1 Provost’s Course Redesign Competition | 2011-2012

Provost’s Course Redesign Competition | 2011-2012

Application

Directions: Please use the following form to develop your proposal. If you are submitting a proposal that involves a sequence of courses, please provide information for each of the courses. Your narrative responses to questions 6 through 9 should total no more than four single-spaced pages. Proposal Submission: Pre-proposals for course redesign are invited from all programs that offer core, foundational, or gateway courses. The deadline for proposals is 1 p.m., Monday, October 4, 2010. Proposals should be submitted electronically. Please send your proposal as an attachment (PDF or Word format) to an email message to Shirley Guitron, Institute administrative assistant, at Shirley.Guitron@ColoState.edu. Original signature pages should be sent via campus mail to Shirley Guitron at the Institute for Learning and Teaching, Campus Delivery 1052, TILT Building. For More Information: Questions concerning the competition should be directed to Shaun Beaty, Associate Director, The Institute for Learning and Teaching, at 491-3132 or Shaun.Beaty@ColoState.edu. 1. Contact Information

a. Name: Jonathan Lupo b. Phone Number: 970.491.6140 c. Email Address: jonathan.lupo@colostate.edu d. Mailing Address: 1783 Campus Delivery, 213B Eddy Hall, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1783 e. Department Chair Name: Sue D. Pendell f. Department Chair Mailing Address: 1783 Campus Delivery, 202 Eddy Hall, Fort Collins, CO

80523-1783 g. Department Chair Email Address: Sue.Pendell@colostate.edu h. Dean Name: Ann Gill i. Dean Mailing Address: 1701 Campus Delivery, C138 Clark Hall Fort Collins, CO 80523-1701 j. Dean Email Address: Ann.Gill@colostate.edu

2. Course Number and Title: SPCM 100 Communication and Popular Culture

3. This course is in the AUCC:

Yes No

4. Course Enrollment: *course is also taught in summer (2006: 76; 2007-08: 0; 2009: 78; 2010: 96)

Year Fall Spring

2006-2007: 555 300

2007-2008: 356 121

2008-2009: 479 123

2009-2010: 400 165

5. Identify courses for which this course:

Is a prerequisite: SPCM 346, 347, and 387.

Is a prerequisite with a grade of C or better:

Is a prerequisite with a grade of B or better:

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SPCM 100 is a core, required course for Communication Studies majors.

6. Course Description and the problem(s) that you hope to address.

In the course catalog, SPCM 100: Communication & Popular Culture is described as covering the “classical tradition of speech communication, its extension to broadcasting, and integration of both in contemporary culture.” In practice, the course is a historically-focused introduction to U.S. popular culture (with an emphasis on 20th century mass media) through which several critical and theoretical approaches are presented in order to examine how popular culture messages are constructed and their effects on society.

SPCM 100 is required for Communication Studies majors. Additionally, it fulfills AUCC category 3B for non-majors and serves as a gtPathways Arts & Expression course. The class has an average yearly enrollment of over 600 students (not including an average of 87 students in 2-3 summer

sessions in 2009 and 2010). In general, one faculty and 3-4 Special Instructors teach 6-12 sections, including sections reserved for Key Academic and Key Service Community students. It has also been selected for online development so that a Media Studies Minor may be offered via Continuing Education.

While the course remains popular for both majors and non-majors, SPCM 100 instructors feel the course has drifted too far in the direction of popular culture history, while lacking a consistent set of objectives and learning outcomes across the sections. The course does not utilize a core textbook, and while many instructors employ the same readings, the critical theories, skills, and related assignments are not uniform. Consequently, students are receiving a discontinuous learning experience, which has a domino effect for majors in that instructors in upper-division courses cannot be certain of which critical terms & methodologies have been previously introduced. Closer alignment of introductory skills, concepts, and methods with their intermediate counterparts in upper-division courses will lessen the need for remediation and improve the effectiveness of advanced instruction. For non-majors, an irregular SPCM 100 student experience makes it challenging to provide a stable set of learning outcomes consistent with AUCC and gtPathways guidelines.

By reframing and standardizing the course we feel we can offer both non-majors and majors a more cohesive introduction to the study of communication and popular culture.

7. Redesign Rationale. In broad terms, a redesigned SPCM 100 will serve the University with a more effective Core learning experience. The redesign will involve making the multiple sections of SPCM 100 a more consistent and focused experience for students, through which they will be provided a useful and lasting “toolbox” so they can understand, analyze, and evaluate popular culture as well as consider its effects on individuals and society. Achieving this goal will also aid the Department of Communication Studies in giving a relevant introduction to the contemporary contours of the Department and the discipline to both majors and non-majors. And a revamped SPCM 100 also will enhance the course’s efficacy for majors by providing a common scaffolding of skills and competencies which “pay off” in upper-division courses (particularly those which consider media and visual culture).

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In addition, redesigning SPCM 100 at the same time as developing its online counterpart assists the Department in achieving its objective of offering a Media Studies Minor entirely online as well as providing a model for beneficial integration of learning technology and web tools for present and future on-ground and online courses. In this spirit, we believe the redesign should be centered on four goals:

I. Refocusing course objectives: What are the communication theories, methods, critical approaches to studying popular culture that students should be introduced to in SPCM 100? How can these competencies and perspectives be oriented so as to optimize the AUCC and gtPathways goals of achieving critical thinking skills within the liberal arts learning tradition?

