Communications and Media - Junior

Course # DMNS 1004

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: Precalculus, minimum grade of “C”

Course Description

This course is for undergraduates not majoring in the mathematical, physical, or life sciences. It is intended to cohere well with students' liberal arts and social science interests, by investigating applications of mathematics, much of it developed only relatively recently, in contexts which are relevant to individuals.

Students who successfully complete this course in mathematics will have developed an understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts and their applications, will have developed their quantitative problem-solving skills, and will have developed a level of quantitative literacy that provides a foundation for success in their programs of study, careers, and citizenship.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Evaluate conclusions and inferences from quantitative information.
• Apply effective and efficient mathematical or other formal processes to reason and to solve problems.
• Describe how mathematics can contribute to the solution of problems in the world.
• Solve problems using algorithms or formulas.
• Model and solve problems using graphical methods.
• Analyze and interpret data, including calculating numerical summaries and creating graphical representations, to propose possible implications.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # MDIA 3070

Credits 6

TBA

Course # MDIA 3154

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: Media Production Print, Media Production Radio

Course Description

This course explores the dynamic processes of screen media, equipping students with practical skills in TV directing, producing, scriptwriting, camera operation, and sound production across both digital and traditional formats. It delves into the preparation, technical, and presentation skills required for creating high-quality audio-visual content tailored for television, streaming platforms, and online delivery systems. Emphasizing the foundational elements of media production for TV, students practices crafting video graphic narratives and discourses that define the evolving screen media landscape in Central Asia, while integrating global trends such as immersive and interactive storytelling, user-generated content, and creator-driven formats. The course analyzes contextualized TV content production in screen journalism, non-fiction and fiction filmmaking, and digital media, with a focus on emerging 2025 innovations like AI-assisted efficiencies, multi-platform distribution, and data-driven audience engagement to prepare students for a rapidly shifting industry.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Critically analyze TV and digital media content, evaluating visual and aural styles to understand audience impact and storytelling techniques.
• Create professional-quality television and digital productions by applying advanced audio and visual techniques, including scriptwriting, editing, and sound design.
• Master the operation of TV studio equipment, such as cameras, lighting, and live-streaming tools, to produce industry-standard media content.
• Integrate theoretical, creative, and technical skills to develop engaging TV programs and short-form content optimized for multi-platform distribution.
• Articulate the technical requirements and professional standards of screen production, ensuring alignment with industry best practices.
• Produce media content that adheres to ethical guidelines, promotes inclusivity, and demonstrates media literacy in addressing diverse audiences.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # HUSS 3126E

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: None

Course Description

The unprecedented changes brought by technological development often referred to as digitalization is shaping society, culture, and human identity in today’s digital world. Humans are becoming hybrids, communities are emerging online, many people live in virtual reality, and the digital world has altered social norms and created new communication and values. This transformation required anthropologists to use relevant approaches to study the current digital phenomena. Thus, the course invites students to explore how digitalization shapes human subjectivity and social relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. The course will introduce students to the new theoretical framework for the study of digital phenomena and provide ground for the study of digital culture which is a controversial point of many current debates on digitalization and its impact on society. Thus, the goal is to use anthropological approaches to the study of digital phenomena.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify key theoretical frameworks and important debates in digital anthropology
• Apply anthropological approaches to study digital phenomena and their societal impacts as well as to digital technologies and practices
• Analyze the ways that digital experiences can differ across social, cultural, and political contexts
• Reflect on how digital technologies and practices are changing anthropological researchEmploy the methods of digital anthropology to organize, conduct, and analyze research

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # MDIA 3199

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: None

Course Description

In this course, students will develop an understanding of popular culture and its impact on everyday life. Popular culture offers a way of examining societies, cultural identities and ideologies across time and geography. It also plays a powerful role in shaping societal attitudes, values and ideologies. By “popular culture” we mean not only cultural texts distributed via mass communication networks, but equally the everyday practices and new digital media that give voice to grassroots sentiments. We start by discussing simple but important questions. Why is popular culture so …popular? How do we all “use” popular culture in our daily lives? What can the story of popular culture tell us about ourselves? Finally, what influence does popular culture have on shaping our perceptions of other countries and nations?

Starting with Central Asia as the focal point for the course, the effects of cultural flow within the region, with other parts of Asia and with the rest of the world will be discussed. The relevance of the traditional division of East and West, Orient and Occident, will be re-examined in the context of popular culture flow. We believe that through examining the flow of popular culture between different countries in Central Asia (and beyond) our students will develop interest, empathy and a desire to build strong relations with other countries based on mutual respect and understanding.

The course assist students with the preparation for the senior exegesis for the research based   creative projects.

This course is sponsored by the Eurasia Foundation from Asia.

Course Learning outcomes:

Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply cultural theories and concepts to explain popular cultural phenomena
• Examine the historical, social and cultural environments that spawn popular culture products
• Discuss the relationship between popular culture, society, and cultural politics
• Analyse inter-Asia and global cultural flows using a multi-disciplinary approach
• Explain the factors that result in the formation of fan communities
• Examine the role of popular culture in developing mutual understanding and empathy between different countries.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # MDIA 2129

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: Media Literacy; Audiences for Communications and Media

Course Description

From everyday accounts of personal experience, news reports, and historiography to literary fiction, feature films, graphic novels, and interactive media, narrative is the most pervasive and influential of all genres. In written and spoken word, in moving and still images and in transmedia storytelling, narratives construct and reflect meaning for individuals, institutions, and communities.

This course explores the types of meanings narratives create and the ways in which they produce meaning and their impact—positive and negative—on our lives. Drawing on narratology and linguistics, theories of media, journalism, advertising, and visual culture, the course investigates narrative across a range of contemporary media and social practices. Together, we will engage critically and creatively with the structure, form, and content of our own narratives and those of others, as we explore the social, cultural and psychological character of this fascinating genre.

Course Learning outcomes:

Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply key methodological and conceptual approaches to the analysis of narratives.
• Identify the communicative purposes of narratives and the technical means with which they are achieved.
• Produce theoretically grounded critiques of narrative texts.
• Use media-specific practical skills in storytelling techniques to engage audiences.

Course Assessments and Grading

Physical training

Course # HUSS 3081

Credits 0

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: None

Course description

The purpose of physical education is to strengthen health, develop the physical and mental abilities of students. Physical exercises and sports games is the way to a powerful and functional body, clear mind and strong spirit. The course is both practical and theoretical, it covers basic concepts of anatomy and physiology as well as health and safety requirements.  

Course learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• perform a range of physical activities
• understand health and safety requirements for a range of physical activities
• describe the role and progress of sport in Central Asia
• chose an appropriate physical activities program for their age and gender
• identify tiredness and its symptoms to control the body during athletic exercises
• describe the technique of running for a long and a short distance and jumping
• accomplish running for a short and a long distance and jumping according to all necessary norms
• describe the rules of a range of sports games
• participate in a range of sports games according to their rules and techniques

Course Assessments and Grading

* The course will be graded with PASS/FAIL.