SemesterSpring Semester, 2020
DepartmentInternational Master's Program in International Communication Studies, First Year International Master's Program in International Communication Studies, Second Year
Course NamePsychology of Interactive Media
Instructor
Credit3.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

NOTE: Readings are subject to change, with ample notice.



 











































































































Week



Topic

Readings

Special Notes

Week 1

(27 February)

Course Introductions



 



 



 

  • Course syllabus

  • Course-based social media (optional)

Open discussion about course structure and culture, and an introduction to the Fulbright program

Week 2

(5 March)

Lecture: What is interactivity?



 

  • Steuer (1992)

  • Downes & McMillan (2000)

  • Stromer-Galley (2004)

 

Week 3



(12 March)

Lecture: Interactivity as Demand

  • Bowman (2018) CH1, CH13

  • Bowman (2020)



 

Week 4

(19 March)

Blog Assignment 1



“Constructing a Demand Profile”



Students will be asked to (a) select one example of an interactive media experience and (b) construct a “demand profile” of this experience, using concepts from Week 2’s discussion (due by EOD on 25 March).



 



End of month idea check. =)

Week 5

(26 March)

Lecture: Theory of Interactive Media Effects (TIME)




  • Sundar (2004)

  • Sundar (2015), CH3, CH16



 

Week 6

(2 April)

NCCU Deferred Holiday (No Class)



Week 7



(9 April)

Lecture: Features and Affordances




  • Bowman (2018) CH6

  • Evans et al (2016)

  • Greeno (1994)



 

Week 8

(16 April)

Lecture: The Body Electric

  • Biocca (1997)

  • Bowman et al (2017)

  • Won et al (2015)



 

Week 9

(23 April)



 

Mid-term Examinations



One-on-one examinations with Dr. Bowman



(NOTE: Can be scheduled outside of normal class time, subject to availability)

Week 10

(30 April)

Lecture: Motivations for use

  • Rogers (DOI)

  • Sundar and Limperos (2014)

  • Venkatesh et al (2003)

End of month idea check. =)

Week 11

(7 May)

Lecture: Presence




  • Westerman & Skalski (2010)

  • Fox et al (2014)

  • Lombard & Ditton (1997)

 

Week 12

(14 May)

Lecture: The Uncanny

  • Mori (1970)

  • Seymour et al (2017)

  • Wang et al (2015)



 

Week 13

(21 May)

Blog Assignment 2



“Taking #ICA20 back to Taiwan”



Students will be invited to (a) read select papers from #ICA20 and (b) follow the conference online through various social media accounts, and then (c) connect content from #ICA20 to at least one course concept from our in-class discussions (due by EOD on 27 May).

Week 14

(28 May)

Peer Problem-Solving




  • Each other’s outlines. =)



Assignment: First Draft of Final Paper



(Due by EOD on 7 June)



Week 15

(4 June)

Blog Assignment 3



“Taiwanese Interactive Media Industry”



 



We will arrange for a field trip to the offices of local Taiwanese media technology developers, where students will (a) take note of Taiwanese-led innovations and (b) connect at least one of those innovations back to a course concept (due by EOD on 10 June).



Week 16

(11 June)

Presentation tips and other closing thoughts

  • Bowman and Keene, 2018

  • Sample posters from Bowman



Assignment: Final Draft of Final Paper; Final Draft of Poster (Due by start of class on 18 June)

Week 17

(18 June)

Final Poster Presentations

OPTIONAL



( TBD)

Final Spring 2020 Fulbright Student Public Poster Presentations



Date and Time TBD; presented in tandem with “Media Entertainment” course

Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant
Requirement/Grading

Of the total 100 points possible in this course, they are broken up as follows (details provided, in class):





  • Attendance (10 points). Attending all scheduled course session is critical to maintaining a vibrant learning environment in which we can learn from each other. Students are required to attend all scheduled courses. Absences should be negotiated either immediately before or (in emergencies) immediately after, and failure to do so will result in a 10-point reduction; students missing more than one course may fail the course, subject to NCCU procedures.




  • Blog assignments (5 points total, or 15 points each). Throughout the semester, students will be asked to write informal blog posts (~500 words) applying key course topics to their own experiences. Select blogs will be shared via social media, with the student’s permission.




  • Mid-term meeting and oral exam (25 points). During the Spring 2020 NCCU mid-term examination period,




  • Final research proposal (50 points). Inspired by the above assignment, students will propose a replication and extension of extant interactivity research to a uniquely Taiwanese setting:





    • 10 points, initial first outline, for sharing a manuscript outline via OneDrive.




    • 5 points, peer problem-solving, for providing in-class feedback to colleagues’ outlines.




    • 25 points, final paper, including a complete literature review, proposed method, and statistical analysis plan (estimated length of about 4000 words)




    • 10 points, oral poster presentation, which summarizes the final paper in a presentation format (with accompanying visual poster); these presentations will be about five minutes in length.



       







Course Grading:



Students’ grades are based on a 100-point system, following the standards of the National Chengchi University as follows:



 



































































Letter Grades

GPA equivalent

Raw Score Range

A+

4.3

90-100

A

4.0

85-89

A-

3.7

80-84

B+

3.3

77-79

B

3.0

73-76

B- (minimum passing grade for graduate students)

2.7

70-72

C+

2.3

67-69



C

2.0

63-66

C- (minimum passing grade for undergraduate students)

1.7

60-62



F

0

Below 59

X

0

0



Textbook & Reference

All readings for this course are posted to a shared OneDrive: https://texastechuniversity-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/nick_bowman_ttu_edu/ElxP64SVIypGjytddGj-0jcBGja0j7s-wz_SgKycM824VA?e=ENh4Ba.


Urls about Course
Attachment