Mass Communication and Media Arts Courses | 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog | SIU

Provides an introduction to major issues involving media in contemporary societies. Multi-disciplinary in nature, the course introduces major theoretical perspectives used in reviewing media productions and activities and the relationships among media organizations and practitioners and other institutions of society.

Credit Hours: 3

Focuses on free expression in journalism and entertainment across the media. Topics may include news gathering techniques, intellectual property, the Internet, and governmental regulation. The course pays special attention to the tension between what is legal and what is ethical.

Credit Hours: 3

Analysis of a variety of media industries, including industry structures, and the industry processes of media development, production, and distribution. Attention to management of media companies across sectors as the industry adjusts to economic and technological change.

Credit Hours: 3

Analysis and evaluation of conceptual frameworks underlying empirical research strategies, positivist, textual and qualitative, commonly used in media and internet research. Issues in multi-method research strategies are reviewed. Ethical implications are debated.

Credit Hours: 3

Overview of ethics philosophies and accountability tools for the mass media. Areas to be studied include journalism reviews, ethics codes, ombudsmen, media critics, news councils, and public/civic journalism. Covering issues in journalism, photojournalism, public relations, advertising, new media, and "infotainment.

Credit Hours: 3

Investigate how the Internet works, explore relationships among design, technology, and user experience while developing web sites, information architectures, interface behaviors, and navigation systems. Topics include: HTML & XHTML authoring, Cascading Style Sheets, Javascript, open source software, and incorporating sound, video, and images into web pages. Issues of privacy, legal and ethical responsibilities for consumers and producers of web content.

Credit Hours: 3

Emphasis on in-depth photo journalistic reporting. Students research, write and photograph picture stories. Examines ethics, history and social role of photojournalism domestically and internationally. Digital imaging and an introduction to full-motion video and other multimedia storytelling tools. Students who have completed JRNL 413 are not eligible to enroll. Equipment fee: $100.

Credit Hours: 3

An advanced theoretical engagement with the field of mass communication research, media studies, and media arts. The course covers principal theoretical approaches, including the empiricist, positivist paradigm in mass communication research; critical media studies; film and television studies; and cultural studies.

Credit Hours: 3

Students develop skills in producing, editing, and captioning high-quality feature and action photographs from live sporting events. Students will learn how sports photography has developed over the last century. Students who have completed JRNL 415 are not eligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

History, theory, and practice of digital media as an online art form. Examination that results in students producing art work in linear and non-linear hypermedia narrative, network conceptualism, and generative software. Issues include identity, location, collaboration, surveillance, hacktivism, tactical media, immersion, game design, media synthesis. Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 3

Students write and produce short fiction or non-fiction stories using digital media. Emphasis on storytelling development and story structures, and advancing one's technical skills across multiple media platforms. Projects will be incorporated into multiple delivery platforms such as the web, download and/or social media. Students will experience editorial production of artifacts gathered as they shape a variety of media into stories for delivery on web via class magazine and social media. The productions will target various platforms, from web to mobile devices. All students will build on a range of production skills extending beyond reporting, writing, photography, graphics, audio capture and video shooting. Course fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 3

This studio-based course offers students the opportunity to explore sound as a medium of artistic practice and intellectual inquiry. Assignments for the course emphasize how and why sound art is created in a variety of modalities including: installation, performance and improvisation. The course is also a forum for the exploration of contemporary and historic approaches to sound art through phonography, radio art, DIY electronics and other platforms. During the semester, listening and critique sessions will be used to evaluate student creative responses. Additionally, written responses to assigned readings will also be used to help facilitate discussions and critiques. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 3

This is a special production topics in studio production and practices course for MFA's in Media Arts that focuses on specialized production techniques, topics, techniques, and formal approaches to media making. The course offers the opportunity to gain new techniques and build skills through the use of potentially unfamiliar production equipment and approaches. The class encourages students to explore the edges of their disciplines by providing a focused framework for formal investigation and experimentation. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $75. Credit Hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

The course will use a topical starting point for critical study of the histories and philosophies associated with various investigative journalism procedures and practices. Course fee: $75. Credit Hours 3.

Credit Hours: 3

This course introduces students to critical and interpretive research methods and techniques for the study of media arts and culture. It focuses on interdisciplinary approaches and covers a range of humanities-based methods and theoretical perspectives.

Credit Hours: 3

Advanced exploration of quantitative research methods to write a professional article suitable for publication or a chapter in an academic thesis. Covers methods such as sampling, surveys, experiments, content analysis, and statistics. Focuses on research design, formulating research questions, reviewing and applying appropriate literature in the field, hypothesis formulation, data acquisition, and discussion and analysis of results.

