Prerequisite/Recommended prerequisite for participation in the module

Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

The students shall understand the societal, cultural, and psychological role of media. This includes structures and organization of media, content, audience, effects, emotions, nonformal learning, and meaning, as well as an understanding of the users by going out into their world.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

Students who complete the module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Must have knowledge of empirical and critical research, including systematic quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Must understand the impact of media globalization and convergence
• Must have knowledge of history and current trends in media, effects, and ideology, for example concerning audience, life style, media influence, and the role of power
• Must understand the concept of culture and intercultural communication and their relevance and implications to media development and globalization
• Must understand and apply interpretative paradigm to media development. This includes those approaches that promote qualitative methodologies, such as ethnography, grounded theory, diary studies, cultural probes
• Must understand that the theory and methodology adopted behind chosen methods are important to the understanding of the nature of evidence in media related research
• Must have knowledge of psychological and sociological approaches to the study of emotions and their relevance and implications to media development. This includes cognitive, biological, social, and cultural aspects of emotions
• Must have knowledge of the concept of non-formal learning and its relevance and implications to media development. This includes aspects such as user empathy, play, and playfulness

Skills

Students who complete the module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Must be able to apply methods for empirical and critical investigations
• Must be able to apply the ideas of convergence and globalization to the history and current trends in media development
• Must be able to evaluate media texts/communicative resources in relation to end-user groups and lifestyle
• Must be able to critically apply the idea of digital identities, social class and mediascapes, and how they are communicated through cultural artifacts
• Must be able to apply interpretative methods. This includes ethnographic and focus groups methods, together with fieldwork, video observations, in depth and narrative interviews
• Must be able to apply rigorous and disciplined analysis of data, including grounded theory
• Must be able to evaluate emotions and the concept of non-formal learning. This includes a holistic approach to the understanding of the user where situations and contexts are units of the analysis

Competences

Students who complete the module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Must be able to synthesize and apply knowledge and understanding regarding the consequences of choosing a specific approach, method, conceptual framework, and theory in relation to media development
• Must be able to synthesize and understand advantages, disadvantages, possibilities, and limitations regarding the issues of globalization and convergence
• Must be able to synthesize, understand and apply interpretative methods
• Must be able to synthesize knowledge and understanding of sociological and psychological aspects of the use and development of media technology and apply those factors to the design, use, and analysis of media technology

Type of instruction

Refer to the overview of instruction types listed in the start of chapter 3. The types of instruction for this course are decided in accordance with the current Framework Provisions and directions are decided and given by the Study Board for Media Technology.

Exam

Exams