HYTP1080 Visual Communication as a Way to Improve Working Life Skills (2–3 cr)

On completion of the course students will:

• gain basic knowledge about the role of visual communication in today’s society,
• improve their competency in visual literacy, that is, visual reading, writing and thinking skills,
• learn to create and use images ethically,
• develop skills in visual interpretation.

Target group:

Undergraduate or graduate students; studying for degrees in social sciences, culture studies, anthropology, psychology, law, political science, languages, communication, music, sport and health sciences, business and marketing or related fields. NB students of Erasmus universities: This course is a blended short term mobility period.

Course description:

The nature of today’s communication is overwhelmingly visual. Our communication practices are mediated visually, including photo and video creation and sharing, video chatting, and the visual language of emoticons, GIFs, and emojis. The everyday choices we make are based on what we see. Thus, also the way we present ourselves or communicate visually should be carefully considered, particularly in a working life context.

The skills you develop in this course will help you become strong visual communicator and a powerful and intelligent visual consumer. Visual learning occurs via experience rather than solely through knowledge acquisition. Thus, this course is designed in a format of ongoing visual activities and collabo-rative feedback sessions, along with more theoretical introduction to visual culture studies, visual liter-acy, image interpretation, presentation of visuals and elements of visual ethics.

Mode of study:

Lectures, discussions and workshops, group project assignment, individual project (final assignment). During the course, you will work on a group project (Monday-Thursday), instructions for which you will receive in the first class. All group projects will be presented on Friday. In addition, you will complete an individual assignment, based on your learning during the course. The course starts with a virtual introduction session before the intensive week, on Mon 15.5. Participation in the online session is obligatory, but no preparation is required.

Assessment:

The final grade of 3 ECTS credits consists of: active participation in the course (i.e., doing the activities, participating in the discussions, asking questions, etc.), being an active member in the group project, and completing individual assignment. The course is evaluated with a grading scale from 0 to 5 (0=fail, 5=excellent).

Timing:

15.5. + 22. - 26.5.2023
Monday 15.5. online
Monday-Friday 22-26.5.2023 in person, in Jyväskylä

Monday 15.5.: 9.00-10.30 EET (10-11.30 CET) - online class via Zoom
Monday-Wednesday 22.-24.5.: 9.00-14.00 (including a lunch break)
Thursday-Friday 25.-26.5.: 9.00-11.15
Note: Add about 1-3 hours for a group work (project) after the classes from Monday to Thursday