Welcome to the course COMM 500 Introduction to Graduate Studies in Mass Communication. In this Welcome Message, we will discuss the contents of the course, the readings and other learning material, as well as the grading elements.
This introductory course should give you an idea of the nature and structure of our graduate program. First of all, you need to become familiar with the two tracks within our degree. Strategic communication has two, although closely related, clearly differentiated emphases: external and internal communication. The external communication track explores strategies to establish effective relationships with specific publics outside the organization (customers, media, legislators, community, …). The internal emphasis focuses on target audiences that are considered constituents of the organization (employees, volunteers, stakeholders, …).

This course is designed and taught by two instructors. José Carlos del Ama teaches the introductory section and the section dedicated to the external track in Strategic Communication. Becki Louys takes over the section dedicated to the internal track (Organizational Communication).

The goal of this course is to introduce you into some essentials fields that will play an important role in your studies (Research, Theory, Application Fields). You will have to go in depth into most of these subjects in further courses.
Your first step should be to carefully read the syllabus of the course (available in the course’s main menu) and to start exploring learning units in the course contents area.

Course Contents

The most important content area in the course’s menu is dedicated to the “course contents”. Here you can find the online lectures, the readings, and the audiovisual material that you need to succeed in this course. We have divided the course contents in a series of learning units and organized the weekly schedule based on that. Every week we will give you precise information about the contents the course will cover.
As we state in the syllabus, this online introductory course is reading intensive. You will find the contents in three main formats:
Online Lectures (HTML documents or audiovisual files)
Readings (mostly PDF documents)
Streaming Media (videos)
We recommend you following style guideline:
Bourhis, J., Adams, C., & Titsworth, S. (any edition). Style manual for communication studies. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Information contained in this book will be available in Blackboard Learn. However, we recommend the book because its contents may be helpful for you during your graduate studies and beyond.
Since one of our discussion forums will be on the film Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitmann, 2005), we strongly suggest you to find and watch this movie. It is available in practically all the public libraries of the Greater Hartford area. Since due to copyright issues, we cannot publish the whole movie, we have created a Web-page with the key scenes for our discussion. Still, to be best prepared, you should watch the entire film. If you ask with ample time, you can borrow it from us.
ALL THE CONTENTS OF THE LEARNING MODULES ARE RELEVANT FOR THE COURSE AND WILL BE RELEVANT FOR THE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS, THE WEEKLY DISCUSSIONS AND THE FINAL EXAM.

About the Contents

The main goal of this course is to introduce our graduate students to the discipline of communication and the subfield of strategic communication. They need to learn, first of all, the critical and analytical skills that are necessary for success in graduate education. Research methods and the most common writing styles will be discussed in the course. Furthermore, the course offers an in depth analysis of the role of theory and research in social sciences in general and communication studies in particular. History is an essential component of the course, as well. We will, first, analyze the early history of communication studies, a necessary step to understand the development in the discipline, and then focus on the particular history in the academic and professional field of strategic communication.
The theoretical section of the course deals with the model for developing communication campaigns to address internal and external audiences. We will also discuss the basics of persuasive communication research, since strategic communication can be regarded as a persuasion industry.
The Introduction to Graduate Studies in Strategic Communication also explains the nature, content and structure of our program. Students should become familiar with the two main tracks within the program. Strategic communication is divided in our department, both at graduate and undergraduate level, in internal and external emphases. In the internal communication track, students learn how to deal with audiences that are considered constituents of the organization (employees, donors, stakeholders, …), while the external track focuses on audiences that do not belong to the organization (customers, media, legislators, …).
Finally, the course also reflects of the subject “Ethics and Communication” in both external and internal contexts. Communication, above all when supported by mass media, might become a powerful weapon. We will discuss some ethical gray areas and basic standards in the field of professional communication.

Grading

• Grading in the class will be based on a number of elements. They are
• 1st Exam 15%
• 2nd Exam 15%
• 1st Case Study 20%
• 2nd Case Study 20%
• Participation 10%
• Final Exam 20%

Case Studies
You will have to write two case studies, both worth 20% of your final grade, following the APA style guidelines.
In both case studies you will structure your paper covering following items:
1 – Definition of the situation:
Why was communication necessary?
2 – Strategy:
Definition of the strategic goals of the campaign, the particular target audiences and the channels used to reach them.
3 – Communication:
How were the outreach tools created and the messages delivered?
4 – Evaluation:
To which extent was the campaign effective
You should be able to write this paper in 10 pages (Times New Roman, double spaced).
Papers are delivered online through the particular assignment’s page. I will not accept papers sent through any e-mail system. Make sure that you attach you paper as a PDF or Microsoft WORD document. If you send the assignment in any other format, I may not be able to open it.
Participation
Each Student is expected to participate in the online discussion forums that will appear every week in the corresponding folder in the course’s main menu. The participation grade will be based on the regularity of your participation and the quantity and quality of your entries. This grade is relative, the more active the group is the more you will have to participate to reach a high grade.
Examinations
There will be a midterm and a final exam. Exams cover the contents of the online lectures, readings and audiovisual materials. The midterm exam consists of five short essay questions. The exam is available during two days (48 hours), and you have five hours to complete it.
The last week of the classes, the final exam will be published. You have one week to complete three essay questions related to the contents of the course. The final exam must be delivered through the exam’s page in Blackboard Learn. The allowed formats, again, are PDF or WORD.
The 1st Exam will be open on Friday, October 4.

The 2nd Exam will be open on Friday, November 1.

The Final Exam will be published on December 4, and will be due the day scheduled by the university for our final exam (TBA).

Extra Help

You can get some extra help if you decide to create and publish in Blackboard learn an audiovisual presentation of your case study. This assignment is entirely voluntary. You can record yourself and/or use visual aids (Power Point, Keynote, …) in order to complete the presentation. This voluntary assignment would never have a negative impact on your final grade. If you decide to complete it, I will add a grading element to your final grade (if you get a B, it will be upgraded to B+; if B+, to A-, etc).

Technical Issues with Blackboard Learn

If you have any technical issue with the online learning system, please contact the help-desk at CCSU (860) 832 1720.