Undergraduate – Advanced

Undergraduate – Advanced courses/modules

choosing a research topic checklist a self-reflection checklist to help students design a research topic.

Reflection Report instructions instructions for how to write a reflection report used for research methods workshops.

Case Study Speed Dating Questions designed for a research methods course, this activity gives students questions to ask each other in quick rounds.

annotated bibliography assignment assignment sheet for making an annotated bibliography.

How to work with your supervisor_handout a checklist designed by studyskills.soton.ac.uk for undergraduate students writing their dissertations under faculty supervision.

3X3 assignment a critical thinking and research in-class or take-home seminar assignment that can be paired with any case study. This example looks at 9/11 tourism in New York City.

Contingent Consumerism a critical thinking project that looks at how weather disasters and other deep impact events can come with changes to consumer behaviour and consumption patterns. This learning tool was original designed to look at Hurricane Sandy.

Media in Your Social Life assignment This larger assignment asks students to reflect on a media programme, genre or event that is important in their lives, using critical key concepts and theorists from the course. I’ve been using this assignment to teach Mass Com for years now and every time am impressed with the creativity and thoughtfulness of students’ papers–makes the stack of marking much lighter!

Valentine’s Day Debate This group assignment, timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day, has students prep a position on Valentine’s Day. I use it to look at the intersections between desire, consumerism and heteronormativity for a media studies class, but it could also work well in other disciplines to explore different aspects of the holiday.

Global Media Industries Presentation To diversify the curriculum, I designed this assignment which has students work in groups to give a report on a key media industry in another country. I usually choose ones that they won’t have too much trouble locating resources on such as, Nollywood, Bollywood and Brazilian TV. I also try to time this with global events, i.e. in 2011 a group looked at television news in Egypt. 

On the poverty of student life The situationist manifesto On the Poverty of Student Life turned into a script for an in-class reading.

Advertising and Marketing to Children roleplay a policy role play activity that enacts how different interest groups shape media policy.

Creative Direct Action Planning Guide a planning guide to help students formulate a creative direct action.

Key Concept Cards instructions for students to work in groups to generate key concept study guides.

seminar activity_representing gender and globalisation this is a participatory workshop activity that uses the film ‘half the world‘ available on youtube.

Creative Brief for new smartphone a creative brief generated in 2008 for a ‘facebook phone’ in collaboration with M & C Saatchi account manager and using student data generated through respondus for demographics.

Digital Scrapbook Example a mock-up of a digital scrapbook page for students to base their entries.