Courses

This course introduces you to an array of international theories of mass communication. It focuses on developing notions of mass communication in the twentieth century, debates surrounding issues in the field, and the practical application of theory to practice. The course is designed to accommodate varying levels of experience with communication theory. You are advised to take this course early in your program.

This course follows the interactions between media and society in a number of technological contexts: oral and literate cultures, manuscript and print cultures; electric and electronic cultures.

It is also intended to ground you in the field. The course surveys the development of communication technology and introduces you to some important scholarly debates about those technologies. In so doing, it tries to establish the notion that the history of communication technology is as much about ideas and practices as it is about events and things.

This course surveys the historical development of federal arts policy and the related ideals of national culture. It uses this framework to discuss expanded perceptions of “culture” as social expression and the role of government policy in a diverse society. Finally, the course provides you with detailed studies of the interaction between symbolic and economic environments in key cultural industries.

This course examines the effects of media on society from critical and historical perspectives. The main emphasis of the course, however, is on the relationship between mass media and culture - how the media affect individuals, communities, and nations. We examine each of the mass media, as well as new related technologies, in light of how they influence cultural mores. Key themes include the historical development of the mass media, future technologies and potential societal repercussions, and the role of the media in influencing Canadian culture.

Canada's mass media have played a particularly significant role in the country's development as a distinct nation. The course is structured around issues of media power in Canadian life. It examines aspects of the Canadian experience in the context of current perspectives on national and international media developments.

Many people working in journalism, public relations and other communications fields need to be able to understand how statistics are used in order to present information and frame arguments. This course is designed for those of you who want to become critical consumers of statistical evidence. It takes a conceptual rather than a computational approach to learning statistics. Using examples taken from popular media, the course explains how people use and abuse statistics for purposes of persuasion and influence.

This course introduces communication and media professionals to the legal context within which they work. The course uses case studies to illustrate how such issues as freedom of expression, defamation, contempt of court, copyright, access to information, breach of privacy and confidentiality affect the working life of the media professional.

Designed for teachers, parents, and students of communication, this course in media education recognizes that, although mass media has come to dominate many aspects of our society, children have few opportunities to develop media literacy skills in formal settings.

You will survey the psychological and sociological impact of computers on the people who use them. The course begins with an overview of the area, which is followed by units on artificial intelligence, robotics computer-mediated communication, information management, and the Internet as community. Each of these units represents one essential connection between humans and computers. The next units consider important domains in which computers affect our lives: education, employment, entertainment, and our psychological and physical wellness and well-being.

A three-credit course that examines a specialized branch of social sciences research. The course is intended to serve as a foundation for other courses in our Communication Studies program and as a stepping stone into senior level research. In this course, you will learn about the basic tenets of the scientific method, including an exploration of its two major branches: quantitative and qualitative research. You will also encounter a discussion of the ethics of research and will learn about sampling, content analysis, survey methods, longitudinal research, and experimental research.

This course introduces you to the field of cultural studies, as well as the relationship between popular culture and the media. You will be asked to look critically at movies, television, radio, and print in order to ponder a number of important questions. To what extent do the media lead or follow trends in popular culture? The emphasis in the course is on examining cultural artifacts as artistic objects seen in the light of various socio-political contexts.

You, either individually or with a small group of students, choose a project in consultation with an instructor. The purpose of such a project is to pursue the direct application of theories and principles contained in the Communication Studies (CS) program. Contact a CS course coordinator for a project proposal booklet before registering. These courses are excluded from the Challenge for Credit Policy.

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a broad framework that will allow you to make effective decisions about corporate communication approaches, priorities, and activities. The course addresses organizational issues within the context of communication and offers sufficient understanding of corporate communication analysis to enable you to provide advice to leaders and teams. Exposure to issues of communication processes and ethics, among other current topics in this field, provides you valuable guidance in applied communications problems. The course demands that you apply the concepts presented to real corporate settings and experiences.

This course takes a critical sociological approach to understanding media and society. The approach is also reflexive, and promotes self-examination of our own society. This course asks you to question the taken-for-granted or common-sense assumptions you use to interpret the relationship of individuals or groups to one another in society, and the relationship of social movements and media to society.

In this course you will develop a working knowledge of the recent history and current realities of media systems in North and Latin America. The course helps you evaluate the roles of mass media in different types of societies, economies and political systems. Using case studies from Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Canada, you will examine issues of imported technology, the relations between mainstream and alternative media, international communication and national development, and the relationship between media, democracy and developed nations.

