Course Syllabus

Spring 2024 | ENG-2050-VU20 - Global Issues in the Media

In Person Class

Standard courses meet in person at CCV centers, typically once each week for the duration of the semester.

Faculty

Stephen Joyce
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Ashraf Alamatouri

General Education Requirements

VSCS Humanistic Perspectives
CCV Writing and Research

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This writing course examines the worldwide reporting of key issues in a range of audio, print, and electronic media. Students will study and write about several of the most significant issues facing today's world and discover how the language and style employed in creating and communicating news can affect public understanding and response to world events. Students must complete a final research paper with a grade of C- or better in order to pass this course. This course fulfills the research and writing intensive requirement. Prerequisite: English Composition.

Essential Objectives

1. Explore and analyze how a diversity of media sources (including radio, television, blogs, the foreign press, newspapers, weeklies, and narrative journalism) cover important global issues.
2. Analyze the role of journalism and journalists at important times throughout history, and learn the role of journalists within news organizations to better understand collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information as it relates to the research process.
3. Discuss and describe the purpose and power of rhetoric--including the media's use of informal spoken communication, sound bites, images, and speeches--and how it relates to understanding ethical issues involved in reporting and interpreting media communication.
4. Critically examine and reflect on the ways perception of contemporary world events is shaped by the medium in which they are communicated, including social media, crowd-sourced reporting, and official and unofficial blogs.
5. Examine global news reporting across different media platforms, both national and international, for differences in the selection of stories, and explore racial, gendered, historical, political, economic, and cultural biases in reporting.
6. Demonstrate consistent and confident use of standard English conventions, including grammar, usage, organization, and mechanics.
7. Demonstrate information literacy skills: distinguish between and utilize both primary and secondary sources; perform library and web-based literature searches; and evaluate data and resources for credibility, reliability, and validity.
8. Demonstrate the ability to apply either APA or MLA citation styles in academic writing by parenthetically citing sources in the text and correctly compiling them in the relevant end sources page.
9. Compose, revise, and edit a final paper that includes a thesis, integrates five or more scholarly and professional sources, including primary and secondary evidence as needed, to address an academic research question and demonstrate writing proficiency by achieving a grade of C- or better.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Methods

This class will not be lecture-based, but rather, it will be heavily participatory. Your participation will take the form of activities such as: 1) discussions of reading materials, 2) the presentation of your homework, and 3) leading discussions as a student, and 4) classroom workshops on your term papers. To the extent that you will receive lectures, they will take place online.

Evaluation Criteria

Category																															% of Overall Grade
Perusall Annotations (annotating readings to show that you read them)																															30
Leading Discussion (for more than one reading)																															20
Term Paper																															30
Examples of News Coverage from Both Sides																															20

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

This course demands self-management, persistence, and self-motivation. Your best approach is to work steadily throughout the term rather than leave things until the last minute.

I want you to be “selfless discussants,” willing to put yourself forward to ask questions, propose answers, and provide feedback as needed. Forget yourself. Forget what others might think. In other words, I want you stop being self-conscious during our discussions. Keep it in mind that if one person has a question or needs clarification, many others also wonder. Try to be brave and bold, be that person who asks the question while the other students fall silent. There are no penalties for asking questions. In fact, it will boost your participation grade to ask these types of clarifying questions.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity