COMM 385—Media Programming
Strategies—Fall 2009
Tues/Thurs 2:30-3:45 pm 117 THOMAS
Instructor: Matt Jackson Office: 105 Carnegie
E-mail: mattj@psu.edu Phone: 863-6419
Web page: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mxj20/
Office hours: Tues/Thurs 8:30-10:30 am, 4:00-5:30 pm, and by
appointment.
Course Objectives:
This course is designed to
acquaint students with the fundamental concepts and strategies of media
programming. The course will include
discussions of radio, television, cable, and web programming. In addition, the course will expose students
to concerns facing distributors all along the supply chain, from the program
producer to the cable system operator.
The structure of the course will emphasize teamwork and analytical
thinking. Students will have the
opportunity to develop quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, practice
written and oral presentation skills, learn industry-specific research skills
and resources, and develop leadership, decision-making, negotiation and
teamwork skills.
Required Textbook:
Media Programming Strategies and Practices, 8th
edition (2008) by Susan Tyler Eastman and Douglas Ferguson (Thompson-Wadsworth
Publishing).
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. This
course is structured around discussion, in-class activities and team
projects. We learn best when exposed to
other viewpoints and when we are forced to articulate our own thoughts. Missing
class affects you and everyone else in the course. You are allowed to miss 3 class sessions
without penalty—no excuse is necessary--BUT you cannot make up any quizzes or
other in-class assignments that you miss.
Missing more than 3 classes will
result in grade penalties in addition to losing
any points from quizzes or in-class assignments. It doesn’t matter if your additional absences
are “excused;” you are still missing the work and discussion. Missing more than 8 classes will
automatically result in an F for the semester regardless of your average in the
course. If you have serious health
or personal issues that require you to miss a significant portion of the
semester, then you should consider a medical withdrawal from the university and
plan to retake your courses when you are in a position to participate fully in
the learning process.
Groups: At the beginning of the semester the class
will be randomly divided into groups for the duration of the semester. Approximately 60 percent of your course grade
will be based on group projects and quizzes.
Quizzes and Exams: There will be a series of individual and
group quizzes based on the reading assignments.
Please see the ANGEL course page for details. There is no final exam in this course.
Web page:
The syllabus and reading assignments may change fairly often! You are expected to use ANGEL to check the
online syllabus for any changes to assignments and the schedule. In addition, I frequently communicate with
the class via e-mail. Make sure you
check your ANGEL e-mail on a regular
basis, at least twice per week.
PLAGIARISM TEST: The Angel course page contains a plagiarism
assignment folder with information about plagiarism, a practice quiz, and a
plagiarism test. You are required to pass the plagiarism
test with a score of at least 80% in
order to pass this course! You
can take the test as many times as necessary until you score 80% or
better. You score on the plagiarism test
will NOT affect your final grade, but you must earn 80% on the plagiarism test
in order to pass the course. You must score at least 80 percent on the plagiarism test
by September 10.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Please see the ANGEL class website for complete instructions and due dates for
each assignment. Here are short
descriptions of each:
Chapter quizzes (150
points): You will be quizzed on each assigned textbook chapter twice, once
individually and then working with your group.
Each individual quiz is worth ten points and each group quiz is worth 5
points (10 chapters—150 points total). Each chapter quiz will be given at the
beginning of class on the day the chapter is listed in the schedule. If you are absent, you lose
the individual points AND the team points for that quiz. There will be NO exceptions. There will be two extra individual quizzes at
the end of the semester which you can use as make-up quizzes if you missed one
or more of the scheduled quizzes. If you didn’t miss any quizzes, than you can use the extra quizzes
as extra credit toward your final grade.
Ratings Quiz (150 points): You
will take a ratings quiz individually (100 points) and with your group (50
points). The quiz will include basic ratings
calculations and analyses of ratings “books” produced by Nielsen and Arbitron. The quiz
date is listed in the class schedule.
Article summaries (100
points):
Throughout
the semester you will be required to find, summarize, and analyze current news
stories related to programming. Please
see the ANGEL website for detailed instructions and due dates.
Syndication project (250
points): Each group will represent
a syndicator or local television station and negotiate the purchase of
syndicated programming. Each team will
write two reports analyzing the programs and the market and give a formal
presentation to the class.
Final project (250 points): Each team will be assigned a topic for their
final project, conduct appropriate research, write a report, and present their
analysis to the rest of the class.
Additional assignments (100
points): There will additional
assignments, peer reviews, and class participation throughout the
semester. These will be announced in
class and on the ANGEL page.
Guidelines for written assignments: Please review the guidelines for written work on the ANGEL website. Here are the key points:
ALL written work must be
COPIED AND PASTED to the appropriate ANGEL drop box unless otherwise
noted. You must upload the assignment BEFORE the start of class. Papers turned in late will LOSE 15% PER
DAY. There will be NO exceptions, so plan ahead
and finish early! I
strongly encourage you to finish your papers at least one day ahead of time
to avoid any problems. You will lose
points for poor spelling, grammar and other mistakes.
Grading:
I encourage you to talk with
me if you have questions about your grades.
If you think you deserve a higher grade on an assignment, you must submit a WRITTEN explanation
of why you think the grade should be changed within ten days of when the grade
for that assignment is posted. To
answer some frequent questions: There is
no curve. There are no extra
assignments, extra work, or anything extra you can do at the end of the
semester to improve your grade other than the two scheduled extra credit
quizzes. Your grade is based on the
total number of points you earn in the class.
The various assignments and quizzes add up to 1000 points.
A 930-1000 points
A- 900-929 points
B+ 875-899 points
B 830-874 points
B- 800-829 points
C+ 775-799 points
C 700-774 points
D 600-699 points
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic integrity is the
pursuit of scholarly and creative activity in an open, honest and responsible
manner, free from fraud and deception, and is an educational objective of the
College of Communications and the university. Cheating, including
plagiarism, falsification of research data, using the same assignment for more
than one class, turning in someone else's work, or passively allowing others to
copy your work, will result in academic penalties at the discretion of the
instructor, and may result in the grade of "XF' (failed for academic
dishonesty) being put on your permanent transcript. In serious cases it
could also result in suspension or dismissal from the university. As
students studying communication, you should understand and avoid plagiarism
(presenting the work of others as your own). A discussion of plagiarism,
with examples, can be found at: http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/cyberplag/cyberplagstudent.html. The rules and
policies regarding academic integrity should be reviewed by every student, and
can be found online at: www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/47-00.html#49-20 , and in the College of Communications document,
"Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures." Any student with a
question about academic integrity or plagiarism is strongly encouraged to
discuss it with his or her instructor.
NOTE TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:
Penn State welcomes students
with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you have a
disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course,
contact the Office for Disability Services, ODS located in room 116 Boucke Building at 814-863-1807(V/TTY). For further
information regarding ODS, please visit their web site at www.equity.psu.edu/ods/. Instructors should
be notified as early in the semester as possible regarding the need for
reasonable academic adjustments.
Additional Information:
One of the advantages of attending a
large university like Penn State is the vast array of FREE resources available
to you. I encourage you to take
advantage of them! This includes
tutoring and study techniques, writing assistance, help with disabilities,
mental health counseling, dealing with stress, etc. For a complete list of services available to
students, go to: http://www.sa.psu.edu/students.shtml
Learning and tutoring resources: http://php.scripts.psu.edu/dept/ulc/index.php
Disability services: http://www.equity.psu.edu/ods/
Health services: http://www.sa.psu.edu/uhs/
Counseling services: http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/
Information technology: http://its.psu.edu/students/
Fall 2009—Schedule is available on the class website and is subject to
change! Check the class website
frequently!