Course syllabus spring 2020
Course syllabus spring 2020
Title
Media and Communication Studies: Making Use of the Media: Activism, Entrepreneurship and Strategy
Swedish title
Media and Communication Studies: Making Use of the Media: Activism, Entrepreneurship and Strategy
Course code
KK645B
Credits
15 credits
Grading scale
UA / Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U)
Language of instruction
English
Decision-making body
Faculty of Culture and Society
Syllabus approval date
2019-04-03
Syllabus valid from
2020-01-20
Entry requirements
Prerequisite courses for this course are: KK640B Media and Communication Studies: Key Themes in Media and Communication Studies (passed) KK641B Media and Communication Studies: Understanding the Creative Industries (passed) KK642B Media and Communication Studies: Collaborative Media (passed) KK643B Media and Communication Studies: Research Methodology (passed) and KK644B Media and Communication Studies: Master's (One-Year) Thesis (passed)
Level
Advanced level
Main field
Media and Communications Science
Progression level
A1F
Progression level in relation to degree requirements
The course is included in the main field of media and communication studies, and can be part of the degree requirements for each master's degree (60 or 120 credits).
Course objectives
This course takes an action-oriented approach to Media and Communication Studies, focusing on media activism, entrepreneurship, and strategic communication. Students engage both theory and practice toward a media intervention project for a selected organisation or company in which they are to make use of media for tactical and strategic action.
Course contents
The course begins with lectures on the three key concepts of activism, entrepreneurship, and strategy. Drawing from these lectures, and on the basis of the reading list, students work on a media intervention project focused combining these three key concepts and practices, either individually or in groups. The work may be carried out in collaboration with external actors.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course students shall:
- be able to critically analyse the connections and tensions between strategy, activism and entrepreneurship
- be able to identify, plan and implement a project that deploys aspects of communication strategy, entrepreneurship, and/or media activism
- clearly and critically report on different practices of activism, entrepreneurship, and strategy, and the relationship between these categories
Learning activities
The learning activities include lectures, seminars and presentations by guest speakers. A key learning activity involves the students’ project work in which they plan and produce a media intervention to augment a selected organisation or company's mission. Students present their ongoing work with this project to their teachers and fellow students in small-group feedback sessions dedicated to this purpose. Students may attend class on campus or online.
Assessment
The students carry out a project individually or in groups, which is presented and assessed both orally and in writing. The project is assessed in three steps and through three assignments 1) a project plan (2,5 credits), 2) an oral presentation of the project (2,5 credits) and 3) an essay making use of and critically reflecting upon the literature for carrying out the project (10 credits). Through these three interrelated assignments, students are comprehensively assessed on their ability to articulate and put into practice the connections between the three thematic areas of the course - media activism, entrepreneurship, and strategic communication.
Course literature and other study material
- Carragee, Kevin and Lawrence, Frey (2016) ‘Communication Activism Research:
- Engaged Communication Scholarship for Social Justice’, International Journal of Communication 10, pp: 1932–8036
- Hallahan, Derina Holtzhausen, Betteke van Ruler, Dejan Vercic & Krishnamurthy Sriramesh (2007) ’Defining Strategic Communication’, International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1(1), 3-35
- Meikle, Graham (2018 (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Media and Activism. New York: Routledge (a selection of chapters)
- Ricketts, Aidan. (2012) The Activists Handbook: A step-by-step guide to participatory democracy (Zed Books)
A selection of journal articles and chapters available through the library's full-text databases will be added.
Course evaluation
The University provides students who participate in or who have completed a course with the opportunity to make known their experiences and viewpoints with regards to the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarize the results of course evaluations as well as informing participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures initiated in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).
Interim rules
If a course ceases to be available or has undergone any major changes, the students are to be offered two opportunities to retake the examination during the year following the change for re-examination, based on the syllabus which applied at registration.