Professor: Dr. D.S. Petersen-Perlman
Office: 407 A.B. Anderson Hall
Phone: Communication: 726-7528 (direct line & 24 hour message line via voice mail)
Equal Opportunity 726-6849 “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “
Email: dpeters1@d.umn.edu
Class meeting: 11:00 a.m.-12:40 p.m., 425 ABAH
Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-2:30 p.m./Thursdays 1:30-3:30 p.m., and by appointment.
Class alias: comm4525-1-s2008@d.umn.edu

Text: I will be asking you to complete readings (online and duplicated) throughout the semester. At the end of the term, we will review the readings completed for the semester and determine what should go in to a professor publishing packet for future semesters.

Course Description: This course offers an historical overview of the Media Literacy movement in the United States, as well as media literacy programs in other countries (Canada and Australia have leading programs).
• Students will be presented with the historical, social scientific, critical and economic knowledge bases about the media industries within the United States.
• Students will gain an appreciation of the production and content of media messages.
• Students will also learn what we know and understand regarding audience responses to, and uses of, media programs and products.
• Students will acquire media literacy skills of analysis, evaluation, grouping, induction, deduction, synthesis and abstraction.
• Students will be exposed to different strategies for media literacy instruction at different educational levels (K-5, 6-9, 10-12, college and community-based programs).

Class Objectives:
1. Students will have a clear historical framework for the media literacy movement in the U.S.
2. Students will understand the social scientific research on audiences’ uses of media and media effects.
3. Students will understand the critical theories and research regarding media content.
4. Students will understand the economic structure of the media industries.
5. Students will understand the educational implications concerning the need for media literacy across the curriculum.
6. Students will generate a media literacy project appropriate to a selected audience.

Conceptual Outline/Topics:
Definitions of Media Literacy
Rationale for Media Literacy programs
Knowledge Structures of Media Content
Knowledge Structures of Media Industries
Knowledge Structures of Media Effects
Issues in Media Literacy
Media Literacy Models

Some books you might want to read:
Bennett, W. L. News: The Politics of Illusion, 6th ed. Longman, 2003.
Massey, K. Media literacy workbook, 2nd ed., Wadsworth, 2004.
Messaris, P. Visual “literacy”: Image, mind, and reality, Westview, 1994.
Schrag, R. Taming the Wild Tube: A family guide to television and video, North Carolina Press,1990.
Silverblatt, A. Media literacy: Keys to interpreting media messages, 2nd ed., Praeger Paperback, 2001.

Web sites:
www.cme.org/cme (Center for Media Education)
www.medialit.org (Center for Media Literacy)
www.childrennow.org (Children Now)
www.mediawatch.com (Media Watch)
www.nafce.org (National Association for Family and Community Education: Children’s Television Project
www.nationaltelemediacouncil.org (National Telemedia Council)

Methods of evaluating student achievement:
Midterm exam– Short answers, essays, lists, definitions 100 points/25%
Final exam– Short answer, essays, applications 100 points/25%
Exercises–throughout the semester 140 points/35%
Project– 50 points/12.5%
Presentation of final project– 10 points/2.5%

Explanation of grading:I use a standard grading scale:
A 94-100; A- 90-93; B+ 87-89; B 84-86; B- 80-83; C+ 77-79; C 74-76; C- 70-73; D+ 67-69; D 60-66; F 59 and below.

If you do everything identified in the assignment description you will receive a C. If it is not acceptable it will receive a lower grade, depending on the problems contained within the submission. Basic acceptability means that you have met all of the requirements of the assignment and that you have submitted your work by the assigned deadline. Non-acceptability means that you have not met the requirements of the assignment as articulated in the assignment description.
Submission Policies: All work must be completed by the beginning of the class on the assigned deadline. Failure to make a submission on the assigned date at the beginning of the class period will result in a zero for that submission--no late work will be accepted.

Policies:
Apply your very best writing and analysis to the completion of all assignments. Make sure ALL of your assignments are proofread, spell checked and grammar checked.

Individuals who have any disability, either permanent or temporary, which might affect their ability to perform in this class, are encouraged to inform the instructor at the start of the quarter. Adaptation of methods, materials, or testing may be made as required to provide for equitable participation. Please note, such adaptations will not be applied retroactively.

You must attend class faithfully (at least 85% of the class periods); complete all assignments, the quizzes, and the midterm and final exams in order to receive a passing grade.