Credit Hours: 3

An introduction to the intellectual underpinnings, epistemology, and methodologies of qualitative research. The course focuses on critical and interpretive approaches to researching media industry structures, artifacts, audiences, and producers.

Credit Hours: 3

Foundations course to introduce MA and MS students to the conceptual practices of research. Students will learn how to evaluate primary and secondary sources, and use this research to write papers and reports. The course demonstrates the steps of a research project: writing a proposal, reviewing the literature, designing the research instruments, collecting data, and analyzing results. The course introduces qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Credit Hours: 3

Critical Discourse Analysis is a theory-based methodology which takes as its unit of analysis the entire 'utterance' (e.g. news bulletin, newspaper article, Facebook posting, a hashtag). Its methods are closer to literary and rhetorical criticism than the quantitative word count of content analysis. This methodology allows the research to unveil ideological motivations in language use and in images, and can be applied to most forms of media texts including social media and video games.

Credit Hours: 3

The Documentary film has a rich history in America. This course will cover the history of the American Documentary form. Emphasis on connections between critical theory and media production Students will embrace the conceptual and hands-on process of researching, writing and producing independent documentary video, focusing on critical arts practice.

Credit Hours: 3

A forum for the pursuit of creative projects in the media arts. May be repeated as topic changes. Restricted to CMCMA MFA or PMMM major or consent of instructor or director of Graduate Studies in Mass Communication and Media Arts. Laboratory fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 1-3

This course is an intensive hands-on production class. Students will produce two half-hour studio shows with edited features that will broadcast on WSIU-TV. Advanced field production techniques will be used when creating edited features. Students who have completed JRNL 445 are not eligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3-6

Production students will work with experts from a variety of specializations across campus to produce short form documentaries for broadcast on WSIU. A comprehensive overview of producing successful programs for the industry taking the topic from scripting to filming to editing. Advanced video or audio production skills are required.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides an in-depth study and discussion of selected topics in media studies. Topics vary and will be announced in advance. This course may be repeated when the topic differs.

Credit Hours: 3

A survey of media history, from oral storytelling and cave paintings to social media and video games. Situates media in their historical contexts, with special attention to articulations among media technologies, aesthetic forms, cultural practices, and social formations. Analyzes media practices through foundational and contemporary theories from media studies and its interdisciplinary interlocutors.

Credit Hours: 3

Social change" is a multi-dimensional concept and yet also a bedrock of democracy. Much more than an act or action, social change is a process of negotiation between those who have and those who do not. This course is a theoretical and practical exploration of both mainstream and alternative media's role in political and social movements and their push for social change. Numerous scholars have theorized the social change potential of mediated communication and mass production, and these theories of social change have important implications for critical arts practice and the study of media and the media industries. The objective of the course is to join theories of social change with the interests of the students, allowing them flexibility and freedom to develop their current projects in the area of social change.

Credit Hours: 3

Debates about globalization from historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives. The major uses of communication technologies in international economic, political and cultural processes. Topics include regional and global trends, trade regimes, global policy bodies and policy issues; global media influence.

Credit Hours: 3

Problem solving through strategic advertising communications and integrated marketing techniques, including product research, branding, public relations, sales and promotion, social media, and direct media campaigns. The focus is on business strategy and planning. Students will concentrate on targeted, creative digital media strategies to execute an integrated marketing campaign for a local or national client.

Credit Hours: 3

An investigation of how organizations market in Marshall McLuhan's 'Global Village'. Students will consider how political, social, economic, cultural, and technological factors influence advertising around the world. Explorations of how big data and artificial intelligence create advertising opportunities on multiple digital and social media platforms. Students will learn theories, business models, data analytics, branding, and explore case studies of major global brands.

Credit Hours: 3

Explores social media from various perspectives. Topics will cover history and development of social media, social advertising/marketing, citizen journalism, social media and health communication, and other issues related to social media such as privacy, gaming, interface design, identity, etc. Students will gain hands-on experience with social media.

Credit Hours: 3

This course will expose students to the rapidly expanding and complex world of sports business, with an emphasis on sports communication and promotion. Also the transformation of sports media in relation to economic, regulatory, and technological transformations. Students who have completed JRNL 488 are not eligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

This advanced course in investigative and enterprise reporting delves into the techniques and strategies essential for impactful journalism. Students will refine their skills in obtaining and analyzing public records and data, conducting interviews with reluctant sources, managing complex information, and drafting and self-editing to produce a polished first draft. Students who have completed JRNL 477 are not eligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised Independent Studio provides a critical foundation for students by establishing a formal structure for critiques of the student?s work that takes place over the course of a semester. Credit Hours: 6.