II. Standardizing readings in a course reader: As a search for a comprehensive textbook so far has proved elusive and the course currently utilizes readings from a variety of sources available in PDF form via RamCT, we aim to construct a common course reader to be utilized across all sections of the course. While the traditional hard copy format is an option, we also seek to explore the possibility of an all-electronic version, similar to that being used for MU 100 Music Appreciation. That course reader features a subscription to a music service, and a similar media subscription component may be a useful feature given the highly mediated nature of contemporary popular culture. Over the years, SPCM 100 instructors have assembled an impressive collection of clips, handouts, and other multi-media resources that can be compiled and made available to enrolled students for instruction, research, and analysis (this feature will be particularly useful for students taking the course online).

III. Unifying assignments across sections: At present, instructors follow AUCC and gtPathways guidelines for writing integration and critical thinking skills but are given flexibility in terms of assignments to measure success in these areas. We will merge the most innovative and effective assignments and/or develop new assignments to be deployed in all sections of the course. This may take the form of a course book, as it does in SPCM 200 Public Speaking, or may be combined with the course reader above.

IV. Developing an online version for Continuing Ed: In recent years, Communication Studies has been developing online versions of several classes, many of which fulfill requirements for a Media Studies Minor. SPCM 100 is an option for this minor, and we feel it will be best to develop the online version in concert with the on-ground redesign. The redesign team leader previously has developed online courses with TILT, and several SPCM 100 instructors have taught online classes, so our expectation is to be able to integrate content and web-based tools for both the on-ground and online versions of the course.

As you can see, accomplishing the first goal of refocusing course objectives sets many of the terms for the ensuing aims. We have begun the initial process by instigating informal discussions with faculty about those competencies essential for upper-division course success as well as with current SPCM 100 instructors as to what readings and assignments have been most engaging and successful in their sections. We do not want to dismantle positive aspects of the course but instead identify and refine those facets that do work and maximize their potential under common course objectives. To that end, the Department’s Center for Public Deliberation will conduct feedback sessions in selected SPCM 100 and SPCM 479 classes in order to gain student perspective on the strengths and needs of this introductory course. By incorporating input from faculty as well as SPCM 100 instructors and students, we believe we can conceive an effective redesign.

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8. Contribution to Learning in Other Courses.

SPCM 100 is a foundational course for the Communication Studies major, as one of five core required courses. It also serves the University community at large through being an AUCC and gtPathways course. Together these constituencies will benefit from the redesign of SPCM 100, strengthening the major by providing a more relevant introduction to the Department and the discipline while also conferring skills in critical thinking applicable to other fields of study.

More specifically, majors will benefit from a more integrated introduction to communication study which can then be more effectively built upon in upper-division courses, particularly those in the media and visual culture arena. A reconsideration of the course objectives and a unifying of section course materials will benefit non-majors (including those in Key Academic and Key Service Community sections) by providing a more consistent learning experience, one which will better reflect the scope of communication study and its major approaches.

Finally, designing the on-ground course alongside its online counterpart will allow us not only to further ensure continuity among the sections but also to assimilate the best practices for online and on-ground learning, providing a template for future course development.

9. Desired Outcomes.

Ideally, a more focused SPCM 100 – a course whose objectives, readings, and assignments are incorporated across its multiple sections – will result in a more cohesive set of learning outcomes for all students. Those students continuing in the Communication Studies major will have a set of skills that can be amended and advanced in upper-division courses as instructors will be able to better position their own course objectives, including those of the senior capstone course. As SPCM 100 is primarily taught by Special Instructors, a redesigned course will allow for more effective training of new instructors, providing them with an introduction to the Department, its goals, and pedagogical practices.

Furthermore, as popular culture is omnipresent, increasingly mobile, and constantly shifting, a thorough and thoughtful redesign focused on refining key course objectives allows us to better respond in the future to popular culture’s continual evolution. In turn, the course will remain as dynamic and fluid as its subject while still maintaining a commitment to core critical approaches and proven pedagogical strategies. Consequently, students will be able to understand and evaluate the steady flow of messages contained within popular culture (as well as the media which deliver them) as essential tools for being engaged media citizens.

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10. Team Members.

1. Jonathan Lupo, Assistant Professor & lead instructor for SPCM 100: Project leader responsible for overall course redesign execution.

2. Amanda Wright, Special Instructor: Point person for the online development section of the course. As a longtime instructor of SPCM 100, Amanda also will be heavily involved in course reader and assignment selection and in piloting readings and assignments in her sections.

3. Kurt North, Special Instructor: Team member involved in coordinating readings for possible course reader and assignments for possible course book. Kurt also will pilot readings and assignments in his sections of SPCM 100.

4. Other special instructors of SPCM 100, to be determined, will pilot readings and assignments in her/his sections as needed.

1. Department Contributions. Cost Item Recipient Notes Cost

Course Release:

Summer Salary:

Student Hourly:

Materials: Team leader. Includes office supplies, copying, and

printing as part of course reader/course

Book piloting

TBD

Other Costs: Redesign is included as part of team leader’s service distribution (as lead

Instructor)

Total: TBD

2. Signatures.

Project Leader: ________________________________________ Date _______________

Department or Program Head: ___________________________ Date _______________

Dean: _______________________________________________ Date _______________

3. Current Course Syllabus. Attached are 3 current syllabi used by different SPCM 100 instructors.

4. Letter of Support. Attached is letter from Dr. Sue D. Pendell, Chair, Department of Communication Studies.