SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 387

Stephen Kline David Murphy Fall 2005

AQ 2002; 604-291-4793 AQ 2002; 604-291-3623 Burnaby Day

Email: kline@sfu.ca Email: davidcot@sfu.ca

MEDIA AND EDUCATION

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and 75 credit hours. Since the course size is limited preference will be given to students who have completed CMNS 320, 363 and any of 226, 326.

Overview:

This course explores the practical intersection of media and education by examining their interplay within three prominent domains of cultural practice – the relationship between media and mass education, the role of media in classroom teaching, and the pedagogies of media literacy. Seminars will focus discussion on the history, genres, pedagogical design and evaluation issues that emerge in each domain. Students will be expected to work in teams designing, producing and evaluating communications in each field of educational practice:

1- Educational Media: Since its introduction television has been both heralded as a medium for public education and chastised as a vast wasteland. More recently video games and ITC’s have experienced the same fate. The first four weeks of the course will explore the debates about mass mediated education (Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Baby Einstein, Bill Nye). The implications of computerization of production and Internet distribution channels for the practices of mass education will be critically examined. In the light of the growing importance of electronic media (ICT’s) and their role in promoting public awareness and informal learning the first project will involve the production of an interactive media product designed as a multi-cultural learning resource.

2-Media in Education: Television has also been extensively used in schools as a medium for conveying information and promoting learning. This section of the course will examine the design principles from to Math Blaster attempting to characterize how individuals attend to and process information presented through media. It will then apply the general pedagogical design principles to evaluate the designs of risk education campaigns. (ie smoking, seat-belts, bullying, drug use, dietary choices). Students will be expected to apply these ideas through the design and evaluation of a short television programme/ or interactive media product for in-class learning about scientific concept of energy balance.

3- Media literacy: The idea of media literacies (multi-literacy) has played an important role in education sparking a debate about the competences and resources (Channel One, computers) students need in a media-saturated world. A review of these debates about the changing conceptions of ‘literacy’ will be the basis of this final section of the course. Students will be required to develop and assess an original media education product that promotes advertising literacy in Canada.

Grading:

Assignment #1 – Educational Programme 25%

Assignment #2 – Risk Education Video 25%

Assignment #3 – Media Literacy Document 25%

Journals (plus seminar presentations) 15%

Participation 10%

Course Materials

A Collection of Readings will be made available at the beginning of the course.

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations section).