Makeup quizzes and exams are possible, but only on the basis of advanced personal consultation with the instructor. Makeup quizzes will have an alternative format (essay) to that distributed during the regularly scheduled time. Makeup exams and quizzes will be scheduled during the Finals Week period. In those cases when advanced warning is not possible, every effort should be made to contact the instructor at the earliest possible opportunity. Verifiable illnesses and family emergencies are willingly excused; weddings and trips to the Bahamas (or fill in your favorite vacation destination) are not. Incompletes are rarely given because they are rarely completed.

The University Bulletin outlines the policy on scholastic misconduct. Cheating on assignments, examinations, plagiarizing or any other "act which violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work will result in a failing grade" for the course.

• I expect that you will attend every class session.
• I expect that you will come to class on time and prepared.
• I expect that you will submit your work on time. Late work will not be accepted.
• I expect that all work submitted for a grade will be the student's original work. Papers should be processed through plagiarism software before submission.
• I expect this class to be conducted in an open and respectful manner. [The following is based in part on suggestions made by Lynn Weber Cannon in "Fostering Positive Race, Class, and Gender Dynamics in the Classroom" which appeared in Women's Studies Quarterly, 1990: 1 & 2, 130-132.] Let's assume that people are always doing the best they can. Let's actively pursue information about our own groups and those of others. Let us share information about our own groups with other members of the class but never demean, devalue, or in any way put down people for their experiences. We each have an obligation to actively combat the myths and stereotypes about our own groups and other groups so that we can break down the walls which prohibit group cooperation and group gain. Let's create a safe atmosphere for open discussion.
• I expect that you will give the class session your full attention. This means putting away materials not germane to class, turning off cell phones, and ceasing use of headphones/ipods, etc.. I will collect any cell phone which goes off during class or any ipod or other listening device in use after the start of class.
• Do not do work for other classes during our class period. Do not text message during class.
• Do not sleep during class.
• You are expected and encouraged to get ideas and information from articles and books that you read, and from discussions and exposure to movies and the electronic media, but that work must be used responsibly. If you use ideas obtained from another source (whether it is print, electronic, film, or another person), you must give clear credit in your submission (regardless of whether it is a video/audio tape, cd, dvd, an outline, article, book or a paper) in the form of an endnote, a parenthetical reference, or a footnote. If you use the words of one of these sources--whether a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph or more--those works must be appropriately punctuated and attributed to their source, so as to distinguish them from your own. This is also true of paraphrasing another's words. Failure to do so is plagiarism. It is unethical to submit the same paper for more than one course--don't do it!
• I expect you to assume professionalism in the completion of your assignments. That means that everything you submit for a grade must be typed/word processed and proofread. Think of this as a writing class. Apply the same standards to your written work for this class that you would use in the completion of an assignment for your college writing course. That means you must avoid typographical, spelling and grammatical errors. If I have to mark more than five errors per page your grade will be negatively affected.
  

Assignment and Exam Schedule:

January 22 & 24: Review of Syllabus, Rationale, Definitions; Pre-course quiz

http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article338.html

http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/rr2def.php

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html

http://www.medialiteracy.net/research/definition.shtml

Here's a 4525student information sheet I'd like you to complete.

January 29 & 31: Models & Development of Media Literacy Skills. Memorize and recite a poem of your choosing

http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article337.html

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4889_Potter_Chapter_3_Media_Literacy_Model.pdf

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/ML&CP.htm

February 5 & 7: Economics; Privacy and Piracy With the Media

February 12 & 14: Ownership & control

February 19 & 21: Reality–exercise on Reality Programming

February 26 & 28: Entertainment

March 4 & 6: Media Violence “Does TV Kill?”; “Killing Screens”

March 11 & 13: Media Influence on Sports; Midterm Examination

March 25 & 27: News

April 1 & 3: Advertising

April 8 & 10: Media industries; Profiles of the Mass Media Industries

April 15 & 17: Audience; Effects; Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Media on Individuals

April 22 & 24: Analyzing the effects process; The impact of effects on institutions

April 29 & May 1: Real World Knowledge and Personal strategies

May 6 & 8: Final projects due–presentation of final project; Helping others–exercise; Media Literacy Organizations

May 16, 12:00 a.m.-1:55 a.m.: Final exam

Summary of Assignments

A number of extra credit opportunities will occur throughout the semester. Students can receive five points of extra credit each for no more than four short papers written about the extra credit events they've attended. These papers should address:

• The publicity for the events attended.
• The size and composition of the audience at the event.
• The interaction between the featured speakers/presenters of the event and the audience.
• Important points learned during the event/presentation.

These papers are due NO LATER than one week after the event.

No one is obligated to participate in these extra credit opportunities, but experience has shown that these short papers can make a difference between a higher or lower grade.

Events will be announced by way of the class alias: comm4525-1-s2008@d.umn.edu