CMST 302 Mass Communication

5 credits

This course focuses on mass media’s history and cultural, social, and economic impacts. Examines how Internet, television, radio, film, and print media affect public and private life. CMST 302 studies legal, ethical, and commercial dimensions of mass communication, including First Amendment issues.

This course meets the Humanities general education distribution requirement.

Prerequisites: Admission to the BAS in Design program

Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Speak to the historic need for humankind to express information to a mass audience from pre-historic times through 21st century New Media
Identify historical progress of media from Gutenberg Press in the 15th century through the Internet and the 21st century
Specify historical markers in the development of major media: Moveable type, lithography, photography, cinema, radio, television, packet-swapping pre-internet, internet and wireless media
Identify ethical perceptions and implications of major media
Compare and contrast media impact on individual versus society (USA and globally)
Navigate 1st Amendment issues, plagiarism and theft issues with emphasis on 21st century media applications
Contrast 20th century mass communication models of “one-to-many” to emerging 21st century trends of “one-to-one” marketing, communication strategy, and user-generated content

General Education Distribution Area Outcomes
Students who successfully complete courses in the Humanities distribution area will be able to:

Discuss and explain methods of creative expression, social interaction, and aesthetic considerations employed by individuals and societies
Employ methods of intellectual and creative inquiry central to the selected Humanities course of study, using the vocabulary, concepts, historical perspectives and materials common to the chosen area
Dependent on the Humanities area selected, interpret specific artifacts from art, film, history, language, literature, philosophy, religious thought, or narrative form and develop one’s own viewpoint or artifact using the techniques common to that area

Total Hours: 50 Theory (Lecture) Hours: 50