attached
Attach an Approval Form. That Form is Attached
Department Contact Person for this Proposal:
___
Name (please print) Prof. John N. Weis, Chair, MCOM Phone e-mail address
A. Course Description: MCOM356: Media and Society—International . Three (3) Semester Hours. One Semester/ One Summer Session
1. Catalog Description:
This course is designed to provide students with exposure to concepts and principles involved in understanding the inter-relationship between the mass media and society in a country other than the United States. The course is very similar in content and emphasis to MCOM100, Media and Society. In this case the relationship being examined is specific to the country being visited during that particular term. No prerequisites.
2. Course Outline:
The course outline below is for the Media and Society—UK course offered this past summer. That offering was five days a week, two hours per day. Two weeks were spent on campus here at WSU; two weeks were spent on-site in London.
The outline for Media and Society—International would remain fundamentally the same, but the content each time would be tailored to that particular international location. The proposed offering for MCOM356 this coming summer, for example, is to involve travel to Rome. Content would be adjusted to reflect the mass media in Rome/Italy.
Session One
Introduction to the course. Overview of the history of the United Kingdom. Overview of the mass media and mass communication professionals in the United Kingdom. Discussion of trip details. Assignments for group research and presentations.
Session Two
Student presentations on the History of the UK and of London and of historic entities that today make up the UK. Discussion.
Session Three
Student presentations on government in the UK, the monarchy, and London geography. Discussion.
Session Four
Student presentations on the history of the mass media in the UK and of mass comm professions the UK. Faculty-led discussion comparing/contrasting UK/US in this regard. Discussion.
Session Five
Student presentations on the big media move from Fleet Street to Canary Wharf, Rupert Merdoch. Recap of trip details and reminders on trip preparations. Discussion.
Session Six
Student presentations on London College of Communication, the UK education system including post- secondary education. Comparing/contrasting UK/US mass communication study and expectations within the profession. Discussion.
Session Seven
Student presentations on the London transportation system: how it works and how we’ll get around. Etiquette in representing WSU, Mass Comm Department and U.S. in another country. Language and customs. Discussion.
Session Eight
Lecture on London schedule: the classes and site visits. Faculty, housing, meals and independent travel while there. Discussion
Session Nine
Discussion of alternative sites to visit, e.g. British Library with Gutenberg Bible, Magna Carta, historic published works; Tate Gallery for photojournalism, etc. Student presentations from their research. Discussion
Session 10
Roundtable of faculty, staff and students with previous experience in that society with those media. Final overview for travel. Discussion.
Travel to London. Arrival Saturday.
Sunday: guided charter bus tour of London to acquaint students with the city and where things are in relation to each other and to the student housing, London College of Communication, etc.
Session 11
At London College of Communication 10 a.m. to noon; “The Shape of British Media Today.” 1 to 2:30 p.m. “British Media in the Future.” Guest speaker, Dr. Tony Delano. Discussion of the differing journalistic traditions, audiences, editorial values. National vs provincial. Broadsheet vs tabloid. Centralized British national press vs. widely dispersed US newspapers.
Session 12
Begin at London College of Communication 10 a.m. to noon, “Where Mass Communication in Britain All Began.” Guest speaker Dr. Tony Delano. 1 to 3:30 p.m. site visit to Fleet Street and St. Bride’s Institute and museum of printing in the UK. Talk by Bride’s Institute curator on history of printing and publishing in the UK. Tour of facility and observation of printing press displays, etc.
Session 13
10 a.m. to noon. Session with Members, British Parliament on media issues. 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Fleet Street walking tour; historic newspaper sites, Old Bailey, Dr. Johnson’s home, behind-the-scenes of the judicial system, etc. With Dr. Tony Delano .
Session 14
10 a.m. to noon; 1 to 3 p.m. Marketing and Advertising Solutions in the UK. A workshop and practical student group projects using British ad techniques and strategies. Guest lecturer, Chris Bullar. The creative processes and strategies both from theoretical and practical perspectives will be examined. Students will be expected to work on a number of specific briefs to produce advertising. The emphasis of these workshop sessions will be on ideas generation and problem solving rather than craft skills in visual communications. A uniquely British perspective.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday—Individual travel/tourism. Because of the heavy class and site visit schedule while in London, students used this independent time to visit London and other areas of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy and, in one case, Holland, on their own as part of the experiential learning component of the course.
Session 15
Classes resumed Tuesday at 10 a.m. to noon with a discussion of “The Combination of British Media— Public Service vs. Commercial Broadcasting, TV and Radio in the UK. Guest lecturer, Dr. Jason Copley 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. a visit to the London Guardian newspaper editorial and production departments.
Session 16
10 a.m. to noon “The BBC in the age of Fox TV—Why There Are No British ‘Shock Jocks’.” Dr. Delano. 1 to 2:30 p.m. visit to the World Service at the BBC.
Session 17
10 a.m. to noon. Mass Communication Law in the UK. Guest lecturer, Dr. Paul Charman. The rather dramatic differences between American media, based on a Constitution and the First Amendment, and British media law, based primarily on history, tradition and precedent. 1 p.m. 2:30 p.m. visit to Canary Wharf, the new home of journalism in the UK. Guide, Dr. Tony Delano.
