Introduction and Theoretical Foundations of New Media

This e-course was supported by the European Union through the European Social Fund

General information[edit]

Subject code: IFI7101 (Introduction and Theoretical Foundations of New Media)

Study load: 4 ECTS

Study semester: Autumn

Objectives: To familiarize the students with the mainstreams of new media related meta level thought. To help the student identify the field of new media from more than one perspective. To foster the students’ acknowledgment of the spectrum of application areas of new media, situating theirs studies within the domain and providing initial orientations for further studies.

Course Outline: An introduction to the field of digital interactive media, or “new media”. The course defines the field of new media from a range of perspectives, such as media, technology, art and cognition, with the aim of preparing to more specialized elective courses. Application areas of digital interactive media are treated, including learning environments, e-participation, knowledge-sharing services and virtual communities. The curriculum is situated into this landscape.

Learning Outcomes: An individual understanding of interactive media, the field, and the knowledge of the main analytical tools, models and theories supporting it, while making individual choices within the curriculum. A foundation to professional identity of interactive media.

Assessment: Students are required to:

Gradually build a concept map of the topics addressed in the course;
Write a single-spaced 4 page long essay, based at least on 3 relevant sources, which will be assessed over its rational, depth and reference soundness; and
Comment on three peer written essays.

The assessment quotation is distributed as follows:

40% Concept mapping;
50% Essay; and
10% Comments on three essays from their peers.

And the Grading criteria are as follow:

A – 90-100% of the work is done – excellent: outstanding performance with only minor errors;
B – 80-90% of the work is done – very good: above average, but with some minor errors;
C – 70-80% of the work is done – good: generally good work with a number of notable errors;
D – 60-70% of the work is done – satisfactory: fair but with significant shortcomings;
E – 50-60% of the work is done – sufficient: passable performance, meeting the minimum criteria; and
F – less than 50% of the work is done – fail: more work is required before the credits can be awarded.

Activities[edit]

In order to successfully conclude this course, addressing the course topics, students are required to:

Gradually build a concept map of the topics addressed in the course.
Write a single-spaced 4 page long essay, based at least on 3 relevant sources, which will be assessed over its rational, depth and reference soundness, and
Comment on three peer written essays.

The concept map: The aim of this exercise is to build your own view of how the issues presented and discussed throughout the course come together in end.

The concept map can be built incrementally or topic-by-topic throughout the course and should be shared daily, as the lectures take place but, in any case, a final comprehensive concept map must be achieved.

(deadlines for this activity depend on academic year and are set on the course blog)

Concept maps should be shared by:

Posting the concept maps as images on your blog together with some related highlights and comments on relevant challenges related to the identified concepts and relations: and
Sharing the concept maps source files inside the “Concept Maps” folder under the IFI7101 shared Dropbox. The source files should be named after you and numbered (first-last-number.cmap).

The concept maps should be built using the CMAP Tools and a good introduction to concept mapping can be found here.

The essay and related comments: The aim of this exercise is to invite you to further and critically explore one of this course’s topics. All session topics are suitable as essay topics. Other topics can be agreed upon with the course facilitators.

The essay should be single-spaced and four pages long. It should also be based at least on three relevant sources.

The essay will be assessed over its rational, depth and reference soundness and an interesting guide on writing essays can be found here.

You should also comment on three peer essays using the generic recommendations stated on the essay writing guide as a basic framework for assessing your colleagues work.

The final version of your essay, together with the related comments, should be shared inside the “Essays” folder under the IFI7101 shared Dropbox as a single RTF file named after you (first-last.rtf).

(again, deadlines for these activities depend on academic year and are set on the course blog)

Contents[edit]

The course contents are organized into 14 sessions spread over 7 weeks.

(the session's dates depend on academic year and are set on the course blog)

Feedback[edit]

And finally, a feedback form is available for download.

Please send it back to the course facilitators.