Welcome to Communication Studies 420: Topics in Communication: Children and Media, a three-credit, senior-level course that examines children’s relationships to texts and materials in media such as books, film, broadcast and recorded programs, CD-ROMs, computer programs, video games, Internet texts, and toys and commodities. The course explores how these media work, on their own and in relation to each other, and how they affect children’s learning and understanding of the world.

The enormous range of media available to children today has a major impact both on children’s daily social lives and on their intellectual and cultural development. Children and Media offers students an understanding of the range and significance of media directed at and available to children, and the interconnections among such media. [For the purposes of this course, the term “children” will be broadly defined to include anyone up to the age of fifteen.]

The Student Manual accompanies the course and is designed to supply you with essential information about the course design, the course materials, the assignments, and the procedures you should follow to complete the course successfully. Before you begin your study of Children and Media, please read the Student Manual through carefully. If you have any questions about the course itself, or how to proceed with your studies, please contact your tutor or the course professor.