CAS 182N: Communication and Sport is an introduction to the unique relationship between communication and sport in our society at any level. This course allows students to understand how we play, watch, interpret and evaluate sport through communication. However, this course is also about the reciprocal relationship of how sport impacts our communication, especially as it relates to how we function and interact on a daily basis. Examples of topics that will be discussed include but are not limited to: the participants of a sports community, the role of the media in sport, fan dynamics and culture, gender roles in sport, race and ethnicity in sport, the use of sport in politics, communication between parent and child, teammates, player and coach, crisis communication in sport, and commodification of sport. Course objectives: - Describe and define the foundational relationships between communication and sport. - Identify and dissect the roles of the "players" who collectively constitute the community of sport - Explain the modern evolution of sports media in the United States and hypothesize how new media and social media will further alter the sports landscape. - Synthesize the student's own fan experiences and rituals with the motivations and typology of fandom. - Examine the creation and function of mythology in sport - Explore and debate gender issues in sport through constructs such as hegemonic masculinity, current coverage and exposure afforded to men's and women's sport, gendered language differences in sports media, and current opportunities and struggles for women in modern sport society. - Recognize and articulate the impact of race and ethnicity on sports culture including discussion of "stacking" practices and media dialogues. - Discover the extent of the historical relationship between politics and sports - Analyze the relationship between sport and the body and interpret what the relationship communicates about performance expectations based on dimensions of identity, such as gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity and disability. - Demonstrate how the shifting of youth sports from game culture to sport culture has led to disturbing trends in parent-child interaction such as evolving participation models and sports rage. - Recognize different leadership behaviors used by coaches. - Judge the importance of group and team cohesion in sport success. - Determine whether commodification of sport outweighs and harmfully diminishes the other roles sports offers to society. - Distinguish, evaluate and apply crisis management skills specific to sport, particularly apologia and image repair. Instructional Methodology: This class is not simply about sport but an ongoing discussion on how to operate effectively in a world that is constantly impacted and influenced by sport. It is expected that students will participate and engage in discussion, activity and assignments relative to different sport contexts. Differences of opinion are encouraged and fans and critics of sports are equally welcome. We will spend time in class on a combination of lecture, case study, debate, student presentation and role play situations. Students who have received credit for COMM 412 may not schedule COMM 182N.
Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action (Communication, Media, and Politics) download
Through readings, discussion, deliberation, listening, and individual as well as collaborative action, this course gives students the opportunity to learn about and practice theories and habits of civic and community engagement and public scholarship with the goal of helping to build democratic capacity and sustain participatory democracy. This course emphasizes concepts and case studies that focus on the people's role in shared governance. The course also provides a foundation for understanding how a wide range of other individual and collective practices have an equally important role to play in building and sustaining community. The course draws from studies in demography, political science, sociology, psychology of racial identity formation and education to help students communicate better about and in shared governance. Among the core concepts are the role of students and other citizens in sustaining and transforming their communities, the historical and contemporary mission of Land Grant universities, the centrality of rhetoric and communication to collaborative judgment, and the relationship among media, cultures, and politics as they affect civic and community engagement. Students also learn together about the range of ways that citizens do, can, and might participate in democratic decision-making and will observe and practice these forms in several communication media and across a range of differences. Finally, learn about models of and opportunities for engaging other citizens across and beyond Penn State, including in global environments.
This course examines how interactive communication technologies reshape political rhetoric, discursive civic culture, deliberation in the online public sphere, and participatory democracy. It traces the evolution of the public sphere and explores theoretical and empirical issues related to online political discourse (blogs, political discussion fora, viral politics of social networking sites), cyberactivism, smart mobs, networked publics, and peer-to-peer production (You Tube, Wikis). CAS 272N concentrates on online rhetorical and discursive strategies of candidates for public office, and individuals and organizations campaigning on specific issues and causes. It emphasizes civic engagement and includes topical areas such as mechanisms of online public spheres, citizen generated discourse and content, viral politics, connections between social networking sites and political discourse, and behaviors such as networked activism. It examines how various interactive communication options have affected political discourse, campaign communications and public deliberation. It provides students with hands-on experiences in analyzing the rhetorical and persuasive strategies involved in creating video content, writing blogs, creating wikis and twitter messages. It teaches students how they could use these communication options in working for political campaigns, civic action groups and non-profit institutions. The goal of the course is to help students understand the opportunities and constraints involved in using interactive communication technologies for civic and political actions, and facilitate their development as informed citizens. Class activities focus on identification and critique of rhetorical strategies employed when using interactive communication technologies, and learning to create content such as weblogs, wikis, and mashups. Students will be graded on exams, participation in discussion groups, analyzing and connecting course concepts to real world examples, creating content such as mashups, and analysis of rhetorical strategies of political candidates and activist groups. CAS 272N is highly recommended to students interested in examining the potential of interactive communication technologies for civic and political action.
Politics and relations among individuals in societies across the world are being transformed by new technologies for targeting individuals and sophisticated methods for shaping personalized messages. The new technologies challenge boundaries of many kinds - between news, information, entertainment, and advertising; between media, with the arrival of the World Wide Web; and even between nations, with CNN, MTV, and the like being broadcast to every continent. Communication, Society and Politics is a series that probes the political and social impacts of these new communication systems in national, comparative, and global perspective and aims to lead a transition toward new, rigorous, empirically grounded theoretical perspectives. The series will adopt an inclusive definition of politics: the exercise of power within and between nations. It will explore power in the new communication order through interdisciplinary and critical approaches to the social, cultural, and economic underpinnings of politically significant communication. While the series will strive for a diversity of methods and views, it will emphasize works that address questions about democracy, equality, justice, or other normative concerns.
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