Module manager: Dr Holly Steel
Email: h.steel1@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module aims to give students a critical understanding of the role of technology in media and communications. Technology is central to communications and the media. That much is obvious. We are frequently reminded that in these first years of the 21st century, we carry around with us each day a collection of technologies that a generation ago would have been unachievable, unaffordable and in some cases unimaginable. While such simple statements cannot reasonably be disputed, in discussions of the role of communications in everyday life, the role of technology is often described only in this straightforward manner. Study on this module aims to nuance and complicate this understanding, providing a critical knowledge of the social place of technology in contemporary media and communications.
This module aims to give students an academic understanding of the role of technology in media and communications. It illuminates critical and social issues generated by and through technology,
discussing and analysing the relationship between technological developments and the societies in which those developments take place.
At the end of the module, students should be able to:
1. Articulate a critical understanding of the role of technology in and on media and communications;
2. explain the social issues generated by and through technologies in selected media;
3. use appropriate terminology to discuss technical features;
4. apply this knowledge in order to analyse selected technology and assess its social place in the world.
Indicative syllabus may include:
case histories: role & development of technologies in media and communications; basic technical concepts: bandwidth, frequency etc.; approaches to technology / society relationships; changing patterns of technological usage; claims made for technology’s impact
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 179 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 21 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Reading for seminars: 60 hrs
Preparing seminar presentation: 4 hrs
Research in preparation for essay: 80 hrs
Writing essay: 25 hrs
Writing literature review: 10 hrs
Attendance will be monitored in accordance with School policy and progress will be monitored in weekly seminar classes.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 x 2,750 - 3000 words | 70 |
| Essay | Essay Plan 1 x 600 - 800 words | 30 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 6/4/2024
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team