Communication 201: Introduction to Communication 1
Autumn 2014
Ekin Yasin – ekiny@uw.edu
Twitter- @COM201UW
The cultural products we consume, the technologies we use, the news we read all
have direct consequences on the lives we lead. They not only shape our tastes but
also determine the type of experience we have in this world. This introduces
students to key questions and conceptual frameworks in the field of
communication. Our aim is to re-think the interactions, tools and products of
communication across a variety of social, cultural and political domains. Hence,
we will not simply embrace these activities but as a class we will participate in a
quarter long exercise of deeply understanding the impact, the shape, the effects of
communication.
The course has two core goals (1) to introduce you to discussions and critical
questions within the field of communication (from media ownership to media
effects to media’s depiction of identities) (2) to introduce you to the diverse
research conducted by the department faculty. For the former goal, we will follow
a textbook that will introduce the vital concepts of this field. For the latter, we will
host scholars from the Communication Department at University of Washington
for in-class presentations and interviews. In both, our class aim is to develop
critical skills to engage with, analyze and question contemporary communication
practices.
Contact
All emails will be addressed within 24 hours of the receipt of the email except on
holidays and weekends.
Please get in touch with Courtney Johnson, your Lead TA, for any administrative
requests and special accommodation questions (if not addressed in the syllabus).
Any reading, assignment content and exam related question should be addressed
to the TA of your particular Friday sessions.
1
o
o
o
o
o
Courtney Johnson (lead TA) - cnj3@uw.edu
Anjuli Brekke - abrekke@uw.edu
Danny Stofleth - dstoflet@uw.edu
Sam Shorey - sshorey@uw.edu
Yunkang Yang - yunkang@uw.edu
Office Hours
I will have office hours twice a week, once online and once in person.
I will be available for in person office hours at CMU 143 on Thursdays from 2-3 PM.
I will also have online office hours via Canvas Tuesdays from 3:30 – 4:30 pm.
(online)
Your TAs will also have weekly office hours.
o
o
o
o
o
Courtney Johnson - Tuesdays 1- 2pm at CMU 340L
Anjuli Brekke- Thursdays 1:15-2:15pm at CMU 340 R
Samantha Shorey – Wednesdays 11-12:30pm at CMU 340T
Danny Stofelth- Mondays 11-12pm at CMU 340K
Yunkang Yang- Fridays 2:00- 3:00 at CMU 340
Class meetings
The class meets from 10:30 to 12:20 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The class time is dedicated to lectures and overview of ideas introduced in the
readings. Each session poses a set of questions on the syllabus. In lecture, we will
use these questions to frame our discussion of the readings and concepts. The
classes are interactive and require your participation. I will walk around, ask you
questions and get into conversations with you during the class sessions. In
addition, you will be asked to participate by using your clickers. There will be
graded clicker activities during each class session.
It is your responsibility to come to the classes having read the materials assigned
for that day. Any questions about concepts and readings, you can pose during your
Friday sessions and when prompted during class lectures.
There will be additional content provided in the course Canvas site. I will
sometimes record additional lecture videos clarifying the class concepts.
2
In order to succeed in class, you should plan on attending the class sessions
regularly. The exams will be based on all reading materials and discussion content
during lectures. There will also be questions about the guest lectures.
In addition to the class session, you should plan on attending the Friday sessions.
There will be graded in-class activities during these sessions that review the
readings, small quizzes and discussion materials for that given week.
Class Materials
There are three vital materials for this course.
(1) Clicker Device (Available at University Bookstore): Please make sure that you
purchase your clickers by no later than September 29th 2014 and register your
devices. All clicker activities are graded and a vital part of the class lectures.
(2) The customized version of Media/Society (Fifth Edition) by David Croteau and
William Haynes ((Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2014). I have ordered
copies at the University Bookstore. We will read the entire book.
(3) Class Articles- Class articles are available on Canvas site for this course.
Class Basics
Examinations: There will be a mid-term and a Final Exam. The midterm will take
place during class time on November 6th 2014. The final will take place during class
time on December 8th 2014.
The exams will consist of multiple-choice questions, true and false questions and
also short answer questions. The exam questions will be based on course readings,
lecture discussions, guest visitor presentations and key concepts. Detailed
guidelines will be provided during class sessions.
News Consumption: Each week you are asked to explore a different news outlet
and a dedicated section from this outlet. The aim of this activity is for you to gain
3
news consumption habits and to be reflexive about your news consumption
choices.
