Communications and Media - Sophomore

Course # ECON 1002

Credits 6

Course Description  

Introductory macroeconomics provides students with key concepts and principles of contemporary macroeconomic theory. Topics covered in the course pertain to the analysis of national income, the real economy, fiscal and monetary policy in the long run. Open economy and short-run economic fluctuations are also explored in the course. Existing debates over macroeconomic policy faced by policy makers and government agencies both in developed and developing countries are discussed.  

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 

• Define key macroeconomic concepts and principles.
• Calculate basic macroeconomic indicators related to GDP and cost of living within a group of countries or individual states.
• Explain how the real economy operates in the long run from production and growth perspectives.
• Explain the role of monetary and fiscal policies to tackle inflation and unemployment.
• Discuss advantages and disadvantages of the open economy.
• Use the concept of aggregate demand and aggregate supply to explain main facts about economic fluctuations.
• Explain both potential and limits of economic policy aimed at macroeconomic stabilization and long-term economic growth.

Course Assessment and Grading 

Course # DMNS 2031

Credits 6

Prerequisites: Calculus for Arts with a minimum grade of “D.” 

Course Description: 

Probability and Statistics for Communications and Media is a course that provides students with an introduction to the basic concepts and methods of probability and statistics as they relate to the field of communications and media. The course covers topics such as descriptive statistics, probability distributions, statistical inference, and regression analysis. Students will learn how to use software to analyze data and will also be introduced to statistical models and methods commonly used in the field of communications and media. The course aims to equip students with the statistical tools and knowledge necessary to understand and analyze data in a variety of contexts within the field of communications and media. 

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 

• Implement basic concepts of probability and statistics, including descriptive statistics, probability distributions, and statistical inference.
• Use software to analyze data and apply statistical models and methods commonly used in communications and media.
• Interpret statistical results in the context of communications and media research.
• Describe the assumptions and limitations of statistical models and methods.
• Communicate statistical results and conclusions effectively in written and oral forms.
• Use statistical reasoning and critical thinking to inform decisions in communications and media.
• Recognize the importance of ethical considerations in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data in communications and media.

Course Assessments and Grading 

Course # MDIA 2164

Credits 6

Course Description

This course introduces students to the global audio industry, including its practices and ethics. Students will analyze role of podcast, radio and audio production and investigate different genres of programming and digital sound production. The course provides students with knowledge of media processes and practical skills in media-making techniques. Students will examine these in the context of both new and traditional formats of radio/audio production. This content will be framed within the Central Asian context. Newer forms of audio media and how they are shaping the new landscape including online, web radio, streaming and podcasts. This course builds on concepts first covered in Writing English for Media and is designed as a precursor to the Specialized Media Labs (Radio/Audio) and Specialized Media Labs (Project). 

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 

• Describe the communicative practices, skills and technologies of podcast/radio/ audio production, especially within the Central Asian context.
• Discuss the history and the role played by radio and other audio forms of media in a global context.
• Apply operational, technical and media industry skills related to podcast/radio/audio production and program making.
• Use the ethical frameworks for podcast/radio/audio production and journalism (in research, interviewing and presentation).
• Produce well designed sound projects for specific purposes and audiences.
• Collaborate in small production teams in order to deliver a podcast/radio/ audio product to a deadline.

Course Assessments and Gradings 

Course # MDIA 2127

Credits 3

Course Description 

This course is designed to provide students with a grounding in graphic design. It introduces the intricacies of graphic genres and focuses on the importance of design-thinking in various media professions. The goal of the course is to enable students to enhance their creative thinking and visual ideation. The course also includes technical skills in relation to visual design computer programs through practical workshops. The course will also introduce students to a range of design spheres such as motion picture, TV captions, animation, 3D and web design. 

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 

• Explain the visual design narratives used in a variety of media production projects. 
• Apply graphic design principles in the ideation, development, and production of visual messages. 
• Create visual design products for diverse communication contexts and audiences. 
• Analyze genres, styles and trends in the history of visual design. 
• Discuss the dark forces of design and the impact they can have on how messages are communicated to and received by different audiences. 

