• MDST 2000

    Introduction to Media Studies
     Rating

    3.24

     Difficulty

    2.97

     GPA

    3.40

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course is a survey introduction to the complex and increasingly pervasive impact of mass media in the U.S. and around the world. It provides a foundation for helping you to understand how mass media -- as a business, as well as a set of texts -- operates. The course also explores contextual issues -- how media texts and businesses are received by audiences and by regulatory bodies.

  • MDST 2305

    Podcasting, Radio and Sound Production
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.49

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Students will learn the practical components of podcast production including: audio recording and editing, sound mixing, script writing, interview techniques, and the final production of a podcast. In addition, students will critically analyze the components of radio/podcast features. The course includes a lecture component and lab time where the instructor will consult with students about their projects.

  • MDST 2508

    Topics in Media Practice
     Rating

    4.40

     Difficulty

    2.60

     GPA

    3.84

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course will provide practice-based learning opportunities for students in various forms of media, including video, podcasting, film, etc.

  • MDST 2559

    New Course in Media Studies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.44

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Media Studies.

  • MDST 2690

    Sports Journalism
     Rating

    5.00

     Difficulty

    2.00

     GPA

    3.76

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course will cover all manner of media as it relates to sports journalism. Students will analyze published work across various mediums, learn the tools for reporting and writing different types of coverage, including features, profiles, long-form, game stories and more. Students will write articles, interview subjects, analyze sports journalism, participate in peer reviews and hear from some of the most prominent figures in sports journalism.

  • MDST 2700

    News Writing
     Rating

    3.52

     Difficulty

    3.29

     GPA

    3.41

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Introductory course in news writing, emphasizing editorials, features, and reporting.

  • MDST 2810

    Cinema As An Art Form
     Rating

    4.00

     Difficulty

    2.88

     GPA

    3.69

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    A course in visual thinking; introduces film criticism, concentrating on classic and current American and non-American films.

  • MDST 3050

    History of Media
     Rating

    2.95

     Difficulty

    3.00

     GPA

    3.48

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This is a hands-on introduction to global media history. The course situates technologies, industries, texts and programs in the context of social, cultural, and political changes. Students will acquire basic competencies in historical research and writing: developing research questions, evaluating secondary sources, selecting archives, querying databases, managing notes, citing sources, sharing resources, and communicating findings as a team.

  • MDST 3113

    Horror Noire: History of Black Americans in Horror
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Black horror is a primer on the quest for social justice. What can such a boundary-pushing genre teach us about paths to solidarity and democracy? What can we learn about disrupting racism, misogyny, and anti-Blackness? If horror is radical transgression, then we have much to learn from movies such as Candyman, The First Purge, Get Out, Eve¿s Bayou, Blacula, Attack the Block, Demon Knight, Tales from the Hood, Sugar Hill, and Ganja & Hess.

  • MDST 3404

    Democratic Politics in the New Media Environment
     Rating

    3.50

     Difficulty

    3.00

     GPA

    3.60

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course examines the ways a changing media system is altering the dynamics of public discourse and democratic politics in the United States. Throughout the course we will critically analyze the ways in which scholars from a wide range of disciplines have studied the connection between media and politics, the methods they have employed, and the validity of their findings and approaches in the new media environment in which we now live. Prerequisite: MDST 2000 or instructor permission.

  • MDST 3490

    Just Kiddin': Comedy & Humor Across Media
     Rating

    4.67

     Difficulty

    1.50

     GPA

    3.79

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course explores humorous and comedic texts and performances across a variety of media forms in America. We will begin by understanding theories of comedy and the logic of jokes alongside histories of comedians and humorous tropes and aesthetics. Examining a variety of content, we will discover how American comedy offers a rich relationship between creative expression and sociopolitical critique across different media and contexts.

  • MDST 3502

    Special Topics in Film Genre
     Rating

    4.72

     Difficulty

    2.33

     GPA

    3.53

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course will offer historical and critical perspectives on a selected film genre each semester. Genres might include Noir, war, romance, musicals, gangster, New Wave, etc.

  • MDST 3504

    Topics in Global Media
     Rating

    4.44

     Difficulty

    2.50

     GPA

    3.70

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course offers historical, comparative, critical, and media industry perspectives on global media. It explores how capital, geopolitics, new technologies and forms of production and consumption impact global media flows. Topics include studies of media systems, textual traditions, media circulation, globalization, the role of media technologies in international affairs, and the role of transnationalism in national and international affairs.

  • MDST 3508

    Advanced Topics in Media Practice
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.96

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This practice-based course will build on previous knowledge and/or experience in various forms of media, including video, podcasting, film, etc.

  • MDST 3510

    Topics in Media Research
     Rating

    4.10

     Difficulty

    2.57

     GPA

    3.76

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This hands-on course prepares students to read, evaluate, and design research in media studies. Drawing on critical, historical, administrative, and industrial traditions in the field, students will learn to assess the validity and anticipate the ethical requirements of various methods & data collection procedures. Following a theme selected by the instructor, the course culminates with each student proposing a new, original research study.

