2008 Handbooks

What are universities for? How have student fees and the globalisation of higher education shaped the value and meaning of university study? What kinds of work do media and cultural studies degrees prepare you to do and how else might media and cultural studies change the world and the way people think about it? This unit gives you a chance to reflect on such questions as well as helping you come to understand what, in media and cultural studies, "counts as a relevant contribution, what counts as answering a question, what counts as having a good argument for that answer or a good criticism of it" (Rorty, cited in Becher, 1989, 26). The assessment for the unit is based on your creative responses to 'real world' problems. You will have the chance to write in a range of academic and non-academic genres - blogs and journalistic articles as well as academic abstracts and annotated bibliographies - and practice your verbal skills not only in the classroom, but also in mini-podcasts and in a student conference setting.