You are asked to follow the news from Sunday – Wednesday for the particular
publication. You are encouraged to explore the particular section and the
publication of the week in detail. However, the course twitter handle (please either
follow or visit class twitter daily to see the most recent posts:
www.twitter.com/com201aut14 ) will re-tweet during this time period two stories
per day that you should consume in detail. You will have clicker news quizzes from
these stories each Thursday.
Clicker Set-up: You will be using your clickers starting September 30th 2014
(Tuesday). You are asked to purchase and register the clickers by this date and late
registration and the absence of clickers will result in your loss of this portion of
your grade for that given day which is 5 points per class session.
Clicker Activities: There will be at least 17 clicker activities throughout the
lectures. Every Thursday you will have a clicker news quiz based on the news
stories shared by the class twitter handle. An ungraded example of these quizzes
will take place during the second week of classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we
will also have clicker activities that will test your knowledge of that day’s lecture
materials. Sometimes we will also use the clickers for surveying the class
preferences.
Clicker Activity Conduct: The teaching assistants will be walking around the
room during these activities. Multiple clicker use during a class will result in the
loss of the points for that entire day’s activities for you and for the other clicker
users you may have attempted to answer for.
If your clicker does not work for a reason you are welcome to turn in a sheet of
your answers with proof of the clicker problem. Please be aware that not having
your clicker will not count as a clicker technical problem. You are responsible
from having your clicker each class. Starting the second week of classes, each day
you do not have your clicker will result in you loosing the points for this portion of
your grade.
Guest Interviews: We will have scholars from the department visit our classroom
to offer insight about their research. You will be assigned to these scholars’ articles.
The readings are due the day that they are visiting our class. We will announce a
schedule of these visits on Canvas.
The in-person discussions with these scholars will be included in the clicker
activities and the exams. Be prepared to also participate by posing interesting
4
questions to our guests. After each interview, I will allow the students to pose
some questions.
Readings: You should plan to read all assignments before lecture. The purpose to
of this course is to introduce you to a diverse literature within this field. If you find
materials challenging, do not give up. We will review the materials during class
and Friday sessions and make sure that you are clear about the content. We are
here for you.
The reading list includes a list of concepts as well. Please try to find the definitions
and discussions of these concepts in your readings. This should help you with
preparation for your exams.
Recorded Lectures: All lectures will be recorded and are available through
Canvas website. Please use these recordings to review the materials.
PowerPoint Presentations and Course Outlines: The PowerPoint presentations
are not a tool of summary but a tool to include visual aids for class discussions. All
PowerPoint presentations will be available for your review at the end of each week
– on Fridays.
The discussions will be based on course outlines – an idea map of lectures for each
session. These outlines will be available every Monday. You can print and bring
them to class to follow class discussions.
Friday Sessions and Projects
Friday Sessions: You are all assigned to a Friday session. This is your chance to
further examine the material, to engage with your class mates, to review the
concepts and to exchange ideas. Each session will include graded review activities
and small quizzes.
Friday Projects: Most Fridays you’ll apply the skills being taught doing creative
projects. The will allow us to step out of our comfort zones and to critically engage
with media and communication practices we engage in.
Each of the Friday Projects will be available on Canvas. Each project asks you to
partake in an activity, reflect on your experience, relate it to the course readings
and also create a small visual/textual product.
5
You are asked to bring a paper copy of your project to your individual sessions in
addition to submitting them on Canvas.
Extra Credit Opportunities
We will announce during class a number of activities and events related to the
course content. These opportunities will be announced using class twitter account
and under Announcements section of class Canvas page. You are encouraged to
participate in these events. A proof of participation and a 500-word reflection that
outlines your experience will be worth 5 extra points.
Policies
Missing Clicker Activities: Because this is a very large course with many graded
tasks, it's impractical (and often unfair to other students) to deal with missed
work, late work or absences at critical times. For those reasons, most of the graded
work for this course cannot be made up if it's missed for any reason, including
illness, family emergencies, work conflicts, extracurricular activities,
transportation mishaps, technology failures, etc.
Instead, I will drop your two lowest grades on clicker activities. That should
provide a reasonable accommodation for situations in which you must miss a class.
Clicker Technological Problems: Please notify your Friday session TA of any
technological problem you have with your clicker during the break time. If your
clicker does not work, please note down your answers for a piece of paper. Only
address your TAs and engage in this practice if you are sure that there is a clear
technical difficulty with your device.
