Module descriptions

Year 1 / Semesters One and Two   

AJ1100 History of Media (5 ECTS credits) – CORE

During this module you will examine the historical development of media and communication. You will be introduced to the history of journalism in the 19th and 20th Century and how communication was controlled, from the rise of the ‘yellow press’ to D Notice Committees in Britain during the First and Second World Wars. You will examine the development of communication as part of the democratic process, as well as in response to commercial, social and political pressures. Particular attention will be paid to its development in Britain, Ireland, and the United States.

AJ1102 Introduction to Media and Communication Studies (5 ECTS credits) – CORE –

This module provides you with an introduction to key debates in media and communication studies. You will engage with a historical overview and examine key theoretical issues such as representation, framing and bias in an introductory way. Media consumption and audiences will be explored.

AJ1104 Digital Literacy Essentials –  (5 ECTS credits) – CORE –

This module will teach students to appropriately and effectively use digital technologies for learning, working and living in a digital age. Students will engage in a range of learning activities to find, select, evaluate, manipulate, manage, apply, share and create information and knowledge in the digital environment as well as to manage personal and professional online identity.

AJ1106 Pop Culture, Media and Society  (5 ECTS credits) – CORE

This module introduces you to ideas in critical, cultural and communications theory. You will debate issues surrounding media and popular culture, focusing on such themes as cultural elitism, power and control, the formation of identities, the politics of representation, consumption, and the changing technological basis of mediated culture.

Year 2

Semester One

AJ2102 Power Without Responsibility (5 ECTS credits) – CORE

This module looks at key theories of power, agenda setting, agency and bias in the media, and examines contemporary debates about the relationship between society and the media; journalistic responsibility; and the public interest. If you successfully complete this module you will be able to engage with key issues in media studies relating to ownership, power, and bias, and articulate how these issues influence communication and the development of public perceptions via mass communication.

AJ2109 Understanding Media Audiences (5 ECTS credits) – CORE

This module further develops students’ critical thinking capacity, with a focus on examining how media audiences are influenced. Students will also increase their iterative understanding of media research methods via learning activities.

AJ2113 Writing for the Media (5 ECTS credits) – Elective

Humans have been telling stories for millennia, and one thing that has not changed is the way the human brain is hard-wired for narrative. This module will introduce students to content writing for media audiences, including telling compelling stories via a combination of following a simple structure combined with creativity.

AJ2111 Media Production (10 ECTS credits – elective) – 1 & 2

This exciting media content module introduces students to media production skills in audio including radio programme production, presenting, and podcasting. It runs across both semester one and two. This is a good option for students who want to pursue content creation skills. You will earn five credits in Semester 1 and another five in Semester 2 for a total of 10 credits.

AJ2119 Designing User Experiences (10 ECTS credits – elective) – 1 & 2

This module will introduce you to design thinking concepts and innovation via iterative development processes. This module is based on group work. The first semester intensively focuses on understanding your potential audience by interviewing strangers and learning what their needs are. In the second semester you will learn how to use software to design user experiences for mobile Apps and websites. This module runs across two semesters and is a good option for students who want to pursue business/start-up skills.

Depending on your programme (single or joint honours) second-year students can also select from the following 5-credit electives offered from other departments in Semester 1 as long as they don’t clash with your other choices. Please check the module descriptions in the online catalogue.

Special note: Students taking BSS2103 or MG3113 in Semester 1 cannot take this module in Semester 2.

Semester Two

AJ2100 Online and Social Media: Theory and Practice (5 ECTS credits) – CORE –

This course will prepare you to be able to write for online, understanding social tools such as verifying and curating user-generated content (UGC); and being able to develop native content for a variety of social channels, as well as being able to deploy analytics strategies. This module equips you with the learning to critically understand social media and as well as preparing you to work in a professional capacity with digital and social media.

AJ2110 How Television Lobotomised the World (5 ECTS credits) – CORE

This module introduces students to mass communication theory, examining the birth and development of the medium of television as a mass communication and control tool. Particular focus will be paid to advertising, representation and framing, and gender.

AJ2104 Magazine Journalism (5 ECTS credits) – ELECTIVE –

During this module you will be introduced to the field of magazine journalism, and to a range of specific formats within the genre. Through extensive practical work, you will learn to identify and pitch stories; to research and investigate; and to write to format and deadline.

AJ2107 Sports Journalism (5 ECTS credits) – ELECTIVE

During this module you will be introduced to the particular genre of journalism that is sports journalism, including a range of multimedia writing and editing skills that will prove effective across a broad range of sports.

Special note: You can only take magazine OR sports, not both. They both run at the same time

AJ2123 The Media and Global Migration (5 ECTS credits – elective)

You will unpack the complex issue of how migration is reported in the media in this module which was developed in collaboration with the UN migration agency, and Irish Aid. You’ll learn about migration in its many forms – not just refugees – how international organisations work to support states; and how media reporting and misinformation can create distorted views of reality.

