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Communication Core

The Communication Core subjects are designed to give students the essential skills and knowledge required by every communication graduate.

Through the Communication Core, students examine the foundations of communication and develop their professional practice or craft through new technologies as well as existing traditional mediums.

Each Communication Core subject will engage students in critical examinations and reflections of key communication concepts, preparing them to work with a real-world client in their capstone subject, Communication Practice Project.

Communication Core subjects run vertically through the three years of the degree.

The Communication Core subjects are:

 

58101 Understanding Communication

In this foundational subject students investigate the role of communication in society and the different ways in which communication is understood and practised interpersonally, socially, culturally and professionally. They examine communication from the perspectives of writers, producers, journalists, creative artists, advertising and public relations practitioners, information managers, and from social, cultural and political perspectives. The interrelated roles of authors/producers, audiences, texts and contexts, are explored through research, reading, projects and discussions. Students also gain practical experience through conducting interviews and presenting their findings in writing, photography and video, and in various online forms using digital media.

58102 Language and Discourse

This subject introduces three key communication concepts, develops a thematic study, and teaches skills in the medium of sound. The concepts are Discourse, Genre, and 'Multimodality'. Through multimodal analysis and practice, students understand communication as combinations of representations, cultural forms and specific communicative resources (verbal and non-verbal; visual and auditory, etc), assembling complex relations of thoughts and feelings. The thematic research explores the different ways in which important social and cultural issues are represented in a range of media. Students extend their learning by experimentation in multimodal writing in different genres, such as 'report', 'story', 'argument', 'appeal', etc, and they reach out for different audiences with sound practice. The subject equips them with the concepts and methods to reflect critically on their own experience of language phenomena through the issues systematically explored.

58103 Ideas in History

This subject engages students in critical examination, discussion and reflection on some of the key ideas and intellectual movements in world history and how these inform current social, cultural, economic and political thought and practice. In particular, it explores how ideas and worldviews frame and influence communication socially, culturally and politically. Students explore non-Western as well as Western ideas and viewpoints and ways of understanding human history including those ideas and intellectual traditions attached to the categories of the 'modern' and modernity; the 'post-modern' and post-modernity and 'tradition' - culture, custom and community. These are examined through various themes from multiple cultural perspectives and activities which include those based in museums and other sites where ideas and their histories are instantiated.

58201 Communication and Cultural Practices

Tacking back and forth between theory and practice (individually and collectively), this subject examines ways that media, information and communication figure in our everyday practices. It examines the development of the communication and cultural industries and practices with a particular focus on current practices and technologies of convergence, and on ways of theorizing and understanding the relationship between producers, texts and audiences. Students are introduced to practice and the roles of communication professionals in different contexts. The subject provides an overview of important historical and political developments within communication and cultural industries, critically interrogating how communication and information products are produced, in what organizational and economic contexts, and for what purposes. The Australian situation is placed in its international context and with reference to the changing roles of digital technologies, public and private sector production/distribution and the role of governments.

58202 Regulating Communication - Law, Ethics, Politics

Public, organizational and everyday communication practices are shaped through laws, policies and ethical codes. Investigating and comparing different regulatory approaches tells us much about our own assumptions about communication and its role in shaping our lives. Contestations over law and ethics reflect underlying social, economic and political conflicts that shape political agendas and define public policy. The subject explores communication regulation in a range of Australian and international contexts and from historical and cross-cultural perspectives. Students investigate how codes and laws relate to communication practices by selecting from a range of topics such as: defamation, censorship, intellectual property, privacy, data protection, surveillance, racial vilification, whistle-blowing, confidentiality, freedom of information, and the role of inter-state organizations, such as the United Nations, and non-government organizations. Students develop their practical understanding of these topics through a simulation role-playing game based on a hypothetical scenario designed to raise regulatory issues of contemporary relevance.

58301 Communication Practice Project

This is the capstone subject in the BA in Communication, designed to bring together knowledge and skills gained by students throughout their entire course. They have the opportunity to work on projects that develop creative and innovative responses to communication and/or media issues and problems. Students work collaboratively in cross-program teams which may also work with external 'clients' or partners in projects. At the beginning of the semester, a contract for the project is negotiated between the student group and their 'client'. Students need to assess their progress and write critical reflections and evaluations on the projects and project processes. There may be opportunities for students to organise symposia or conferences to present these reflections. Course professional portfolios - electronic and other media - will be finalised.

 

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