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Communication and Culture |
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What is Communication and Culture A level about? September 2008 – a new academic year and a new name. Out goes Communication Studies and in comes Communication and Culture. Communication and Culture is the study of all aspects of human communication – from who we are to pop videos, from body language to the world wide super culture. It’s a discovery subject – taking your experiences and matching them to the theory. It’s not a subject of set answers and regurgitated facts. What’s more it’s not even a new subject, having been on the A level scene as Communication Studies since the 1970s. What does the course consist of? Is Harry Potter better than Hamlet? Banksy better than Monet? How do we decide what is culture and what’s not? what’s good and what’s bad? What significance do every day events like a smile actually have? In your first year these are the issues that you will be immediately confronted with in Unit 1 Understanding Communication and Culture, where you may be asked to consider issues such as the significance in our culture of ballet, a pair of Converse, P.Diddy or a nod of the head. You will then be asked in the independent study or coursework for Unit 2 The Individual and Contemporary Culture to take these ideas out of the class room and start exploring what they mean in your own life through a study of personal communication. For example you will consider issues such as body language and the way we speak or analyse at a cultural level the value of pop music or graffiti. The independent study is worth 50% of the marks for the whole year. In the second year you will be asked in Unit 3 Communicating Culture to understand how a range of key concepts such as Narrative and Power, and a range of key perspectives, such as Marxism and Post-Colonialism, can be applied to real world examples. These might include the way TV news tells a story rather than reports events, why our society loves the I- Pod, or even our how our culture has a particular perception of a rain forest You will then explore these further in independent studies for Unit 4 Communication and Culture in Practice focusing on topics such as the significance of body modification or celebrity, and how people use the cinema. Again Unit 4 is worth 50% of the marks for the whole year.
Who does Communication and Culture suit? It suits students who not only like to debate and have strong opinions, but who also like to evaluate, criticise and analyse rather than just accept easy right or wrong answers. Students who are willing to engage with contemporary culture and who are willing – and brave enough – to see the connections between the theory and their own life. Individuals who are keen to grow as people by acquiring new communication skills.
What is like to study Communication and Culture at d'Overbroeck’s? Communication Studies is a very popular subject at the College – on average 25% of the Lower Sixth study Communication Studies each year. Our lessons are 1) about the students and their opinions – which matter in the exams as much as in class. 2) rooted in contemporary culture – the students’ culture not the teachers. 3) founded on theory – which students are expected to use from the moment they enter the class room. 4) creative- using everything from video, music, articles, virtual realities, discussion and brainstorming, as well as the essential note taking. 5) usually split into 15-20 minute sections such as a brainstorm recap, then a video, followed by a discussion on the video and then note taking. Where can I go to get a sense of the subject? The key academic book is “AS Communication Studies: The Essential Introduction” by Wall, Bennett and Slater. However, most books in the Media and Sociology section of your local bookshop should give you a flavour. Or even take a peek at www.theory.org.uk – although this is aimed more at undergraduates. Beyond the academic, classic books like Naomi Klein’s “No Logo” will give you a flavour of the issues we cover, as well as much recent books like “The Cult Of The Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture” by Andrew Keen or Kate Fox’s “Watching the English: The hidden rules of English culture.” Films like the classic “Dangerous Minds” or the more recent “This Is Britain” can also offer valuable insight into the subject. Read Media Guardian on Mondays or on line media.guardian.co.uk to broaden your knowledge of the modern media, or even a more specialist magazine like The Edge for an insight into a specific medium like video games. Even the Technology Guardian on Thursday or www.guardian.co.uk/technology has good material and a very relevant blog. The Sunday Times Culture supplement is also good for covering debates regarding the nature of culture.
Who will teach me? Our popularity as a subject depends on our knowledge of our subject and how it is examined, the quality of our teaching and our experience of the real world of the communications industry. Mark Piesing has been Head of Subject for 6 years. He has taught Communication Studies for 10 years at d’Overbroeck’s. Mark has also been a Senior and Assistant Examiner for Communication Studies with the AQA exam board. Mark also works as a freelance journalist and writes on education and motoring in the national press – The Independent, The Times Educational Supplement, The Guardian, Telegraph and Sunday Times. Mark’s particular interests are in the way media coverage shapes real world events and the way the media class deny it. He is also interested in animal language and culture, and changing human perceptions of it. Carolyn Newton is an experienced journalist and editor in South Africa and the UK. She has edited magazines such as Agenda and Femina – the sister magazine to Cosmopolitan in South Africa. She also has an MPhil in Criminology from Cambridge. Carolyn has now taught Communication Studies very successfully for 4 years. Carolyn is particularly interested in gender, and the emergence of different masculinities rather than just one masculinity. ”. What are our results like? Our results speak for themselves each year. Last summer, for example our students achieved the following grades:
As a department we have had 2 students in the top 5 in the country and have won awards 2 year running from the Good Schools Guide.
What do our students study at university? Our students go on to study a range of subjects at university. A good number will carry on with Communication Studies at universities like Newcastle, Leeds or Sussex. Others will study a range of subjects from Business, Politics, and Psychology all the way through to Art and Architecture, at universities ranging from the LSE and St Martins through to Bournemouth and Bristol West of England. Communication Studies also makes a good AS subject. A number of students each year also take Communication Studies as a 4th AS for courses like medicine to show a breadth to their education and the development of practical communication skills.
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