AJ2114 Communicating Through Storytelling (5 ECTS credits – elective)

Interdisciplinary module exploring storytelling across different disciplines

AJ2118 Communication Design (5 ECTS credits – elective) –

This module will introduce you to creative and graphic design concepts and practical skills via weekly classes. You will learn to use open source and proprietary software to create compelling designs for graphic applications as well as understanding how to professionally edit images and present content online.

If you chose Media Production or Designing User Experiences you will continue with those modules in Semester 2

Depending on your programme (single or joint honours) second-year students can also select from the following 5-credit electives offered from other departments in Semester 2  as long as they don’t clash with your other choices and you have not already taken them in Semester 1

Fourth year

Semester One

AJ4106 Media Research Methods (5 ECTS credits – CORE)

This module provides students with an understanding of the inter-related fields of journalism and media studies, through study of a range of scholarly works and independent research. Specifically students will gain knowledge of how to conduct research using a range of qualitative methodologies used in critical studies of media.

AJ4115 Rehabilitating Reality: studies and strategies to strengthen factual storytelling (5 ECTS credits – elective)

This fascinating module explores innovative media strategies for the “post-truth” era, where traditional factual reporting faces skepticism. You will examine how experimental techniques like re-enactment, essayism, and docu-fiction enhance factual storytelling. You will learn how to challenge conventional media practices, balancing theory and practice to help you test the boundaries of factual representation through experimentation.

AJ4107 Advanced Media Production (10 ECTS credits – ELECTIVE – over 2 semesters)

This module offers students advanced skills in media production. Practical classes focused on training students to use smart phones and digital media software in the production of editorial video content. Advanced practical classes introducing students to the skills needed to write for the media – including news, features and reviews.

AJ4113 Bursting the Western Bubble: Alternative Media Systems and the Global South (5 ECTS credits – elective)

What role does media (news, film, television and digital) play in shaping ideas about the world in non-Western countries? How do diverse audiences consume media in their everyday lives to negotiate issues of social and cultural identity – and how are narratives framed by non-Western regimes? This module will examine these issues through the lens of news media, film, popular culture, social media, graffiti, underground cinema and all myriad of ways people consume media.

PSS2104 Sport and Performance (5 ECTS credits – elective)

This module will introduce students to a range of research topics and approaches relevant to sport and performance. It will conceptualise and frame sport with regard to performance studies, and examine the relevance of sport to a broad range of areas including entertainment, artistic creation, identity formation, community building, health and wellbeing, and as a key medium for ideological messaging and persuasion. The module may feature guest sessions with leading national and international researchers (including from University of Galway’s Sport & Exercise Research Group) who have been engaged with sport from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, including Film, Media studies, Journalism, Sport studies, the Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Semester Two

AJ4105 Media Law and Ethics (5 ECTS credits) – CORE –

This modules will introduce students to legal constraints and requirements of publishing, including copyright, privacy, and the Defamation Act; and examine the ethical dilemmas and boundaries of media.

AJ4116 Crime, Criminals and the Media (5 ECTS credits – ELECTIVE)

This module will examine the representation of crime in news and current affairs; in television drama; and in film, with reference to representation, identity and popular culture. The module will explore key issues such as whether the representation of crime is a true or distorted reflection of social reality, and what effects such representations might have on public opinion and the political system.

AJ4117 Gender, Race and the Media (5 ECTS credits – elective)

This module will examine critical media theories such as representation and framing of minorities, key theories of media and identity, gender and sexuality studies. Students will be also introduced to media research methods such as content and textual analysis.

AJ4102 Global Political Economy of the Mass Media – (5 ECTS credits – CORE)

This module will introduce students to the study of political economy and how it can be applied to media analysis communication research. It will examine the relationship of the media to the broader structures of society; how media performance and media content shape class and social relations; and the influence of ownership, concentration and government policies on media behaviour.

AJ4110 Independent Research Project- (10 ECTS credits – elective)

This is a capstone research module where students will have the opportunity to engage in a substantial piece of independent research into an academic subject within the field of media or communication studies. Students will work independently to plan and produce research on a particular topic, drawing on appropriate scholarship in the field. They will be guided through the process of preparing for and producing the minor dissertation via academic supervision. This course is by application only and students considering this option will need a minimum of a 2.1 as well as submitting a detailed research proposal in advance of application. Email Kelly for an informal conversation in semester 1.

NB to apply for this course you must submit a proposal by December 2024, Semester One. *You cannot register for this module directly online* 

Kelly will run an information session in October on this module and will talk to students registered for Media Research Methods within the first two weeks.