This page contains details about the materials and assignments required in the course - COM 580 Fall 2011. For a weekly breakdown of readings and activities, see the
CourseSchedule.
We'll be using the following book in class, and the publisher offers a discounted electronic version through the link:
Academic press articles will be available through the library and/or here on the wiki. Stay tuned.
Prof. Libby Hemphill
libby.hemphill@iit.edu
Siegel Hall 214
Office Hours by appointment Mon and Wed
Online Office Hours profhemphill @ AIM/iChat
Both undergraduate and graduate students will be able to contribute effectively to our in-class discussions, but each level will have different assignments for demonstrating their new knowledge. If you'd like to continue the conversation online, please use the #com380 hashtag. Join the
Google Group so you can participate even outside of class - you must do this to get credit for the virtual class in 6.
You are expected to participate in our class discussions. Occasionally, we will begin class with a quiz about the week's readings. These quizzes factor into your participation grade. Your participation is worth 15% of your final grade.
Keep a written journal on (system TBD) with your notes, comments, questions, and responses to required readings, assignments, and lectures. This journal will be reviewed three times during the semester. Each journal review is worth 15% of your final grade.
You will complete a take-home midterm exam during week 8 and an in-class final exam during exam week. Each exam is worth 20% of your final grade.
You are expected to participate in our class discussions. Occasionally, we will begin class with a quiz about the week's readings. These quizzes factor into your participation grade. Your participation is worth 15% of your final grade.
You and a partner should choose two competing organizations (e.g., Peet’s Coffee and Starbucks or Target and Wal-Mart). Each of you should collect data about the organization's culture and communication from one of the two organizations. Data might include interviews and observations, texts, advertisements, general environmental scans, Internet materials, and pictures. (Note: It is wise to obtain permission from a supervisor or manager before conducting interviews or taking pictures.) Once the data has been collected, you should meet to compare and contrast the two competing organizations. Using the concepts from Chapters 4 and 9, you should analyze how each organization crafts its culture or how each organization strategically positions its product or service. The cultural comparison project is particularly unique because it does NOT ask you to report your findings in a paper. Rather, you should construct a PowerPoint (or other electronic presentation system such as Keynote, SlideShare, a website, etc.) storyboard that compares and contrasts the two organizations. It is important to note that the final product is a storyboard, NOT a presentation; therefore, you will probably include more text and pictures on an individual slide than you might in a traditional PowerPoint presentation. The storyboard should have a background, written text that demonstrates the comparisons and contrasts between the organizations, and pictures and graphics that illustrate the text. This assignment accounts for 20% of your course grade.
It is important for graduate students to know the resources that are available to them. Peer-reviewed journals are useful resources for staying current on organizational communication and the changing world of work. Your job is to peruse the last year of articles from
New Media and Society available at the time of the course. Find the article that interests you most, read it, and be prepared to talk about it in a discussion about new directions and trends in organizational communication. Your grade will be based on finding an appropriate article and the contributions that you make to the in-class discussion. We will devote week 13 to this discussion. This assignment accounts for 15% of your course grade.
Over the course of the semester, you will view several movies, documentaries, and television shows that deal with organizational communication. Keep detailed notes about these media clips, noting the intersections between the clips and the concepts that we discuss in class. About halfway through the semester, you will read an article by Bryan Taylor and David Carlone entitled “Organizational communication and cultural studies: A review essay.” The article can be found in Communication Theory, 1998, volume 8, issue 3. This essay will help you understand recent research on cultural studies, including popular culture and organizational communication. With this article in mind, continue to keep notes on the media clips that are shown in class. At the end of the semester, you will submit a 8-10 page paper that synthesizes the media clips that we watch, the concepts from the text, and the commentary on popular culture offered by Carlone and Taylor. You do not need to focus on the entire text and all of the clips; rather, you should focus on three or four key concepts and arguments. This assignment accounts for 50% of your course grade.