Session 18
10 a.m. to noon. Visit to London “Picture Agency,” for a view into photojournalism in the UK. Student visit to the London Observatory, noon to 2:30 p.m. 3 to 4:30 p.m. Farewell Social Event with WSU faculty, chaperones and students and the LCC faculty and staff. Final papers due in digital format.
Saturday—Return to the U.S.
3. Instructional Plan and Methods:
Instruction would consist of lectures; group research and oral reports; site visits to mass media outlets in the country involved in the offering that particular term, e.g. London, Rome; group discussions; individual research and experiential learning report. Classes while at WSU would involve lectures and group research on the international site and the mass media in the country involved in the course that term with individual student reports given to the class in preparation for the international component of the course. Classes while in the international site would involve morning lectures and discussions with site visits in the afternoon to media outlets discussed earlier in the day. Daily discussions of the previous day’s events. Ten-page-minimum formal, final report by individual students on the mass media in the host country and reflections on experiential lessons learned is required.
4. Course Requirements:
As discussed above, students are required to conduct research as assigned on the host country and the mass media involved and present reports to the class in preparation for travel to the destination country during the time spent on the WSU campus. Students are required to be involved in lectures in the host country and to participate in site visits. Required to be involved in group discussions in preparation for site visits and regarding experiences during those site visits. Each student is required to complete a paper about the mass media in the international site country and about their experiential learning. The final paper will measure individual knowledge of the subject matter, but the primary emphasis in this course is on experiential learning. The 10- page paper will follow APA format. The instructor will evaluate quality of oral presentations, written product, participation. The grading criteria below should clearly indicate a part of the final grade is dependent on successful group work; the rest is determined by individual performance.
Grades will be determined based on the following:
· Individual Participation: 30 per cent
· Group Projects, Including Research and Presentations: 30 per cent
· Final Paper: 40 per cent
Scale: A = 90-100 B = 80-89 C = 70-79 D = 60-69 F = <60
5. Materials, etc.:
There is no textbook. Syllabus and handouts will be provided. Videotapes will be shown.
B. Rationale
1. Major Focus and Objectives:
Do the media simply reflect the society in any given country today or do they influence and shape it? Do the media "give the public what it wants" or do they actually determine what people will read, listen to and view consistent with identified social and political agendas? Perhaps at no other time in our history have the media played a bigger role in how people view their communities, their governments, their nations and the world. What has been the result of this ever-increasing role of the mass media in the lives of people in those countries?
This course examines these important societal questions by examining the mass media in another country. Specifically, students will examine the role of books, magazines, newspapers, recordings, radio, television and the Internet—and the mass communication professionals who use them--in an International setting and experience first-hand the interplay between them and the people in that country. Importantly, the world has grown “smaller,” with an international sense of community and inter-dependence. This course gives students experience with the mass media in another country, familiarization with a different culture and a sense of world-community first-hand not available in the classroom.
2. Department Curriculum:
This course provides students with experiential learning and an International perspective not available at Winona State University. This is the Mass Communication Department’s contribution to L-21 in this regard. This provides a non-traditional, experiential learning opportunity to students. It broadens their awareness of mass communication in general. It provides direct experience with another culture and how that culture affects its media and how the media affect that culture.
This course would be an elective in all Mass Comm options. The department is trying to provide more elective opportunities to its students, again, to broaden offerings and, therefore, learning experience opportunities.
3. Department Impact:
This course will not result in any courses being dropped.
C. Impact of Course on Other Departments, etc.
1. Does This Affect Credits?
This course would not increase the number of required hours any Mass Communication option, the major itself or minor. It would, however, become an elective in all of those options. The department has formally approved this as a new elective. There is no impact on any other department at Winona State. The course is not restricted to majors, minors, etc. There is no prerequisite. It is the intent of the Mass Communication Department to seek cooperative, interdisciplinary involvement with other departments as able in future offerings beyond this coming summer.
2. List Departments Consulted
The chair of this department has talked with Dean Gabe Manrique about this course offering and its content in Dr. Manrique’s capacity as WSU coordinator for international study. The chair has also talked with Dr. Yogesh Grover as it relates to Global Studies. Both are in support of this course offering.
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY
APPROVAL FORM
Routing form for new and revised courses and programs. Course or Program: MCOM356 Media and Society--International
Department Recommendation______
Department Chair Prof. John N. Weis Date e-mail address
Dean’s Recommendation _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
______
Dean of College Date
A2C2 Recommendation _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
For: _____ Major _____ Minor
______
Chair of A2C2 Date
Graduate Council Recommendation _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
(if applicable)
______
Chair of Graduate Council Date
______
Director of Graduate Studies Date
Faculty Senate Recommendation _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
______
President of Faculty Senate Date
Academic Vice President Recommendation _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
______
Academic Vice President Date
Decision of President _____ Approved _____ Disapproved
______
President Date
Please forward to Registrar.
Registrar ______Please notify department chair via e-mail that curricular change has been recorded.
Date entered