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AMST40650

Academic Year 2024/2025

Politics and Digital Storytelling (AMST40650)

Subject:
American Studies
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Centre For American Studies
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Professor Scott Lucas
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
Blended
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This is an advanced professional module, building upon academic expertise to train students as practitioners in 21st-century media. The module will review the material in the module News Media Today or, in the case of students who did not take the module, introduce them to the material: history and technologies of media; framing, priming, and agenda-setting; and the interaction between media, politics, and culture in both US and international contexts. Students will use this base to develop expertise in a particular aspect of national, regional, or international politics. They will build a network of sources, develop analyses, and establish an individual journalistic (as opposed to academic) style in content and presentation. This development will include an interim assessment of handling of sources and final assessment based on two electronic articles: one based on reporting, and the other on analysis.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the module, students will build on their assessment of media in global and regional as well as national contexts, not being dependent on a “nation-first” approach to international and trans-national issues. Students critique multiple sources --- textual, oral, and audio-visual --- and then establish their own “source web” to produce original content. They will be able to construct and present an original article based on reporting of a significant topic, and an original article based on analysis of political, economic, social, cultural, or ideological aspects of a topic.

Indicative Module Content:

Review of technologies of media and of “mediascapes”
Review of the navigation of propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation
Consideration of concepts in practice such as framing, priming, and agenda-setting
Collection and “deconstruction” of sources, in order to “reconstruct” authority through a source web
Pitching an electronic article
Developing and designing an electronic article
Dissemination and negotiation of new/social media

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Autonomous Student Learning

176
Lectures

24
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Weekly, interactive seminars following student engagement with pre-recorded lectures. Development of skills through group and individual presentations and “thinkpieces”. Assessments tailored to stages of development in research, construction, and presentation of professional work.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Source Web (20% of course mark) --- Beginning with a source text, establishment of a source web to establish student’s authority and reliability in reporting/analysis beyond the initial text. Week 8, Week 15 Graded No
20
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Electronic Article --- Reporting (40% of course mark) --- About 1,500 words on topic and in format suitable for the website EA WorldView Week 15 Graded No
40
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Electronic Article --- Analysis or Reportage (40% of course mark) --- Up to 2,000 words on topic and in format suitable for the website EA WorldView Week 15 Graded No
40
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback provided individually to students following assessment of submitted work

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 11:00 - 12:50
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