Australian
Indigenous studies
Australian studies
Communications
Community
studies
Cognitive science
History-politics
Journalism
Psychological studies
Public
relations
Sociology and social research
Social and community
welfare
Writing
humcass.info@arts.monash.edu.au
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/humcass
Room 283, building 2W, Gippsland campus
+
61 3 9902 6339
Located at the Gippsland campus, the School of Humanities, Communications and
Social Sciences offers a range of undergraduate courses, enabling students to
choose a program which suits their specific interests, needs and career goals.
The academic programs offered range from the broad, generalist Bachelor of Arts
to the more specifically vocational programs such as the Bachelor of Social and
Community Welfare and Bachelor of Arts (Journalism). The school also conducts
an extensive off-campus learning program.
Within the school are seven disciplines: Australian Indigenous studies,
cognitive science and psychological studies, communications and writing,
journalism, history-politics, sociology and social research, and social and
community welfare.
The school also has the following research units: the Centre for Gippsland
Studies, the Gippsland Research and Information Service (GRIS), the Research
Unit on Work and Communication Futures, and the Bionics and Cognitive Science
Centre, and has established close links with the Centre for Rural Communities.
Australian Indigenous studies offers a range of units that are designed to introduce students to the historical, social and political aspects of Australian Indigenous society. Australian Indigenous studies will provide an understanding of the relationships between Indigenous Australians and the dominant society as well as developing students with a sound knowledge and sensitivity to work within Aboriginal communities (for full details see entry for the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies earlier in this section).
Australian studies is an interdisciplinary minor available within the School of Humanities, Communications and Social Sciences. The minor includes units from a range of disciplines within the school, enabling students to develop a broad understanding of Australian cultures, lifestyles and societies. Students wishing to undertake a minor must complete four of COM1010, AIS1011, SCY2802, SCY2804/SCY3804, HPL2501, HPL2510/HPL3510 and AIS2806/AIS3806.
Communications offers a range of units designed to equip students with specialised but flexible skills in describing and analysing the organisation, processes, diverse uses and effects of `traditional' and `new' communications technologies. Communications is interdisciplinary, drawing on literary and screen theory, social and political theory, media and cultural studies. The emphasis is on media as productive of the ways in which the social relations between individuals and social/political institutions are organised. The major in communications provides the student with an understanding of the practical operation of communication media as well as the social and cultural dimensions, considering relations between the audiences, producers and policy-makers involved. Students wishing to complete major must complete COM1010, COM1020, COM2407/COM3407, COM2409/COM3409, COM2411/COM3411, COM2413/COM3413, COM2423/COM3423 and one of COM2408/COM3408, COM2417/COM3417 or PRL2003.
This is a minor sequence of interdisciplinary units introducing students to community issues in post-modern contexts. These units aim to expose students to current debates about the meaning, nature and outlook of communities. Students wishing to complete a minor must complete HPL2511 and any three of AIS1011, SCY2809/SCY3809, SCW2311, SCW2304 and HPL2506/HPL3506.
Cognitive
science is a multidisciplinary field focusing primarily on the study of
thinking in people and machines. The units in the cognitive science sequence
focus on the scientific study of higher mental activities - those involving the
acquisition, storage, retrieval and application of knowledge. Put more simply,
we investigate how the senses work and how our perceptions of the works are
built out of these, how we learn and memorise information, how these processes
change as we grow, how the cells of the brain change during these processes,
what language tells us about thought processes, and how we can replace human
parts with others created artificially or borrowed from nature.
Students wishing to undertake the full major in cognitive science can do so
only in the Bachelor of Cognitive Science degree. The units are available as
electives to students enrolled in other degrees.
Units
in history and politics are designed to build up, in a systematic way,
significant bodies of knowledge on the history and politics of Europe,
Australia, Asia and the major world powers. Students are provided with a
systematic development of learning skills - including skills in reading,
information retrieval, oral and written communications, and methodological
approaches and research techniques.
The application of knowledge of political systems and structures is developed
in public and social policy studies for students in the Bachelor of Arts and in
other courses. The history-politics major provides a stimulating course, which
will give students a high level of academic competence in the study of
continuity and change in human society and a deeper understanding of the nature
of the past and the modern world.
Students wishing to undertake a major in history-politics must include the
compulsory unit HPL3504.
The
skills and knowledge developed are those required by journalists, and those
using journalism skills for the future. Graduates will possess well-developed
literacy skills to work in print, radio, television, online and multimedia.
