Visual Communication, Mass Communication and Society

I teach mass media and digital communication and would love to learn ways to introduce these concepts to my students. I find that students are interested about social action and policy and making changes to the world they live and shaping their futures, but they do not know what to do or how to begin. This program looks promising as a way to begin this journey of teaching social action.

Visual Communication:

Visual language is universal. This course allows students to define visual language by investigating various visual media such as still images, film, and television. Art elements of color, texture, space, composition, and design will be addressed. Various symbols and visual cues used to communicate messages will also be discussed.

Mass Communication and Society:

From targeted advertising and viral videos to hashtags and Snapchat filters, the media has become a ubiquitous force in American culture and society, infiltrating virtually every aspect of our existence. Yet we don’t often critically examine the values, norms, and ideologies that are disseminated through the media, or how they impact our everyday lives. This course aims to help students become more knowledgeable and critical consumers of mass media by introducing key issues, concepts, and methods in media studies. The course explores the historical evolution of mass media into their current forms, the technological and economic forces shaping media industries, the legal and ethical issues at play, and the role of mass media in a democratic society. A key objective is to examine how media is impacted by intersecting systems of power including race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and disability. The course also empowers students to become proactive media users, developing critical media literacy skills for use both during their time as students and beyond.

Toqa Hassan

Assistant Professor of Digital Media

Department of Communication and Creative Arts

Purdue University Northwest