Course Assessments and Gradings 

Course # HUSS 1009

Credits 6

Course Description 

This course explores Central Asian history during the colonial and post-colonial period (since circa 1750). It concentrates on the formerly Russian / Soviet areas of Central Asia, such as the three countries in which the University of Central Asia are located, but also explores neighboring areas dominated by China and Britain (Xinjiang, Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent Tibet, Mongolia, and Iran). The course emphasizes links and connections across these political borders, which were at first artificial and porous, but which became crucially important and shaped local communities in divergent ways. It emphasizes social and cultural history, as a complement and counterweight to the usual political frameworks and grand narratives of khans, revolutions, and wars. It focuses on questions of personal and communal identity, and how the borders between groups have been defined, what they meant to all sides, and how they changed. Students will learn about everyday life in Central Asia, and how worldviews shifted – especially for men and women outside the royal courts, military leadership, or diplomatic corps. 

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 

• Discuss the key features, facts and frameworks that make up the history of Central Asia since 1750.
• Explore the ways shifting political boundaries and cultural identities are created, through processes that are both historically contingent and cumulative, i.e., layered on top of each other.
• Place Central Asia into an inter-scalar theory of world history, one able to situate local stories of "normal" people in multiple frames, i.e. regional, national, imperial and global.
• Explain how personal, community and national identities are formed and changed as a result of socio-cultural and political factors

Course Assessments and Grading 

Course # MDIA 2075

Credits 6

Course Description

The course is designed to develop the ability to create journalistic materials in Russian for Central Asian and Russian Russian-language media (mass media). The course will familiarize students with the peculiarities of the media discourse of Russian mass media: genres, formats, types of publications, peculiarities of language and style. During the course, students study the history of the formation of Russian media and publicist style, learn to write news and publicist texts, create a script for a radio or TV program in Russian, prepare a multimedia article for a Russian-language Internet publication. Special attention is paid to working with the language, style, and composition of texts. The topics of the assignments are selected so that students get an idea of contemporary social problems discussed in the Russian-language media; expand their knowledge of Russian history, culture, and politics. All of the above is designed to help students learn to write professionally for contemporary Russian-language media.  

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to

• Explain how the objectives and language of mass media (mass media) changed during the Soviet era and after perestroika in Russia and Central Asia;
• Identify ideological discourse, manipulation, and other contemporary trends in Russian public speech;
• Analyze the style, norms and peculiarities of media language;
• Identify and correctly use formal and informal, expressive and neutral speech depending on the topic, audience, text genre, and publication format;
• Express evaluation, subjective opinion in public writing, as well as select and introduce quotations, direct and indirect speech in the text of a publication;
• Create journalistic materials in different genres and formats: in the genres of information message (hard and soft news), commentary, radio or TV news program (message, report), multimedia article, printed material based on a transcript;
• Edit their own and others' texts applying their skills in grammar, stylistics and pronunciation

Course Assessments and Gradings  

Course # HUSS 2099

Credits 2

Course # HUSS 1080

Credits 0

Course description 

Physical education strengthens health and develops students' physical and mental abilities. Physical exercises and sports games are the way to a powerful and functional body, clear mind and strong spirit. The course is practical and theoretical, covering basic concepts of anatomy and physiology and health and safety requirements.   

Course learning outcomes 

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 

• perform a range of physical activities 
• understand health and safety requirements for a range of physical activities
• describe the role and progress of sport in Central Asia
• chose an appropriate physical activities program for their age and gender 
• identify tiredness and its symptoms to control the body during athletic exercises 
• describe the technique of running for a long and a short distance and jumping
• accomplish running for a short and a long distance and jumping according to all necessary norms
• describe the rules of a range of sports games
• participate in a range of sports games according to their rules and techniques

Course Assessments and Grading 

The course will be graded with PASS/FAIL.