  • MDST 3559

    New Course in Media Studies
     Rating

    4.18

     Difficulty

    3.00

     GPA

    3.57

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Media Studies.

  • MDST 3712

    Interactive Storytelling
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.29

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course approaches the design and creation of "interactive stories." Over the term, students will develop prototypes of multiple interactive storytelling media (interactive fiction, games, simulations, scenarios), balancing an understanding of the scholarship on interactive narrative with individualized design goals. No experience with game design or programming is required.

  • MDST 3800

    Field Experience in Media Studies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.95

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Provides an opportunity for students to get credit for field work, in the area of media studies. Students must put a proposal together for the project with a faculty sponsor, which must be approved by the add/drop deadlines. Restricted to Media Studies Majors.

  • MDST 3811

    History of American Broadcast News
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.26

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course traces the development of national news broadcasting in the United States from the 1920s to the present.

  • MDST 3900

    Specialized Field Experience in Media Studies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course is reserved for Media Studies students interested in receiving credit for participation in student-led and UVA-affiliated enterprises that are media-related under the guidance of a faculty member or industry professional in the area of media studies. Students must put a proposal together for the project with a faculty sponsor, which must be approved by the add/drop deadlines. Restricted to Media Studies Majors.

  • MDST 4000

    Media Theory and Methods
     Rating

    2.67

     Difficulty

    2.00

     GPA

    3.62

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    An introduction to research methods in media studies. Intended as a foundation for thesis and project work for students in the DMP program. Covers subjects such as research design, ethics, people-based methods (ethnography, surveys, interviews) and textual analysis.

  • MDST 4010

    Distinguished Majors Thesis Writing or Research Project
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Writing of a thesis or production or a project with appropriately researched documentation, under the supervision of the faculty DMP thesis readers or project supervisor.

  • MDST 4106

    Media and the Kennedy Era
     Rating

    4.56

     Difficulty

    3.00

     GPA

    3.54

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course examines mass media 'network television, journalism, advertising, cinema' both during the Kennedy years and after to explore the impact, ideas, ideals, and iconography of this presidency. Prerequisites: MDST 2000 or permission of instructor

  • MDST 4510

    Capstone Topics
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.83

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    A capstone seminar, this course offers students a supervised opportunity to pursue original research in media studies. Related to a theme selected by the instructor, the project will entail design of a research question, extensive collection and analysis of literature and data, and completion of a 15-20 page paper that provides new, critical insight or information on the subject examined.

  • MDST 4559

    New Course in Media Studies
     Rating

    4.33

     Difficulty

    4.00

     GPA

    3.61

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Media Studies.

  • MDST 4960

    Advanced Independent Projects in Media Studies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course is designed to allow students to pursue independent research and study of a topic that is not contained within the course offerings of Media Studies. This course will not fulfill the capstone requirement

  • MDST 5559

    New Course in Media Studies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Media Studies. If offered, topics will be listed on the course offerings page for the particular semester.

  • MDST 7600

    Data and Democracy
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This graduate seminar will explore the ways that large-scale data collection, algorithmic processes, and artificial intelligence enhance or detract from the core values and practices of democracy. The course will cover the basics of data science, surveillance, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

  • MDST 7701

    Media and Everyday Life
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.86

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Media and Everyday Life turns a critical eye towards media's relationship to the everyday. We will conceptualize media as central forces in re-presenting, demarcating and franchising the ordinary. This course is designed to examine how media is produced as ordinary and universally intelligible (production), how it represents the everyday (texts), and how audiences phenomenologically engage with media in everyday life (reception and use).

  • MDST 8001

    Histories of Media Technologies
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.93

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    In this course, students learn about the development of media technologies and infrastructures: how and why they were built, how they were shaped by regulation, and the social and political concerns driving both technological development and regulation. Students will read and assess primary and secondary literature, gaining an understanding of historiographical methods and employing those methods to produce original historical research.

  • MDST 8003

    Methods of Media Research
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.86

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    This class teaches students the logics, ethics, and techniques of qualitative research in media studies.

  • MDST 8005

    Master's Thesis Writing
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.92

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    In this course, students form a writing community to foster accountability and confidence in conducting, writing, and sharing original research. Instruction will address developing a regular writing habit, writing for different audiences, communicating in visual and multimedia formats, and the practices of placing work in academic journals, policy venues, or popular online and print publications. This course is heavily reliant on peer feedback.

  • MDST 8900

    Graduate Independent Study
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    A single semester of independent study under faculty supervision for MA or PhD students doing intensive research on a subject not covered in available courses. Requires approval by a Media Studies faculty member who has agreed to supervise a guided course of reading and research.

  • MDST 9000

    Colloquium
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    The graduate colloquium builds an intellectual community and offers professionalization opportunities. Students learn the field, norms of scholarship, and the variety of research topics and approaches through presentations by faculty and visiting faculty. Advanced students will have the opportunity to present and hone research projects, course plans and lectures, and receive feedback on teaching and application materials, formal research talks, and interview practices.