Undergraduate - UnitATS2450 - Contemporary media theory

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	School of Media, Film and Journalism
Offered	Berwick First semester 2015 (Day) Gippsland First semester 2015 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Paul Atkinson

Synopsis

The unit examines developments in media theory in response to new and changing media forms. Students are introduced to a range of theoretical approaches that have developed alongside the technologies they have sought to analyse and describe. These approaches form the foundation for the analysis of media and mass communication in all its components, including textual form and content, media industries, and associated issues of politics, power, discourse, culture and identity.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:

recognise, identify and describe the assumptions and arguments making up the theoretical approaches introduced in the unit;
demonstrate a capacity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to media and communication theory;
demonstrate a capacity to analyse different media and media industries by applying different theoretical approaches.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 65%
Exam: 35%

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 Paul Atkinson

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.

Prohibitions

ATS3450, COM2411, COM3411, GSC2411