MCH3074 : Critical Approaches to Media, Communication and Culture (Inactive)
- Inactive for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Joss Hands
- Other Staff: Dr David Bates, Mr Christopher Little
- Owning School: Arts & Cultures
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This module examines historical and contemporary issues and debates as they pertain to media, communication, and culture. Analysis is guided by critical approaches developed in media and cultural studies. This module also expands the critical and theoretical understandings developed by students in culture, communications and the media in previous stages. The module aims to enable students to interrogate and develop their thinking and practices in relation to theoretical and issues-based challenges. It is intended to help students to work on identifying and determining what is and is not critical detail and undertake critical self-reflexivity. It will encourage students to pay attention to texture, argument, criticality, subtlety, and complexity. Such aims support their final dissertations.
Outline Of Syllabus
The module draws on relevant theoretical texts and cultural practices to explore and comprehend culture, media and technology in the context of historical and recent developments in the field of media, communication and cultural studies. Each week provides students with a detailed and critical understanding of a theorist, concept, medium, theory, text, practice, or event from a range of perspectives. The module encourages students to consider their own involvement in the matters at hand, and to be critically self-reflexive about this. The module will thus facilitate a space in which to thoughtfully consider our identities and interests in relation to the demands of large but also intimate public spheres, challenges, and global contexts. Assignments are structured around studies of social movements, media, events or cultural formations (e.g. class, ethnicity, gender). Alternatively, students can focus on a particular direction in a theory’s or theorist’s trajectory.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 11 | 1:30 | 16:30 | Concept-led materials delivered in short videos, narrated PowerPoints or audio-only formats |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 50:00 | 50:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Present-in-person on-campus seminars (where possible) |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | Non-synchronous reading and lecture response log |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 3 | 2:00 | 6:00 | 3 x 2-hour reflection and essay preparation workshops present-in- person on-campus - weeks 1/6/11 |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured non-synchronous discussion | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Reflection and discussion based on key ideas, theorists, themes and concepts from each week, online |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 83:30 | 83:30 | N/A |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
This module allows students to link theory with practice in the field of cultural, media and communications studies. Different styles of teaching and learning, alongside input from a range of colleagues with specialist interest in specific areas of the module, will encourage students to understand some of the implications of learning ‘theory’ as an enriching way of understanding contemporary social life. But theory is never divorced from contexts or situations, and so the themes and issues in contemporary cultural studies will be allowed to impact on theory, learning outcomes, and on-going research.
This module uses the lectures to map out the themes and issues in media, communication and cultural studies. The online lectures are delivered using a variety of methods. These includes a range of resources, such as PowerPoint, video and individual and group tasks. The students will be required to have undertaken a range of preparatory tasks to facilitate the interactive character of these sessions.
Seminars are used as a means for students to lead discussion. These are held in order for students to develop and follow up some of the issues from the lectures. One feature of the seminar is that the lecturer is simply there to facilitate discussion. We have found that students often benefit from other students’ interpretations and discussions.
Tutorial sessions will be available to students at strategic times during the module timetable.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 | A | 75 | 3000 words |
| Reflective log | 1 | A | 25 | 1000 words |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The assessment methods relate closely to key elements in the module’s knowledge and skills outcomes. The assessments are designed in order to allow students to sense the importance of critical detail, theoretical complexity, density of argument, etc.
The reflective log provides a chance for students to draw on their reading and lecture responses and online discussions to bring together conclusions about their learning, their learning experiences and the value of critical thinking. The 3000-word essay allows students to demonstrate critical and evaluative skills, to fully research and deepen their understanding of a focused topic and to express firm knowledge/understanding, of complex theoretical questions.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- MCH3074's Timetable