Media Studies 200: Intro to Media Studies
Intended for 70 undergraduate students
Spring 2025 at the University of Victoria
lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ territories
M and Th, 10 - 11:20am | 1.5 units | prereq: AWR
Taught by Jentery Sayers (he / him) | jentery@uvic.ca
Office hours: M and Th, 12-1pm, in CLE D331
Teaching assistant (marking): Maya Linsley (she / any)
Portfolio
This portfolio covers all material from MDIA 200. Your response is due via Brightspace by Monday, April 14th, at 10am.
The portfolio is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use handouts, the course website, my slides, your notes, recordings of class sessions, the library, and the internet to address the prompts.
This open-book assignment contains one prompt, and you may respond to it in one of two ways:
- Option 1: text plus images and/or audio, using no more than 1250 words
- Option 2: 5-12 minutes of video or audio
Your response is worth 100 points and 25% of your final grade.
The Prompt
Tell someone you know what you learned in this course by sharing samples of your work, demonstrating your knowledge of media, and communicating your primary interests in Media Studies.
- Identify someone you know who is interested in what you’re learning. This person cannot be me. They could be a friend, family member, partner, (potential) employer, UVic student or instructor, elder, (potential) collaborator . . . The choice is yours, as long as you compose for one interlocutor. Indeed, your response to this prompt is an interpersonal communication.
- Select four answers you composed in response to prompts from Worksheets 1-4. You needn’t select one answer from each of the four worksheets; however, your four selections should address the course’s three modules of study: communication, media, and critical approaches to media and communication. I recommend selecting four answers that taught you a lot about yourself and the course topics. I also recommend demonstrating a range of learning (over time, across topics, through various media).
- Show or share your work by including samples of all four answers. Include parts of the answers themselves and point your interlocutor to aspects of them. Showcase what you did and what you learned. Use your work to spark conversation with your interlocutor. You might even ask them questions.
- Demonstrate your knowledge of media by using terminology, techniques, and practices from MDIA 200 in ways your interlocutor would understand. Meet them where they are and decode things for them if need be.
- Communicate your primary interests in Media Studies by selecting one critical approach (see Appendix A) we studied this term that appeals most to you. Explain that approach and its appeal but also convey their relevance to work you might do in the future. Give your interlocutor a palpable sense of how and where you could apply what you learned in MDIA 200.
Your response to this prompt should be synthetic. Avoid lists and point form. Construct a narrative or theme that brings the material together in a way that engages your interlocutor on an interpersonal, one-to-one level. The response should be more about you and your learning than the course itself, and it should sound like part of a dialogue rather than an advertisement for MDIA 200.
You needn’t name, describe, photograph, or record your interlocutor; however, I should be able to infer who they are to you based on how you communicate with them in response to this prompt. Use references and language that make that relationship clear.
Assessment
I will use the following criteria and UVic’s official grading system to assess your response.
The degree to which your response:
- Addresses the prompt.
- Applies course terminology, techniques, and practices to demonstrate what you know and what you learned.
- Contains a variety of media (such as text, images, audio, and video) that demonstrate what you know and what you learned.
- Communicates what you learned from media practice in this course.
- Communicates what you learned from media analysis in this course.
- Synthesizes what you learned in this course.
- Demonstrates an awareness of your interlocutor and how you’re communicating with them.
- Demonstrates and communicates how you might apply what you learned in this course.
- Makes compelling use of concrete examples across a range of what’s available (over time, across topics, through various media).
For Option 1: 5 points will be deducted for every 250 words over the prescribed word count.
For Option 2: 5 points will be deducted for every minute your video or audio file exceeds 12 minutes.
The total of these points (0-100) will constitute 25% of your final mark in this course.
You do not need to meet the word count or 12-minute mark to earn a high grade on this assignment.
What to Submit
Please submit a DOCX, ODT, PAGES, PDF, MP4, MOV, MP3, and/or WAV file containing your response. You are also welcome to attach media files to your submission in Brightspace.
Do not use a platform other than Brightspace to submit, store, or share your materials.
When to Submit It
Your portfolio is due by 10 am on Monday, April 14th.
I will deduct five points for every business day (excluding holidays and weekends) that I receive your portfolio after Tuesday, April 15th at 10am. I will close the submission portal at 10am on Tuesday, April 22nd and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. Thank you for understanding.
Appendix A
Ten approaches to Media Studies that we engaged in this course:
- Media Effects (direct, minimal, third-person)
- Ownership Effects (advertising, monopolies, public services, indie content)
- Cultural Studies (habits of belief, perception, and performance)
- Aesthetics (composition, interaction, experience, feeling)
- Semiotics (icon, index, symbol, codes, discourse)
- Persuasion (logos, ethos, pathos, kairos)
- Representation (stereotypes, identity, positionality, intersectionality)
- Narrative (equilibrium, linear and nonlinear narratives, environmental storytelling)
- Fandom (fanwork, participatory culture, transformative work)
- Preservation (replicating, refreshing, migration, emulation, collection)