ATS3801 · Understanding media violence

Overview

In this unit you will examine conceptual and methodological tools to make sense of media violence. You will explore how and why violence became a driving force in media industries and economies, and why, as a result, media violence is a valuable topic we can use to assess media influence. You will learn this by considering the following questions: Why does it feel like media violence is always a problem? How can we understand the social turmoil apparently caused by social violence? What is the problem of media violence? Do media cause real world aggression? How have social media changed the nature of real-world violence? How has violence become a form of political communication? How can media play a positive role in encouraging creativity and inclusion?

Areas of study: Communications and media

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. classify the diverse forms and impacts of media violence;
2. analyse new challenges created by emerging practices of digital media violence;
3. evaluate scholarly media violence research critically, considering conceptual and methodological criteria;
4. communicate the socially significant, policy-relevant lessons of media violence research to non-specialist audiences.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.