Credit Hours: 6

Pre-production work for the M.S. media project. Directed by a committee of three, the chair of which must be a member of the graduate faculty in the School of Journalism and Advertising. Students must present and defend the proposal for their media project to the committee in a public forum. Restricted to students in the Professional Media M.S. degree program in SOJA. Lab fee: $50. Credit Hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

Preparation work for the M.S. research report. Directed by a committee of three, the chair of which must be a member of the graduate faculty in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. Students must present and defend the proposal for the research report to the committee in a public forum. Restricted to students in the Professional Media M.S. degree program in CMCMA.

Credit Hours: 3

A theoretical, critical approach to the study of social media. Students identify critical media studies theories and concepts and apply them to the study of social media. Both diachronic and synchronic perspectives intersect within the course. Students learn the historical context in which social media platforms have evolved. Historical knowledge informs the analysis of contemporary case studies regarding social media policies, social media discourse and politics, social media ownership, and other pertinent topics.

Credit Hours: 3

An introduction to graduate studies via encounters with the research and creative disciplines related to Mass Communication and Media Arts. Weekly meetings wherein individual faculty members introduce students to their research and creative work. The course will also serve as a forum in which students discuss their own research and creative work in an interdisciplinary setting. Guest lectures and presentations by visiting scholars and creative artists as become available. Setting for both the faculty and graduate student research and creativity colloquiums. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading only.

Credit Hours: 3

Media project directed by a committee of three, the chair of which must be a member of the graduate faculty in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. The media project is a student's original creation which breaks new ground in mass communication and media arts. The media project must be submitted to the Graduate School. Students must present and defend their final media project to the committee in a public forum. Prerequisite: JRNL 586A with a grade of B- or better. Restricted to students in the Professional Media M.S. degree program in CMCMA. Equipment fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 3

Research report directed by a committee of three, the chair of which must be a member of the graduate faculty in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. A research report synthesizes the existing literature on a specific topic in mass communication to enable the student to create new knowledge about the subject. The research report must be submitted to the Graduate School. Students must present and defend their final report to the committee in a public forum. Prerequisite: JRNL 586B with a grade of B- or better. Restricted to students in the Professional Media M.S. degree program in CMCMA.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised readings on subject matter not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Graduate students limited to three credits per semester. Consent of instructor.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Practicum Study, observation and participation in activities related to the fields of Mass Communication and the Media Arts such as internships in related professional organizations. Students who have completed JRNL 494 are not eligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised research or independent creative work, the area of study to be determined by the student in consultation with instructor. Consent of instructor.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Credit Hours: 1-6

Credit Hours: 1-32

For those graduate students who have not finished their degree programs and who are in the process of working on their dissertation, thesis or research paper. The student must have completed a minimum of 24 hours of dissertation research, or the minimum thesis, or research hours before being eligible to register for this course. Concurrent enrollment in any other course is not permitted. Graded S/U or DEF only.

Credit Hours: 1

Must be a Postdoctoral Fellow. Concurrent enrollment in any other course is not permitted.

Credit Hours: 1

This course provides a foundation for creating media art that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional cinema and that challenges the conventional relationship between spectator and screen. Students will create immersive environments and live performances that integrate projections of still imagery with film, video, audio and audience participation. Special areas of concentration will include these histories: Futurism and Surrealism; Fluxus and Happenings; conceptual and performance art practices in the 1960s and 70s; relational aesthetics and social practice; tactical and interventionist media. Project assignments will be both individual and collaborative. Restricted to MFA students in MCMA or consent of instructor. Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 3

This is a special production topics in studio production and practices course for MFA's in Media Arts that focuses on specialized production techniques, topics, techniques, and formal approaches to media making. The course offers the opportunity to gain new techniques and build skills through the use of potentially unfamiliar production equipment and approaches. The class encourages students to explore the edges of their disciplines by providing a focused framework for formal investigation and experimentation. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 3

This hybrid MFA studies and practice course will use a topical starting point for critical study of the histories and philosophies associated with social and scientific movements and paradigms through media and art histories, cultures, and practices. Readings, guest lectures, and field trips delve into the semester theme and contribute to the generation of media art developed through the strategic framework of each artist's practice. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 3

This class examines methods of textual analysis in the media arts with references to their historical, theoretical, and practical contexts.

