2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

COMM2145 Technology in Communication and Media

20 creditsClass Size: 63

Module manager: Dr Holly Steel
Email: h.steel1@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module aims to give students a critical understanding of the role of technology in media and communications. Technology is central to communications and the media. That much is obvious. We are frequently reminded that in these first years of the 21st century, we carry around with us each day a collection of technologies that a generation ago would have been unachievable, unaffordable and in some cases unimaginable. While such simple statements cannot reasonably be disputed, in discussions of the role of communications in everyday life, the role of technology is often described only in this straightforward manner. Study on this module aims to nuance and complicate this understanding, providing a critical knowledge of the social place of technology in contemporary media and communications.

Objectives

This module aims to give students an academic understanding of the role of technology in media and communications. It illuminates critical and social issues generated by and through technology,
discussing and analysing the relationship between technological developments and the societies in which those developments take place.

Learning outcomes
At the end of the module, students should be able to:

1. Articulate a critical understanding of the role of technology in and on media and communications;
2. explain the social issues generated by and through technologies in selected media;
3. use appropriate terminology to discuss technical features;
4. apply this knowledge in order to analyse selected technology and assess its social place in the world.

Syllabus

Indicative syllabus may include:

case histories: role & development of technologies in media and communications; basic technical concepts: bandwidth, frequency etc.; approaches to technology / society relationships; changing patterns of technological usage; claims made for technology’s impact

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	11	1.00	11.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			179.00
Total Contact hours			21.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Reading for seminars: 60 hrs
Preparing seminar presentation: 4 hrs
Research in preparation for essay: 80 hrs
Writing essay: 25 hrs
Writing literature review: 10 hrs

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Attendance will be monitored in accordance with School policy and progress will be monitored in weekly seminar classes.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 2,750 - 3000 words	70.00
Essay	Essay Plan 1 x 600 - 800 words	30.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 04/06/2024 10:40:41

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