An overview of twelve media technologies, including print, photography, motion pictures, advertising and public relations, telegraph and telephone, radio, television, computers, Internet, and globalization. We will examine the technical development of each technology, the function of each, and the impact each had on the cultures adopting it.
This is a three-unit (3) class: you’re expected to spend an average of nine (9) hours working on each module.
In this course, we will aim to accomplish the following:
This course will be conducted remotely over the Internet.
All course material is available on the course website at https://juanmonroy.com/mediatechnologies. Assignments are are available on Microsoft Teams. We will not be using Blackboard.
All learning activities will be asynchronous, meaning that you will complete learning activities on your own time by the deadlines noted on this course website.
The learning activities are divided into twelve modules. For each module, there will be:
After four modules, there will be an exam on the material you have covered.
Although the course is asynchronous, you must complete each module, each quiz, and each exam by the deadline specified on this course website.
Queens College offers loaner devices to students who need them for remote instruction. Contact Queens College ITS for how to request a device.
Juan Monroy
Office hours are held remotely. Sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/officehours.
The Media Studies department has a newsletter. The newsletter aims to offer students an accessible platform to be informed about campus and departmental events, and hiring opportunities within the field. With all that happens throughout the semester, The G Building News overs the projects of students and faculty to inspire creativity and potential collaborations.
“The G Building News. Stay Informed. Stay Creative.”
Subscribe today at https://qcmediastudies.substack.com.
We will use Microsoft Teams to submit your assignments. We will not be using Blackboard.
We’re using this because, no matter where you go after CUNY, you will probably never use Blackboard ever again. However, there’s a good chance you will have to use Microsoft Teams and Office 365, especially at work. This is to get you accustomed to this suite.
To access our course on Microsoft Teams, follow these steps:
If you’re having trouble, note the following:
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Please complete the Welcome Survey on Microsoft Teams for this course.
The survey serves to ensure that you can access Microsoft Teams and that you agree to abide by the course policies.
Please complete the Welcome Survey by the deadline posted on Microsoft Teams. If you cannot complete this by the deadline, please email me. Otherwise, I will have to report you as not attending the class and you will be dropped from the course.
There are twelve modules and three exams for this course.
Modules—four at a time—are released on Wednesday and are due the following Tuesday at 11:59 PM. See the course schedule for exact dates.
Each module requires you to read a chapter or two from the following textbook:
Complete the readings first. Take notes and pay attention to the headings to help you understand how the chapter is organized.
Each module requires you to watch a recorded lecture. The recorded lecture is split into a series of videos, between three and five videos, and each video is between five and twelve minutes in length.
Each video contains captions and captions generated by Microsoft OneDrive.
The videos move through the course material quicker than an in-person lecture. As you watch each video, pause and rewind the video as necessary to take notes on the material. This will help ensure you’re ingesting the course material.
Each video is linked on the course schedule below.
For each module, you will take two quizzes: one on the assigned readings and another on the recorded lectures.
Each module requires you to take a quiz on the readings from the textbook. Each reading quiz consists of a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. The quiz will be available on Microsoft Teams as a Microsoft Form.
Note the quiz deadlines on the course schedule and on Microsoft Teams. Quizzes will will not be accepted after they close on Microsoft Teams.
There will be a total of twelve quizzes. I will drop your two lowest reading quiz scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 33% of your final grade.
Each module requires you to take a quiz on the lectures from the textbook. Each lecture quiz consists of a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. The quiz will be available on Microsoft Teams as a Microsoft Form.
Note the quiz deadlines on the course schedule and on Microsoft Teams. Quizzes will will not be accepted after they close on Microsoft Teams.
There will be a total of twelve quizzes. I will drop your two lowest lecture quiz scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 33% of your final grade.
You are required to complete three exams. Each exam will consist of objective questions, a mix of true-and-false and multiple-choice, and subjective questions, requiring answers in the form of explanations. Your answers to the exam questions should synthesize what you learned in the recorded lectures and the textbook readings.
Exams are available on Microsoft Teams as Microsoft Forms, linked below on the course schedule
All three exams are required and constitute 34% of your final grade:
All exams must be submitted by the deadline. Exams will not be accepted after each closes on Microsoft Teams.
As this course is asynchronous, you may complete each module as your schedule permits. However, the due dates for each assignment—including quizzes, lectures, and exams—are firm and must be completed on-time in order to receive credit. Please plan accordingly.
Gutenberg launches a print revolution in Europe that ultimately leads to several other revolutions: the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Free Press, and the American and French Revolutions, as well as the Partisan Press.
The introduction of steam power to printing presses at the beginning of the 19th century radically changes the nature of print, its scale, and the content to reach a mass audience like never before possible.
Print would serve as a muckraker, a reformer, a war correspondent, a tool of authoritarian governments, the voice of the marginalized, a watchdog, and finally, a way to wrap fish.
In the nineteenth century, inventors improve how to use chemicals to expose light and record it on various media; thus bringing photography to existence. Since then, photography would move from the portrait studio, to the battlefield, and to our own pockets.
Exam 1 covers the material for the Modules 1–4 and is available on Microsoft Teams
The development of motion pictures in the nineteenth century has made possible an entire industry and new form of entertainment that has captivated us—in different ways—in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Advertising and Public Relations rise with print and broadcasting to persuade the public throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century and, of course, using digital technologies in the twenty-first century.
The telegraph and telephone both emerge in the nineteenth century, inaugurating the electronic communications era, and both building immense corporate, communication empires in the process.
The discovery of electromagnetism in the nineteenth century opened new possibilities: wireless telegraph, wireless telephone, broadcast radio, and even other uses—from Wi-Fi to podcasting.
Exam 2 covers the material for the Modules 5–8 and is available on Microsoft Teams.
The invention of electronic televisions creates a new communications empire for radio companies in the United States. It ultimately becomes the dominant communications medium of the 20th century.
The development of digital computers since the mid–20th century had made it possible to expand what we as humans can do.
Digital networks that developed in the post-World War II era and the proliferation of computers offered to extend the possibilities of what humans can do with computers and their networks. But who would control these networks?
The global digital revolution—made possible by the communications technology and global social networks—has brought us back to rethink how communication can change our world and how we have to protect the freedom to communicate.
Exam 3 covers the material for the Modules 9–12 and is available on Microsoft Teams