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MDST 210 Introduction to Social Media and Online Community

Social media has changed the ways in which people from around the world interact and relate to one another. This course explores the ways in which social media influence these interactions and change our ideas of what it means to belong to a community. The course also addresses the potential of social media to create opportunities to interact within communities to create social change (revolution) through the use of participatory platforms, such as blogs, wikis, and other open source or low cost online tools. Students will finish the course with an understanding of the ways in which they may use social media to become activists in the glocal environment in which we now find ourselves, and how they influence and are influenced by social media, including tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and technology in general. Students will also begin to explore the theoretical basis for the development of online communities.
4 Undergraduate credits

Effective May 6, 2013 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Build a comprehensive online initiative communicating a timely and relevant issue or event either of their choosing or provided by the instructor;
  • Develop selected knowledge and principles of online rhetoric, audience research, and evaluation of communication programs;
  • Strategic and critical thinking applied to audience, content, design and usability of media messages.
  • The ability to combine online writing (or blogging) with other forms of social networking and media (wikis, YouTube, Facebook, and/or Twitter);

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

Goal 1: Communication

  • Understand/demonstrate the writing and speaking processes through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing and presentation.
  • Participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding.
  • Locate, evaluate, and synthesize in a responsible manner material from diverse sources and points of view.
  • Select appropriate communication choices for specific audiences.
  • Construct logical and coherent arguments.
  • Use authority, point-of-view, and individual voice and style in their writing and speaking.
  • Employ syntax and usage appropriate to academic disciplines and the professional world.