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.
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 Google Classroom. We will not be using Blackboard.
All learning activities will be asynchronous, meaning that students complete learning activities on their own time by the deadlines noted on this course website.
This course consists of twelve modules on media technologies. For each module, there will be:
After four modules, there will be an exam on the material you covered.
Although the course is asynchronous, you must complete each module, each quiz, and each exam by the deadline specified on this syllabus and on Google Classroom.
In this course, we will aim to accomplish the following:
Juan Monroy
Office Hours will be held remotely on Google Meet by appointment only.
Log into a Google account and sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/qcofficehours. Appointment slots—in twenty minute increments—are available at the following times:
Use the Google Meet in the email and calendar entry to connect to the conference.
We will be using Google Classroom for assignments (lectures, quizzes, and discussions) and for exams.
How to join our course on Google Classroom 1. Go to https://gdrive.qc.cuny.edu and login with your CAMS account (looks like jsmith100). If you have forgotten your username or password- go to https://cams.qc.cuny.edu. 2. Accept terms and conditions if it’s your first time logging in). 3. Go to https://classroom.google.com - Identify as a student - Click the + button on the top right. - Add the course code listed in the welcome section of this syllabus.
Troubleshooting: After logging in, it won’t let you add the class. Sometimes it switches you back to your personal Google account if you have more than one logged in at a time. Open the account switcher by clicking on your initial or profile picture in the top right and enter your QC account. If you don’t know my CAMS account/password, go to https://cams.qc.cuny.edu and click forgot Username or Password.
For more information, go to https://juanmonroy.com/courses/googleclassroom-qc/.
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Please complete the Welcome Survey for this course on Google Classroom.
The survey serves to ensure that you can access Google Classroom and that you agree to abide by the course policies.
Please complete the Welcome Survey by Friday, June 11. 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.
This course is broken up into twelve modules. Each module consists of:
Modules are released, one at a time, Tuesday through Friday, for a total of four modules per week, and are due the following Monday 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 these 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 and answer the comprehension question based on that material. 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.
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 will be linked on the course schedule below and on Google Classroom.
Your scores on the lecture comprehension questions count for 25% of your final grade. I will drop the combined lecture comprehension quiz scores from your two lowest performing modules.
Each module requires you to take a quiz on the readings from the textbook. Each quiz consists of a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. The quiz will be available on Google Classroom as a Google Form.
Note the quiz deadlines on the course schedule and on Google Classroom. No late quizzes will be accepted.
There will be a total of twelve quizzes. I will drop your two lowest quiz scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 25% of your final grade.
At the end of each module, I pose a question to ask you to reflect on a topic covered in a module. These questions are ungraded, but they help me figure out how to improve the material for the future.
You are required to complete three exams. Each exam will consist of objective questions, a mix of true and false, 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.
Exam are available and due on Google Classroom, according to the following schedule:
All three exams are required and constitute 50% of your final grade. Your highest score will be worth 25%, your second-highest exam score will be worth 15%, and your lowest exam score will be worth 10% of your final grade.
All exams must be submitted by the deadline, otherwise they will be penalized by reduction in a grade, according to the course policies.
Please submit your work on time. Late quizzes and take-home final exams will not be accepted. In some cases, assignments due at the end of the term will not be accepted. In-class exams must be taken at the date and time listed below unless we make other arrangements.
All other work will be penalized as follows: - Fall and Spring Courses - After a 24-hour grace period, late work will be penalized by a 10% reduction for each 24-hour period it is late. After one calendar week, the assignment will not be accepted, and you will likely fail this class. - Summer and Winter Courses - After a one-hour grace period, late work will be penalized by a 10% reduction up to 24 hours after the deadline. Late work will not be accepted after 24 hours. - All courses - No work will be accepted after the last class session.
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 Google Classroom.
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 Google Classroom.
The invention of electronic televisions creates a new communications empire for radio companies in the United States.
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 Google Classroom.