They will be able to contribute knowledgeably and in socially responsible and
ethical ways to the particular communities they find themselves in, drawing on
awareness of various cultures and an understanding of the professional and
ethical codes and responsibilities of journalism. Graduates will also be
equipped to adapt themselves to accommodate the rapid developments in
communications technologies and their social consequences. Students wishing to
complete a minor in journalism must complete JRN1902 and JRN1903 and any two of
JRN2901/JRN3901, JRN2903/JRN3903, JRN2904/JRN3904, JRN2905, JRN2906, JRN2907,
JRN2909/JRN3909, JRN2910/JRN3910. Note that prerequisites will apply with some
units.
A full major in journalism is only available within the Bachelor of Arts
(Journalism) degree.
Psychological
studies is a discipline which combines aspects of psychology with elements of
humanistic psychology. At first-year level, the sequence provides a brief
coverage of a wide range of human behaviours including seeing and hearing,
sleep and dreaming, learning, remembering, thinking, functioning of the brain
and nervous system, language, social interactions, dealing with stress,
abnormal behaviours, and emotions, with more in-depth coverage of developmental
topics. The second and third-year units are geared towards the application of
psychology in fields such as forensics, work, sport and parapsychology.
Students wishing to undertake a major in psychological studies must include the
compulsory units PSS1711, PSS1712 and SCY2817.
Public
relations is about building and maintaining relationships for the mutual
benefit of those involved in the relationship. Essentially, it is concerned
with relationships between organisations and people who are somehow mutually
involved with these organisations. This course will not only equip students
with the techniques and tactics to work in an area that has become a major
branch of organisational functioning, but will also provide them with the
analytical tools to reflect on the functions and roles of public relations in
modern day organisations and the society as a whole.
Today, every worthwhile organisation understands the value of public relations
and the critical role it plays in organisational survival. In this course,
students will be introduced to the challenging and rewarding calling of
building organisation-public relationships in an era of instantaneous global
communication. It will provide students with the necessary tools to work in any
position where the concern is with building a meaningful relationship between
an organisation and the people it depends on for survival.
Social and community welfare is designed to provide students with an understanding of social issues as they relate to their personal, organisational and socio-political contexts. Students will develop the necessary skills and knowledge to equip them to work effectively in organisational and community contexts, and for bringing about change at personal, community, organisational and political levels. For a minor in social and community welfare, students must complete: SCW1302, SCW1305 and two of SCW2310, SCW2311, SCW2312; or SCW1303, SCW1304 and two of SCW2303, SCW2304, SCW2311.
Sociology
is the study of people and the relationships they enter into as members of
various social institutions and groups. Sociologists study a range of social
issues that are important in contemporary Australian society. The sociology
major offers units which draw upon various contemporary social issues including
health and illness, children, human reproduction, deviance and crime,
globalisation, the environment, work and technology, social movements, race and
ethnic relations, the family, social justice, women's issues and rural issues
and sustainability.
In addition to standing as a major area of study in the Bachelor of Arts,
sociology is an important supporting discipline in other courses. Sociology
units form an integral part of the welfare and nursing courses and may be taken
as an appropriate component in the preparation of both primary and secondary
teachers in the School of Education. Sociology units may also be taken by
students enrolled in courses in the schools of Applied Science, Business and
Visual Arts.
Students completing a sociology major must include SCY1801, SCY1802, one
research methods unit SCY2815 or SCY2816, and two theory units SCY3815 and
SCY3816.
The writing major provides a sequence of units that will enable students to gain an understanding of a range of contemporary writing practices in the context of mass communications, cultural and media studies, materialist and feminist frameworks, and analyses of literary and other media forms. Students will become familiar with different kinds of contemporary writing, especially prose forms (eg prose fiction, feature articles, travel writing, autobiography, biography and the essay), and acquire detailed knowledge of a range of techniques associated with contemporary cultural production. At second level and, more fully, at third level, students will be able to reflect critically upon their own practices while developing and applying skills and techniques through individual and collaborative projects. Students wishing to undertake a major in writing must complete COM1010, COM1020, COM2407/COM3407, COM2409/COM3409, WRT3421, WRT3422 and two of WRT2404/WRT3404, WRT2405/WRT3405, HPL2506/HPL3506, COM2408/COM3408, JRN2904/JRN3904, ENH2145/ENH3145 (subject to approval).
For details of the following courses, see `Outline of undergraduate studies' earlier in this section:
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