Missing Friday Session Activities: There is no way to make up the Friday session
activities. If you are not present you will loose the points dedicated to the review
activities presented in these sessions.
Late Projects: Projects turned in late on the same day will loose one points (out of
10 points). Projects turned in 24 hours late will loose two points. If you are more
than 24 hours late than your project you will loose three points. (An extra point in
addition to dedicated points for tardiness of projects: Please review project rubric
for details)
Missing Mid-term or Final: . An accommodation for missing the exams may be
possible but only if we determine that a documented illness or documented
6
emergency prevented you from taking the exam at the time it was offered. There
will be no accommodation of any exam date change due to travel arrangements.
Please do not contact me or your TAs for such concerns.
I want to emphasize that missing the exam is not an option that you elect; it is a
privilege that I may extend if I'm convinced that, because of circumstances out
your control, you were unable to take the exam at the time it was offered. If you
miss the mid-term or final exam, you must email me within 24 hours of the exam
to request an accommodation, and you should explain the circumstances that
prevented you from taking the final exam. I’ll provide further instructions by
email. If you miss the exams and do not contact me 24 hours, you may become
ineligible for any accommodation.
Classroom Decorum
My goal is to create an environment conducive to learning. There are a few
basic rules that I will ask you to abide by during the class sessions.
(1) Tardiness: The class door will close at 10:45 am and those who arrive after
that time will miss the first clicker activities and will have to wait for the
break to be able to access the classroom.
(2) Technology: You’re welcome to bring them to class, as we'll be using them
to find things on the Internet. But if class members start to use the devices
inappropriately or disruptively, I may ban their use completely. Again, I
would do this if it’s necessary to maintain a distraction-free environment
for the course.
(3) Chatting: You will be given the opportunity to chat amongst yourself
during in-class activities. Please reserve all talking to prompted discussion
during classroom and do not talk amongst yourselves during presentations.
If we observe that the chattering is disruptive to the classroom
environment, a TA or myself will ask you to stop. If the disruption
continues, we may ask you to leave the classroom.
(4) Respect: Respect is at the core of all social interactions. Please respect your
TAs, your fellow classmates and me. My goal is to create an environment
where you feel safe and included. I do not believe in official titles so you can
refer to me with my first name: Ekin. However make sure that the
interactions are always within bounds of respect. Please converse with your
7
individual TAs about what their individual expectations are for forms of
address.
Academic misconduct
The Department of Communication expects all students to conduct themselves in
accordance with the highest standards of integrity and honesty. In case you’re
unsure about what constitutes academic misconduct, here are some guidelines:
o All work submitted under your name alone must be solely your work. And
you may not do any individually graded course work for another student.
o You may not submit work in this course that you’ve done for another
course.
o All human, documentary or digital sources used in your assignments must
be properly attributed or credited using conventions discussed in class or
section.
o Any assignment that you submit must be written by you in your own words
unless those words and the ideas you are expressing are properly credited or
attributed to the author or authors who created them using conventions
discussed in class or section.
o You may not copy any passages directly or use phrasing that’s similar to
what someone else has written without properly crediting or attributing the
work to the author or authors following conventions discussed in class or
section.
Other examples of academic dishonesty include making up quotes or information;
presenting any material as your own when you’ve taken it directly from a website
or a documentary source; creating a false impression about how you obtained
information; copy and pasting material from websites or source documents into
your assignments; and cheating on exams, quizzes, activities, homework, papers or
any other assignments.
In dealing with instructors about assignments or other course matters, you must
represent yourself honestly. Lying or intentionally providing false information
about your work or actions related to the course will be considered academic
dishonesty.
8
If you have questions or are unsure whether a particular practice constitutes
academic misconduct, please talk with your TA before you turn in that
assignment. The burden is on you to make sure you understand what constitutes
academic misconduct. You can expect any form of academic misconduct to be
reported to UW office that handles academic dishonesty. You will not receive
credit on an assignment for which academic misconduct has occurred. More
information about academic dishonesty can be found in the Student Code of
Conduct.
Final Course Grade
This is the breakdown of your final grade:
o Clicker Activities- 17 activities (two lowest grades will be dropped) - 1 point
per question – Average of 5 questions per class - 75 points
o Friday Projects – 8 projects total – Each project is worth 10 points–80
points
o Friday Session Quiz and Activities – Each activity is worth 5 points – Total
of 9 activities –45 points
o Midterm Exam: 100 points
o Final Exam: 100 points
9