MDIA 5028 ‘CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES’ ASSESSMENTS 2021 v1
Assessment 1
Online auto-marked test
(30 percent)

Week 3, online. Results released when test has closed.

This 30-minute, 30-question knowledge test examines your understanding of
fundamental concepts covered during the first three weeks of the course. Only
material covered in the lectures, tutorials, readings, and relevant sections of the
compulsory text (Terence Hawkes’ Structuralism and Semiotics) will be examined.

Assessment 1 will open via Moodle on Sunday 14 March 2021 at 1900 AEDT. The test
will close at 1930 hours. Please note that the test will not be re-opened.
Assessment 2
Individual theoretical essay, 1750 words
(40 percent)

The second (individual) assessment requires you to discuss the application of
structuralism to one of the following campaigns:
1. Biden (Democrat) v Trump (Republican) election campaign, USA 2020
2. Kennedy (Democrat) v Nixon (Republican) election campaign, USA 1960.
3. Abbott (Coalition)/Rudd (Labor) election campaign, Australia 2013
4. #DressLikeAWoman
5. #HeForShe

While tempting to think that the hashtag activist campaigns might be easier than the
political campaigns, this is not so.

Marking emphasis (see Marking Rubric) will be split between an understanding of
structuralism and its application to the chosen campaign. Your key tasks are therefore
to explain the principles of structuralism and how structuralist concepts can be
engaged to interrogate the selected campaign. More detail about this assessment will
be provided in tutorials.

Assessment 2 due Week 7: 2300 Sunday 04 April 2021, via Turnitin.




Assessment 3
Group campaign design and critical reflection (30 percent)
3500-4000 words

The final (small group) assessment requires group members to design a (hypothetical)
multi-channel activist campaign in response to a pre-approved social issue and to
explain how two or three critical perspectives in communication (of the group’s
choice) inform its fundamental design. The central perspective, however, must be
structuralism. Students of MDIA 5024 (2020) must not engage on the same social issue
canvassed in the final assessment for that course. While the broader campaign
strategy and tactics are to be outlined, the group also needs to create and critically
unpack three full examples of campaign collateral as follows: a speech of 1,000 words;
a print advertisement; and a blog post of 300 words. The critical unpacking must
leverage the two or three perspectives that inform the campaign. Again, a structuralist
assessment of the collateral is to be privileged. In essence, then, the group’s task is to
develop an outline for a full campaign and to show how, at both conceptual and
tactical levels, the selected critical perspectives inform the campaign. The marking of
the assessment will focus on an understanding/appreciation of the theory, the
coherence of the overall campaign (as it is proposed), the effectiveness of the three
pieces of collateral developed, and the quality of the close critical reflection on that
collateral. More detail about this assessment will be provided in tutorials and on
Moodle.

Assessment 3 due 2300 25 April 2021 via a special Moodle assignment link.
































































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