This course provides an opportunity for students to explore key technical, ethical, and experiential elements in contemporary digital and social media and integrate them into a project-based solution of the student?s choosing. Topics are drawn from immediate trends and are interrogated for their effects on individuals, communities, society, and the world. Students also select a topic of their own for further study.

In the past 25 years, electronic media, mobile devices, and algorithmically optimized information networks have intensified how humans have engaged with mediated information. This course examines the collateral effects of this phenomenon on our habits, norms, beliefs, and cognitive processing. Students will study the historical, political, and theoretical narrative that has led to questions about the construction of social worlds, the construct of reality, and the legitimacy of information. A special focus will be made in studying the implications of synthetic deepfake and AI-driven text generating systems in accelerating these effects.

This course provides an introduction of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) as it relates to the CSD undergraduate major and the professions of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Students will learn about foundational knowledge of the speech and hearing mechanism, language development, normal communication processes, diagnoses, and treatment across different communication disorders and lifespans. Given the importance of communication, the course information can be applied to various human service careers.

This course provides continued acquisition of American Sign Language with an emphasis on active language use to improve speed and accuracy. Advanced linguistic principles of ASL as well as the cultural considerations are presented. Comparison of ASL with signed languages from around the world will be explored. An online language laboratory is required as part of this course.