Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

Unit Description

Purpose of this unit is to explore the growing political role of media and communications in instruments such as newspapers, books, radio, television, and social networking.

Learners will be encouraged to reflect theologically upon the interplay of politics, power and media. The unit highlights different interpretations of how media and communications now envelop such institutions as government, political parties, law, education, health, work arrangements, business, and religious organisations; as well to form and represent citizens’ opinions and power.

The unit will also explore questions of audience attraction, and ownership and control of media and communications. The dynamic growth of networked media and information continues to radically alter the political and industrial landscape. Participants will explore how new economies of knowledge production and exchanges are reconfiguring the relations of power. The changing media scape presents both challenges and opportunities for the way people organise themselves and relate to one another. Access to information is critical to the way we govern our lives at both the level of the individual and the collective. This unit will give participants the opportunity to come to grips with the competitive nature of the contemporary media-scape.

This unit will therefore provide participants with the opportunity to develop a theological and interdisciplinary conceptual framework to explore the relationship between media, society and the way we organise ourselves in societies (i.e. politics).

Teaching Strategies

The learning process consists of three phases: Reading, Residential, and Research. Each phase has a blend of individual and group learning, and subsequent phases build upon the learning of those that come before.

The first phase is a Reading phase, and lasts for 12 weeks. The learner, as part of a small cohort study group (3 to 5 members), is guided through a reading program to explore the current scholarship on the practice of managing the political power of media in society.

Reading assignments are compiled with the help of the librarian, the educational technologist, and administrative support staff. Required weekly readings are posted to the unit website once a week for downloading, utilising Tabor Victoria’s Moodle platform.

Students are also required to read the prescribed textbooks in this phase.

During this first phase learners in cohort groups embark on a guided social inquiry, resulting in a research project . Hands-on research conducted in context by each participant allows him/her to gain an understanding of specific, emerging ministry concerns/questions encountered by persons working in media.

Second phase is a residential phase: Equipped with the reading and research, learners then undertake a Residential phase of 40 hours’ worth (one week, full-time) of residential study. During the residency, all cohort groups gather in Media companies and/or organisations chosen because of a leader who is known as a thoughtful practitioner, and because the agency has a proven track record in understanding the political power of media in society.

In the third Phase students complete a personal theology in which issues related to politics, power and the media are explored. Cohorts also plan and implement an intervention at a company or organisation. The intervention is a professional presentation that summarises findings and proposes a number of ways the agency might go about addressing the emerging questions. The intervention invites thoughtful practitioners into theological reflection and constructive thinking about the concern and what might be done to begin addressing it. Following the intervention, the small cohort study group reflects upon and assesses their collaborative work.

Unit offerings

Face to face: (Every 3rd Year, Semester 1)

Please note

The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.

This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.