APG5894 - Communications theories and practices - 2018

The unit offers a general orientation to communications and media studies at graduate level. It surveys a range of communication practices and introduces theories appropriate to understanding and analysing them. The major practices considered include journalism, broadcasting, organisational communication, public relations, development communication, political persuasion and new media forms such as blogs and social networking sites. These are considered both as fields of professional practice and as objects of scholarly analysis. Attention is given to the general conceptualisation of communication and media and to the major ways in which communication has been described and analysed.

1. to develop awareness of the range of social and professional contexts in which communication occurs;
2. to develop an understanding of communication as a set of practices and to identify common features within these practices;
3. to introduce some of the major ways in which communication and media have been understood at a theoretical level;
4. to consider the relation between theory and practice in the field of communication and an appreciation of how they can productively inform each other;
5. to introduce communications and media studies as a basis for further graduate study and professional practice in the field.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 288 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.

See also Unit timetable information

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