MEVIT4619 – Children, youth, and digital media

The relation of children and young people to media is a highly visible issue in contemporary society. Particularly in the context of digital media, children and young people (aged broadly under 19) are subject to significant hopes and fears from a variety of adults: experts, policymakers, but also teachers, parents, and the general public. Children in particular have also attracted considerable interest from researchers worldwide, many of whom have sought to examine in particular their diverse and changing relations with media. There now exists a critical mass of high-quality research on children, youth, and media, primarily advanced in the fields of media and communications. And in the Nordic countries especially, where a strong emphasis is placed on children’s rights and childhood freedoms and where digitalisation is widespread, there has emerged a strong tradition of researching youth and digital media particularly.

This course will critically examine the mediation of childhood and youth through engagement with this research. Taking up the lens of key theories in the field including moral panic, mediatisation, and media effects, we will engage critically with public debates which have centred on children, youth, and media. We will apply these theories to a variety of contemporary and historical cases, working with existing conceptual frameworks and relevant evidence to evaluate perspectives on children, youth, and media in a variety of contexts. This course will also recognise how historical and multidisciplinary perspectives on childhood and youth and been constructed through and with media.

Knowledge:

• Develop a robust understanding of research traditions and trajectories on the topics of childhood, youth, and digital media.
• Cultivate a thorough knowledge of various methods and approaches associated with the study of children, youth, and digital media in diverse contexts.
• Acquire a broad overview of significant debates where applied research on children, youth, and media is most relevant.

Skills

• Outline and critically evaluate a range of conceptual, interdisciplinary and normative debates in relation to children, youth and media.
• Formulate and develop critical arguments relating to theory and evidence, and policy and practice, concerning children, youth and media.
• Apply conceptual frames to unfamiliar topics or themes concerning children, youth and media.
• Evaluate competing claims regarding evidence for the significance and impact of media in the lives of children and young people.

General competencies:

• Practicing critical self-awareness and reflexivity, in particular relating to how key assumptions, biases, and emotionally-driven beliefs about children can shape public discussions around youth.
• Engage meaningfully with different conceptualisations of children and young people.

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

The course is available to students admitted to Media and Communication Studies (master), Politisk kommunikasjon (master) and Screen Cultures (master).

Students enrolled in other Master`s Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

The teaching consists of teaching sessions in which students are expected to actively participate. Students must prepare for each teaching session by watching videos and reading syllabus texts.

In the teaching sessions, students will complete individual, group and plenary-based assignments of both written and oral nature. Students will receive professional feedback from both teachers and fellow students in the teaching sessions.

Compulsory activity:

There is a mandatory group assignment in the course. Groups of 2-3 students write an assignment together and this must be presented orally. It is mandatory to attend the oral presentation of assignments.

The compulsory assignment will be assessed as approved/not approved. Approval of the assignment is a prerequisite for being allowed to sit for the examination.

If you get ill or have other valid reasons for not being able to attend, you must apply for valid absence. The course teacher can assign a different task to compensate for missed attendance.

Read more about compulsory activities at the Faculty of Humanities and find link to the application form.

Approved mandatory activities are valid for the current semester and the next two semesters in which the course is offered.

Three-day take-home exam.

The compulsory activity must be approved to be allowed to take the exam.