You will examine issues of literacy and agency as they pertain to questions of children's relationship to texts and materials in media of many kinds: books, films, broadcast and recorded programs, CD-ROMs, computer programs, video games, Internet texts, and various toys and associated commodities. These media affect how children develop an understanding of society and of the way society chooses to tell stories and organize information. In turn, these media are affected by social arrangements and decisions.

In this course, you will focus on the social and psychological aspects of the Internet. You will examine how this new medium affects individual definitions of self, social exchanges, and notions of the transpersonal. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to apply core concepts of individual and group psychology to online communications in both personal and professional domains.

This course introduces you to the technology, politics, economics, philosophy, ideology, and morality of television. You are asked to look critically behind the scenes of the television world and discern the various patterns of industry structure and thematic content. You will require access to a television.

Note: Some course components are available online as an optional delivery mode.

This course looks at the historical, economic, political and social factors that influence filmmaking, particularly genre films. You will explore the possibilities and the limitations of genres, and look at some of the criticism that has dealt with the area over the years. Two of the primary questions that recur throughout the course are, “What constitutes a film genre?” and “How do we identify genres, and how does this identification influence what we see on the screen?” You will conclude the course by examining specific genres that illustrate the complex issues that arise when we look at so-called escapist films.

CMNS 444: Media Relations, a three-credit university course, is intended for students of media relations, practitioners and those with a general or theoretical interest in the subject. News media outlets have proliferated over the past dozen years, not only on the Internet but also in the form of all-news channels and radio stations. Today, there is a dizzying array of “experts” offering to provide media relations advice, and the landscape of media ownership, audiences and offerings is constantly changing. Moreover, commercial and consumer-generated news and commentary in the digital space is growing. For these reasons, the study of media relations is significant.

In this course, you will present research on a topic chosen in consultation with an instructor. Contact a Communication Studies course coordinator for guidelines. This course is excluded from the Challenge for Credit Policy.

You, either individually or with a small group of students, choose a project in consultation with an instructor. The purpose of such a project is to pursue the direct application of theories and principles contained in the Communication Studies (CS) program. Contact a CS course coordinator for a project proposal booklet before registering. These courses are excluded from the Challenge for Credit Policy.

This Professional Development course is developed in consultation with the course coordinator and can be pursued by an individual or group of students interested in an area or in a manner not covered by one of the existing Communication Studies courses.

This is a course about the ethics of journalism. It provides students with an introduction to the different philosophical views of ethics; a critical examination of the rights, responsibilities, limitations, and abuses of media in democracies such as Canada and the United States; and an analysis of emerging pressures to redefine journalism as a reliable, responsible process of accurate reportage and critical commentary on our society.

What is the relationship between politics and economics? How has the relationship changed over time? What is the ideal relationship between politics and economics, states and markets, democracy and capitalism? These are fundamental questions of the field of political economy.

The fundamental concepts and questions of political economy are introduced to students as they read the works of major political and economic thinkers. The course surveys the market system from its foundation in the thought of Aristotle to its nineteenth and twentieth century exponents and critics, including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.

POEC 393, written by leading Canadian political economist Professor Daniel Drache, and revised by Gunhild Hoogensen, is designed to give students the analytical tools they need to consider such questions. The course examines the rise of globalization and the institutional arrangements it has initiated in a worldwide and North American context.

POEC 393 discusses a number of debates about the best ways to "compete," many of which rely on the "market" or co-operative and state-aided industrial strategies. Students learn to analyze these broad issues and formulate policy-related initiatives for Canadian cases.

POLI 309 provides an introduction to the basic structures and processes of government and politics in Canada and will help the student describe, explain, analyse, and assess contemporary issues and events in Canada.

SOSC 366 is designed for students who wish to gain an understanding of the limits and potentials of social science research, and for those who intend to research social phenomena scientifically. This course is intended to facilitate the student's awareness of the research process and their ability to conduct research in an ethical and thorough manner with appropriate research strategies.

SOCI 435 surveys several different theories, concepts, and categories used by sociologists to explain social change. Students will be asked to draw from these theories and concepts when examining some of the social, economic, and political transformations occurring at the end of the twentieth century.

Questions concerning social change are fundamental issues for all academic disciplines including sociology. Persistent change appears to be a compelling characteristic of modern societies, just as permanence and order appeared to characterize pre-modern societies. Yet, sociologists have not always agreed upon the mechanisms underlying social change observed in the last two centuries. In this course students will re-appraise a series of classic and contemporary debates in order to develop the basic analytical tools to understand, analyse, and interpret social transformations.