Credit Hours: 3

A forum for the pursuit of creative projects in the media arts. May be repeated as topic changes. Restricted to CMCMA MFA or PMMM major or consent of instructor or director of Graduate Studies in Mass Communication and Media Arts. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Supervised independent creative work in media arts, the exact nature of which is to be determined in consultation with the MFA faculty member. Consent of instructor. Equipment usage fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 1-9

This course provides an in-depth study and discussion of selected topics in media studies. Topics vary and will be announced in advance. This course may be repeated when the topic differs.

Credit Hours: 3

This course is an interdisciplinary forum in which students develop their media arts practice, learn, and implement critique skills and expand their practice as media artists. It is repeated five times, and is taken each in semester of enrollment in the MFA degree program. As students progress through the first year in the program, they are expected to expand their practice within a variety of media arts practices and gain a deeper understanding of the aesthetic and conceptual development of their work in preparation for the first-year review. As students continue through the iterations of the class, they are expected to develop clearly articulated positions about the aesthetic, historical, and theoretical contexts of their work. Restricted to MFA students in the College of Arts and Media, or via consent of instructor and the MCMA Director of Graduate Studies. Equipment Usage & Lab fee: $150.

Credit Hours: 6

Addresses the intersections of politics, economics, and social structures that underpin media arts and industries at global and national levels. Emphasizes the relationship between theories and methods.

Credit Hours: 3

This course critically examines the role and potential impact of the media in enabling, facilitating, and challenging social constructions of gender, gender expression, and sexual identities in U.S. society and globally. We will go far beyond the common discussions of problematic media representations of female beauty and male violence to use theories of gender, gender expression, sexual identity, and gender-based violence to understand contemporary media production and representations. We will explore how objects, social practices, government policies, and even nations can be gendered, and how this functions to create and maintain interlocking systems of oppression. Global in scope, this class will enable us to look within but also well beyond the U.S. to better understand the impact of specific ways of gendering in popular culture and the media's role in this process.

Credit Hours: 3

An in-depth study of the relationship between race and media through the lens of a specific topic. Common themes include critical race theory and ideologies of race, raced representation in media texts, racial and ethnic diversity in media industries, and media as a contested site in the struggle for racial justice. May be repeated when the topic differs.

Credit Hours: 3

Teaches students the core ideas and practices of game narratives. It covers: a) The conceptual fundamentals of theories of game narrative design; b) The technical and organizational process of creating a narrative game. This includes designing and implementing a narrative game using an appropriate software tool. While game narrative is at the center of this course, the skills and knowledge acquired in this class are applicable to broad range of design-centric fields and contexts.

Credit Hours: 3

The MFA Graduate Colloquium is an introduction to graduate studies through encounters with various media artists and researchers. During weekly meetings, individual faculty members introduce students to their research and creative work. The course will also serve as a forum in which students discuss their own research and creative work in an interdisciplinary setting. Presentations by guest lecturers and visiting artists are also a component of this class and are scheduled at the discretion of the instructor. Two semesters of the MFA Graduate colloquium are required of all graduate students in the MFA program in MCMA.

Credit Hours: 3

A practicum course in which students learn the theories, craft, and art of teaching. Topics include course design, lecturing, leading of seminar discussions, assessment, grading strategies, writing and grading essay exams, formulating writing assignments and strategies for responding to student work to produce transformations in learning. Conceptual strategies for how and why to teach in-person and online synchronously and asynchronously. The course also covers skills required to enter the job market in academia. Topics include how to build a research career, how to apply for an academic job, how to successfully negotiate a phone interview and an on-campus interview, and how to succeed as an early assistant professor.

Credit Hours: 3

Thesis requirements may be satisfied only by a creative thesis for the M.F.A. degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts. Minimum of six hours required for the M.F.A. degree in MCMA. Graded S/U. Restricted to students in the M.F.A. degree program. Lab fee: $75.

Credit Hours: 1-6

Thesis requirements may be satisfied only by a written thesis for the M.A. in Media Theory and Research in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. Minimum of three hours required for the M.A. degree. Graded S/U. Restricted to students in the M.A. degree program in CMCMA.

Credit Hours: 3

Minimum of 24 hours to be earned for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Credit Hours: 1-12

For those graduate students who have not finished their degree programs and who are in the process of working on their dissertation, thesis or research paper. The student must have completed a minimum of 24 hours dissertation research or the minimum thesis or research hours before being eligible to register for this course. Concurrent enrollment in any other course is not permitted. Graded S/U or DEF only.

Credit Hours: 1