Communications and Media - Sophomore

COURSE #: HUSS 2051

Course Description

The course starts by interrogating the very idea of philosophy, exploring various approaches to it and distinguishing it from other disciplines such as science and theology. It discusses the broad global chronology of philosophical thought. The students use Logic to investigate the mode of systematic thinking, and examine Metaphysics and epistemology, two fundamental topics in philosophy. They also explore question of ethics, including meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics during the course. The course helps students to examine centrality of science in modern cultures and the issues it raises as well as the perils and potentials of new technological avenues such as artificial intelligence and the changing mode of human-nature interactions. The course ends by focusing on the question of “What does it mean to be an educated person?”  which will allow students to return to the meaning of reflection and an examined life.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Formulate sound arguments to work out logical fallacies in written and oral texts and discussions;  
• Review various sources of knowledge to engage with the problem of skepticism in their professional and personal contexts;
• Evaluate the relationship of individual with society and state, using concepts of political philosophy in terms of social justice and participation in governance;
• Examine ethical and human implications of increasingly criticized world by exploring its perils and possibilities;

Course Assessment and Grading

COURSE #: MDIA 2072

Course Description

This course explores the notion of audience and the ways in which consumption of media guides and shapes its production. Beginning with the genealogy of the character of the audience, students are introduced to theories, concepts, and ideologies in relation to political, economic, and socio-cultural paradigms to analyse the underlying principles of meaning reception and interpretation by audiences. There will be an emphasis on the role of the citizen communicators by examining emerging social discourses and media technologies and institutions through which civic agency in the forms of participation and advocacy are structured and find expression. Not only how media messages are perceived and understood at the theoretical level, but also how they may lead to changes in the social and political behaviour of the consumers. Through creative practices and media experimentation, students learn how to develop concepts and scenarios and apply analytical techniques in response to real cases for the intended impact and change.

Course Learning Outcomes:

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Map the current trends to key historical moments in the evolution of contemporary media audiences;
• Analyse and contextually evaluate the critical perspectives in media audience behaviour and research;
• Examine audience environments, develop concepts, and ideate scenarios that can ensure impacts and changes for the better;
• Define their own conviction and discursive position in relation to emerging audience identities and activities;
• Apply the skills of critical thinking, reflective practice, and constructive collaboration with peers.

Course Assessments and Gradings

COURSE #: MDIA 2110

Course Description  

This course teaches students two parallel sets of skills. On one hand, it teaches students about the history of journalism in a global and Central Asian context, how it has developed over the centuries, and what news values journalists consider given national and cultural differences across the globe. On the other hand, this course also gives students the chance to put into practice those journalistic skills and produce a number of different types of print and web-based articles. This combination will help students understand how journalism contributes to social cohesion and progress in society. As part of this course students will contribute to UCA’s student run media including the campus newspaper, website and projects.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the historical and contemporary roles played by traditional and new media.
• Publish brief original stories, in different formats and genres.
• Practice the skills necessary to develop the story from idea to finished article.
• Discuss the challenges and opportunities present to and the role played by communication and media professionals in society, especially in the Central Asian context.
• Examine the relationships between audiences, journalists and other state and non-state intermediaries.

• Explain the role of media and regulation in creating local narratives

Course Assessment and Grading

COURSE #: ECON 1001

Course Description

Economics is the study of how a society decides how to use its limited resources; such as, land, labor, capital or entrepreneurship etc. An economy might have a lot of those resources, but the quantities are NOT infinite. This course introduces the ways economists study the decisions people and firms make and the implications of those decisions as well as, how these finite resources are allocated in the process. The goal of the course is to develop a set of analytical tools that will allow you to critically analyze the condition of the economy, the various economic policies proposed to help the economy, and examine the forces at work in a modern economy.

Course learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will able to:

• Analyze basic economic principles, policies, theories, models, and analytical methods in microeconomics;
• Explain how markets work and how market prices are determined using principles of supply and demand. Analyze the behavior of firms in a monopoly or oligopoly
• Grasp concepts related to public goods, taxation, and competition
• Apply mathematical tools to formulate and solve economic problems, assess and interpret results, and determine alternative courses of action using various economic tools.

Course Assessment and Grading

COURSE #: MDIA 2071

Course Description

The course will familiarize students with contrasting media systems during the Soviet era and in the post-independence of the Central Asian republics, focusing on the principles behind media operations in commercial, institutional, non-governmental and national-governmental contexts. Emphasis will be given to different media principles and concepts of communications practices and how these might be implemented in Central Asia. The course will examine the role of conventional forms of mass communications (such as print, radio and television), as well as new digital practices such as Internet based media and ‘citizen journalist’ practices. The course will help students understand how global trends influence and are influenced by the regional and national forces at play in Central Asia.

Course Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss the factors that impact the key communication processes in Central Asia;
• Explain how communications operate within economic, political, cultural and institutional frameworks;
• Outline the Central Asian context with regard to broader aspects of cultural globalisation;
• Analyse the relevance and impact of local factors to communications practices across
• the Central Asia region;
• Help students boost primary and secondary research skills.

Course Assessments and Gradings

COURSE #: MDIA 2113

Course Description

This craft-based course focuses on the creative process of shorter literary work, from the first inspiration through development, editing and presentation, including the choice of style and form. Students will be encouraged to attempt a variety of forms including poetry, dialogue, fiction and creative non-fiction. They will also be encouraged to read and discuss a wide range of contemporary literature as part of their understanding and articulation of their own and others' creative work. All creative work can be written in a language of the student’s choosing but must be translated into English for assignment submission and classroom discussion.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Write an advanced range of original fiction, non-fiction and poetry using classic literary techniques
• Understand and demonstrate the processes of revision and editing
• Identify and demonstrate in their own work a range of literary devices used in non-fiction and fiction-based creative writing
• Identify and demonstrate - in literature and in their own work - classic language forms and features, and elements of plot development, characters, landscape and setting.

Course Assessments and Grading