As a journalist covering global affairs, working with people from various cultural backgrounds is inevitable. Aside from global learning as a means of developing a complex worldview and expanding my mind on a personal level, I have used FIU's GL courses to train myself for future interactions with people from around the world. As a communicator I believe that utilizing these courses is essential in providing myself with a foundation for cultural understanding and will aid in my personal and professional quest to be a well equipped efficient intercultural communicator.
See below for a list and brief description of the classes I feel were best suited for my goals:
COM3461 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
FIU Description: Students develop the skills to build and maintain relationships across cultures by focusing on similarities and differences in communication behaviors, perceptions, language usage and social practices.
Intercultural communication was among a small group of eye-opening classes for me at FIU. Professor Shane Gunderson offered a hands on learning experience through a mandatory cultural site visit. As a life-long observing Christian in the middle of what seemed like a sectarian battle of values in America I chose to visit a mosque during Jumu'ah, or the Islamic Friday congressional prayer, in attempt to widen my understanding of he religion. The coursework really helped my global studies as I learned about how and why other people believe and act as they do. The basis of culture and how to efficiently cross cultural borders peaked my interest and I found myself excited to attend lectures. The co-cirricular learning in this course was most beneficial to me. As someone who actively seeks out knowledge of other cultures, I was delighted to find additional videos and readings to help students become familiar with things particularly different from western culture. I learned about things like curdled chicken blood as a delicacy extended to guests as a welcome and the extremely remote and spiritual way of life shared among Tibetan communities.
COM3417 COMMUNICATION IN FILM
FIU Description: This course will examine the unique relationship between communication and film from the 1920's (the era of silent film) through today.
Communication in Film generally analyzed the different components that go into making productions (camera, editing style, shot selection, mess-en-scene, genre, sound, etc). In this course we took note of the differences not only by film style but also by world region. In a comparative analysis I looked at the juxtaposition between western and eastern standards of romance movies. This class brought to my attention a blatant truth I had been ignorantly overlooking: to ensure maximum reach and effect with a story you have to be sure it's tailored to the likes of different cultural standards. This, to me, is especially important to take note of as a journalist. Sharp cuts in video and noisy audio channels may seem unpleasant in a westernized viewing setting but these practices are common place in the east. And our standard of symmetry in film can be unwelcome or unrealistic for other audiences. I took special effort to studying how documentaries work within different regions as this method of film is a known journalistic method.
MMC3303 GLOBAL MEDIA AND SOCIETY
FIU Description: The course will familiarize the student with a multi-cultural global perspective of a multi-media world. The aim of the course is to create a foundation of global media literacy.
Global Media and Society taught about the convergence and development of mass media forms from the early ages in ancient Europe and Africa to the modernization of the internet and economic struggles of classic media. We analyzed things like the future of radio; could it become obsolete in some areas of the world but thrive in another? Why?-- I think it has the capacity to thrive in parts of the world fighting for freedom. Official channels are probably dominated by the majority and illegal channels provides a voice to the minority. Has the internet upset the flow of the agenda setting theory? My final project was to look into the state of the press in Greece, naturally, it was one of my favorite projects in my entire undergrad career! A solid background in mass media will certainly provide a strong foundation for my future analyzation of advancements and problems within the media world.
VIC3400 VISUAL DESIGN FOR GLOBALIZED MEDIA
FIU Description: The course explores the relationship between images and messages in global media and the primary role that visual design plays in globalized media presentations.
Visual Design for Globalized Media taught me the importance of the visual. As a journalist looking to make an impact with broadcast journalism, I don't think I'd ever realized just how efficient and powerful the right design or graphic can be in support of subject material. I learned things like the structure that goes into making effective info-graphics and the power of color, the golden ratio of design, but most importantly, the delicate balance between creative freedom and structural correctness that makes up a successful design. Once you understand that relationship, you work on analyzing the intended audience and their cultural expectations to create a design they will find attractive.