Undergraduate - UnitATS1278 - Communication technologies and practices

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Communications and Media Studies
Offered	Gippsland Second semester 2015 (Day) Gippsland Second semester 2015 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Sue Yell

Synopsis

This unit introduces students to the study of communications technologies with reference to arguments about audiences, effects and technology. Students explore the social uses and practices associated with traditional and new communication technologies. Areas of study include telephony, screen, radio, print, photography and digital communication technology, with a particular focus on aspects of historical development and contemporary technological convergence. Unit readings and assessment tasks expect students to discuss these matters in relation to frameworks for making sense of contemporary social, cultural and political contexts.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

use the practical skills of reading, note taking and arguing in exploring critical perspectives on communication;
demonstrate an understanding of theoretical frameworks and conceptual tools for describing the development of communication technologies;
analyse the social and political uses of communications technologies;
recognise communication as an active production and negotiation of meanings, not just the transmission of information;
identify relations between media texts and technologies, the identities and capacities of producers and audiences, and the aspirations of governments and other powerful social actors.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 70%
Exam: 30%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Sue Yell

Prohibitions

ATS1280, AZA1280