COMM 455 - Television and Culture

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  COMM 455 - Television and Culture  
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

COMM 455 Television and Culture
Previously Used textbook:  Casey, B., Calvert, B (2008). Television studies: The key concepts (2nd ed). Routledge.

Brief Description of course highlights:  Analyzes television programs in the context of communication and other social science research in order to examine representations of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexual preference. Examines how television contributes resources of interpretation, discussion, and social activities that affect the ways people view society and social groups. Subjects will include: types of representation; how representations have changed over time; multiple interpretations of television representations; how viewers use them; the production practices and conventions that shape them; the relationship between representations and structured inequality. Prerequisites: COMM 330 or 360. (MC)

In this course, you will analyze a variety of television programs and audience practices. After a review of television history, technologies, and genres, the course will focus on the critical examination of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality. We will also focus on role of audience interpretations and you will learn how to deconstruct representations. This course is designed to help you understand structures of meaning and analyze social difference in television cultures.

Learning or student outcomes:   Developed from the cultural studies perspective and emphasizing the social and political dimensions of television, this course is designed to critique the ways in which television programs and practices reflect, construct, and contest our concepts of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. In this course, you will:

• Learn the historical, structural, and technological development of television industries 
• Learn critical methods for the analysis of television programs and practices.
• Be challenged to understand the significance of television programs and practices in both popular and political imaginations.  
• Be challenged to examine your own attitudes, practices, and consumption of television.

This course is designed to enable scholars to meet departmental learning objectives. Assignments are carefully planned to ensure that upon successful completion of the course, scholars have the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to fulfill the following objectives:  

• PSLO #3 Conceptualize and appreciate the point of view of one's counterparts in communicative interaction while attempting respectfully to incorporate their viewpoints into one's own.  
• PSLO #4 Analyze forms and contexts of communication from a variety of intellectual perspectives (philosophical, historical, theoretical, and practical). 

Describe any key challenges faced and how you resolved them: I did not experience any challenges with books for Television & Culture. The only challenge I experienced was in making streaming television content (Netflix, etc.) available to students. The Media Library was extremely helpful in making DVD content available, but streaming content is not available outside of subscriptions. I adjusted some of the content to ensure that all students had equal access to television content without adding to the cost of materials.

Library-provided unlimined user ebook:  Casey, B. Calvert, B (2008) Television Studies: Key Concepts (2nd Ed). Routledge. 

Scholarly journal articles and supplemental readings provided by library course reserves. 

Brief Description:  Television Studies: The Key Concepts is the definitive reference guide to an area of rapidly expanding academic interest. Among those aspects of television studies covered in this comprehensive and up-to-date guide are:

• theoretical perspectives which have shaped the study of television - Marxism; semiology; feminism
• concepts which have shaped the study of television - narrative; representation; bias
• television genres - soap opera; news; science fiction
• methods used for understanding television - content analysis; audience research
• relevant social, economic and political phenomena - ownership; social policy.

Student access:  Library

Cost Savings:   Cost savings was 100% because all materials were available through the library. I changed materials in Television & Culture. Previous cost of materials was $50 for the book and $15 for streaming services. Savings is total of $65 per student (36 enrollment) per time I’ve taught the course (2 since CALM so far)

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. I wanted to get involved with the CALM program primarily to save students money. I regularly hear that the cost of course materials is prohibitive for their full participation in their classes. Cost is a significant barrier to education.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? In order to find materials, I browsed OER sites and worked closely with University Librarians. Librarians were incredibly helpful and were crucial in helping me offer no cost materials.

Sharing Best Practices:  If you are just getting started with OER, reach out to our librarians. They are knowledgeable and helpful. They are there to support faculty and are dedicated to serving our students. 

Amy Corey. Ph.D. 
Lecturer of Communication
California State University, San Marcos

I teach a variety of courses in Communication, Media and Cultural Studies. I am passionate about sharing ideas in the classroom, engaging students, and preparing them to be reflective, critical thinkers who are productive in their workplaces, cultural communities, and civic arenas. My overall goals are for them to gain a deeper understanding of communication concepts, to instill a sense of ownership over their own education, and to build a meaningful connection to our campus community.

 The students who take both Media & Society and Television & Culture are Communication and Media Studies majors. Both are upper division courses, and the majority of students are juniors and seniors. They come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.

 The prerequisite for Media & Society is COMM 100: Introduction to Communication 

The prerequisite for Television & Culture is COMM 330: Intercultural Communication or COMM 360: Media & Society