Grady College doubles summer online course offerings
Grady College will nearly double its online summer offerings to ten courses in 2016, noting that last year’s first online courses were very well received.
“We are excited by the response to our first online offerings last summer,” said Alison Alexander, senior associate dean for academic affairs for Grady College. “All of the courses filled, proving the demand is there and the feedback from students was very positive.”
In addition to the courses offered last year, summer 2016 will include Social Media in Sports, Intro to New Media and Graphics, among others.
“Our online offerings continue to expand into college-wide courses, and it is particularly gratifying to see us offering some high-demand, required courses like the graphics course,” Alexander continued.
Most of the courses will include very brief video or slide presentations presenting an introduction to the lesson, then will guide students through readings, web-based tutorials and projects to perform and evaluate on student’s own time. Projects are the highlight of many of the offerings and the online medium provides a good way to share projects and encourage feedback among students. It is also a better medium for sharing long-form media like television shows in the case of the media and television study classes.
Sabrena Deal, a graphics lecturer, will lead the online graphics course.
“By offering this course online, it provides students the opportunity to get a really beneficial course that they may not get during the regular semester,” Deal said.
Much of the graphics course will be the same as the traditional in-class course.
“This is a natural extension of the traditional lab course because so much of it utilizes digital resources,” Deal continued. “Students in both the online class and the classroom will leave with a body of work that they can show in professional settings.”
The courses that will be offered include:
(FULL) Brand Communication Marketing (ADPR 5990E) — taught by Mark McMullen, this course provides an overview of the fundamentals of branding, marketing and integrated communication.
Data Gathering and Visualization (JOUR 5380E) — a course taught by Bart Wojdynski, this program focuses on teaching students how to tell effective stories using data. This course works with a variety of design programs and covers conceptual and hands-on issues in finding, structuring and cleaning data, and creating graphics that visually tell stories.
(FULL) International Communication (JRLC 5080E) — this course taught by Andy Kavoori introduces students to the creative media industries in a global context, with a look at media content all over the world. Focusing on both film and narrative journalism, it provides a critical look at the cultural, historical and aesthetic values of creative media industries internationally. The course is focused on a sample of texts representing European, Latin American and Asian creative media industries.
Introduction to New Media (NMIX 2020E) — Exploration of the economic, technical, social, and cultural aspects of media technologies in this course taught by John Weatherford. The course will take a historical perspective, covering three sections: Old New Media, Now New Media, and Next New Media. Students will develop a solid working knowledge of the field and know where and how to further their own knowledge outside of the classroom.
Graphic Communications (ADPR 3520E ) — Students gain the skills to design messages for particular audiences and to prepare designs correctly for print, digital, and social environments in this course taught Deal. Students learn to analyze and to use the principles of design, typography, layout, color theory, art and illustration, and copyright law. Adobe Creative software is used to produce a variety of projects for student portfolios.
Media Literacy (JRLC 5990E) — taught by Peggy Kreshel, this course is designed to foster both critical media literacy and critical cultural literacy. It will introduce basic elements of media literacy, including the production and critical analysis of media texts, audience reception of those texts and media in everyday lived experience. Using a social justice framework, critical issues regarding media involvement in sustaining processes and formations of injustice as well as media potential to counter injustices/redress social inequalities will be a vital component.
The Peabody Awards: Television History and Excellence (EMST 5990E) — taught by Shira Chess, this course uses content from the Peabody Awards Archives giving students the opportunity to watch and think about television from this lens: a historical examination of what excellence means to this medium. The class will study genres including sitcoms, news, science fiction, and crime dramas.
Production Media (NMIX 4110E) — a course offered through Grady’s New Media Institute and taught by Emuel Aldridge. This course provides instruction in web development, blogging and coding. It is required for those seeking the New Media certificate.
(FULL) Social Media in Sports (JRLC 5880E) — taught by Welch Suggs, this course features a focus on an issue or trend that has become a social concern or transformational force in sports and sports media. Current examples include college sports realignment and related broadcast rights agreements, social media, the impact of sports concussions and sports analytics.
Writing Across the Disciplines (JRLC 5990E) — taught by Leara Rhodes, this course is designed to teach students in any discipline how to write about their discipline and how to find reliable markets for distributing their ideas. Using journalism foundation skills, students across the university can learn how to use these skills to work within their own area of expertise.
More information about UGA’s online courses can be found on the UGA Online website. Registration for summer 2016 is currently taking place.
Date: January 21, 2016Author: Sarah Freeman, freemans@uga.edu
Contact: Alison Alexander, alison@uga.edu