Media & Communication (MCOM) Courses

MCOM1005 Introduction to Media & Communication

This is a survey course that introduces students to the study of media across time and space. The course focuses on the histories of various modalities, from speech and print to television and social media. Students also engage with a variety of concepts from the field of media studies, as well as with political-economic and social-cultural approaches to media research.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM1150 Introduction to Media Production

This production course introduces students to several modes of professional practice in the field of media production. Through the creation of short works of visual and auditory media, students acquire practical, professionally focused experience as well as the necessary technological skills to effectively communicate their message to an audience. With emphasis on the craft of storytelling, this course provides students with the foundational experience they need to engage in more complex, independent media productions.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1020 or ENG1024 or English placement.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM2010 Media Industries

This course provides an in-depth look at the industrial contexts within which media professionals work. Of primary concern are the ways in which a range of factors (i.e., organizational philosophies, economic structures, regulatory contexts, technological innovations and day-to-day business practices) work to determine the ways in which media organizations operate, as well as how such contexts shape the kinds of media texts these industries produce. Ultimately, the course introduces future media professionals to concepts necessary for understanding and navigating the contemporary media landscape.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3050 Media Identities

This course analyzes the ways in which media texts, from films to television shows, represent contemporary forms of social identity such as gender, race, class and sexual orientation. Specifically, students are encouraged to ponder the role contemporary media plays in constructing popular understandings of social identity, as well as how audiences use media representations to form their own sense of identity. Students engage with contemporary theoretical perspectives on media representation, evaluate current research in the field, and perform their own analyses based on this material.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3090 Critical Perspectives on New Media

This course examines the rise of digital media technologies and their impact on contemporary culture. Topics include: economic issues, such as how the new digital landscape contributes to the consolidation of media ownership; industrial issues, such as how digital technologies cultivate new kinds of relationships between media producers and consumers; social issues, such as how the internet and social media change the way that individuals interact with one another and re-imagine themselves; and political issues, such as digital technology’s potential to break down some barriers (i.e., global, national, cultural), while erecting others (i.e., economic barriers related to access). Through critical engagement with these issues, students are encouraged to think deeply and ethically about the media’s past, present and future.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3100 Radio, Records and Popular Music

This course is divided into three interlocking sections: genres, industries and technologies. The genres section explores major forms of popular music, such as jazz, blues, country and rock. The industries section examines how the businesses of radio and music produce culture. The technologies section describes the gramophone, phonograph, radio, jukebox, tape recorder and digital files in their social and technological contexts. Borrowing from multiple fields, such as media studies, sociology, anthropology, history and musicology, the course situates these genres, industries, and technologies alongside several themes, including noise and silence, listening and recording, body and voice, regionalism and urbanism, race and class, and creativity and commerce.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3200 History of Photography

This course covers important photographic inventions, from the camera obscura and the daguerreotype to the 35mm still camera and the Polaroid. Various formats and prints are studied from social-cultural perspectives, such as banquet camera photographs, cartes de visite, magic lantern slides, news photographs and picture postcards. The documentary quality of photographs is also addressed, with examples that draw from the works of Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lang and Walker Evans, among others.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3600 Narrative Filmmaking

This course provides students the opportunity to collaborate on the production of a number of short films that explore fiction-based storytelling. Emphasis is on creating visual dynamism as students develop, write, direct and produce their own short films. Advanced techniques in lighting, cinematography and directing actors allow participants to create work of high-production value.
Prerequisite(s): MCOM1150 or MCST1150.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3650 Documentary Filmmaking

This course goes in-depth into how nonfiction films are made from initial concept through distribution. Strategies for producing, including solutions to the unique challenges inherent to documentary production, are explored. Through a combination of screenings and critiques of documentary films (which may include genres such as political, sports, music and/or biographic), shooting exercises and critical analysis of work produced in class, the course culminates in a final project: a short, student-developed work of nonfiction or a written treatment.
Prerequisite(s): Junior status.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM3700 Media Research Methods

This course provides essential training on how scholars think by asking students to participate in the process of knowledge creation. Students are familiarized with a variety of qualitative research methods used by media scholars, such as interview studies, focus groups, participant observation, historical and textual analysis. Not only do students read and critique prior research performed by media scholars, they also gain practical, hands-on experience with these methods through a series of method-based projects. This course is beneficial to students who wish to pursue research positions in the media industries as well as for those who plan to continue their studies in graduate school. As part of the MCST core curriculum, it also prepares students for the research-based capstone project in MCOM4200.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027, MCOM1005 or MCST1005.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM4010 Global Media

This course takes a critical look at the practices of media corporations, governments and audiences, mostly through the lenses of nationalism and imperialism. Particular emphasis is placed on the idea of globalization and its connection to contexts of reception at local, national and international levels. The course also addresses key themes such as trade, tradition, nation, globalism and localism. Students read political-economic and ethnographic analyses of cultural artifacts and production sites that bear the imprints of, on the one hand, transnational media corporations, and, on the other, regional audiences.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027, MCOM1005 or MCST1005.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM4050 Media & Popular Culture

This course surveys the ways in which everyday acts and artifacts communicate messages. Students interpret how fashion, food, fiction and other forms of communication influence and are influenced by social structures and global institutions. Students also consider the ways in which icons and symbols generate meaning for diverse audiences. Course readings address ideology, identity, community, subjectivity and the body, among other topics.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits

MCOM4200 Media & Communication Capstone

This seminar draws on coursework from the major and synthesizes it in the form of one research-based project on an original topic. Projects focus on substantive issues and may take several forms, from traditional scholarship such as a research paper or a critical analysis, to creative work — film or television scripts, journalism, fiction, photography, music or any type of performance art.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027, MCOM1005 or MCST1005.
Offered at Charlotte, Providence
3 Semester Credits