Academic Calendar 2015/2016 - Selected Topics (advanced) in Culture and Criticism

GEND 3055  Selected Topics (advanced) in Culture and Criticism

Prerequisites:

Any 18 credits completed.

Antirequisites:

WOMN 3055

Hours:

Three hours of lecture per week.

Credits:

6

Description:

The theme of this year's GESJ Special Topics course, Kid Media, has been designed to compliment studies in both the Education and Child and Family Studies programs at the Muskoka campus, as well as draw connections between the study of Art and Culture and current research on child and family well-being. The course begins with the premise that mass media disseminated popular culture is a powerful socialiser of children today and that children are equally influenced by media messages as they are by friends, family and educators. What, we will ask, is the nature of this influence? How was child development transformed by the rise of mass media in the 20th century? What does the social media revolution mean for the 21st century child and their educators and caretakers? The course will place equal emphasis on critiquing the dangerous and discriminatory ideas that children learn through media engagements as on the innovative media tools being used by educators and childcare workers to engage children in ways that are healthy, meaningful and even exciting. Above all, the course will emphasize critical media literacy as an essential tool for anyone working with and caring for children. Topics will include: Attention, Comprehension and Television Media; Disney, Pixar and the Social Imagination; Can Superman Really Save the World? The Rise of Comic Based Films; ""Can We Watch a Video?"": Navigating the Wired Classroom; Learning with Video Games; The Bronie Phenomenon; Kids 2.0: How Social Media is Remaking Childhood and Family Life.