1. Student Work and Reflections
“Learning by Doing” in Post-Soviet Communication:
From Reading and Lecturing to Interviewing and Examining
Irina Six, Slavic Languages and Literatures
Student Work and Reflections
Course Change
The feedback I received from students largely confirmed my expectation; most students reported that they enjoyed the cultural comparisons. Student showed much more engagement with the class content, as well. They were vividly participating in discussions and enthusiastically working on individual projects.
As one of the students wrote: “When I started becoming more aware of communication issues between Russia/America, I wanted to know why.”
Another student indicated: “This class was a great way to understand how government (especially Russian) use mass media to communicate with its population.”
This increased gratification was demonstrated in the students’ work. Many of them were taking more seriously their assignments for individual research, for example:
One student analyzed the words (or form of the words) used in website articles of National Public Radio, CNN News, ABC News, BBC News, and National Geographic. According to the student’s findings, nearly every article was reporting on something political that was going on in Russia. The meaning was conveyed through frequent use of the words upset, controversial, extremism, corruption, violates, criticism, sanctions, terrorism, crisis, nuclear, weapons, ban and bombing to describe Russia and its people. Russian culture, food, or everyday life was almost never described. This amount of negative words can create a certain association in the minds of viewers/readers. With this association comes the negative connotation that a Western audience could have of Russia and the Russian people.
The updated course materials shed light on the competing narratives that divides Russia and the West, particularly on the sources (both material and idealistic) of those divisions. The students felt that they can now better identify potential areas of common ground and can better track the roots of increasingly difficult global challenges. Providing feedback about the project, the students wrote:
“The project and presentation helped to understand why Russia is the way it is. It is also good to learn new Russian media sources to research.”
“Through my project I gained a better understanding of the inner working of Russian media that will be very useful later on.”
“I liked the final project because it let me choose something that interested me.”
Background
In the Fall of 2016, I significantly restructured the course:
One lecture class was moved into a comparison and analysis lesson (discussion class) focused on Russian and American mass media and communication;
The final changed its format and goal to include actual cross-cultural communication on a subject of students’ interest.
I moved the class from primarily lecturing and reading to a new format permitting students to be “learning by doing” in their in-class and out-of-class assignments. I reorganized the content of the course in 12 lessons. Each lesson (covered in 1-2 weeks) examines one aspect of post-Soviet communication and consists of 4 components:
1) In-class instructor’s presentation. After the presentation students demonstrate how they understood its content in a multiple-choice lecture quiz administered via Blackboard.
2) Required reading and reading questions. The upgraded course emphasizes short and dense (rather than long and light) readings.  Three essay-type questions help students get oriented in the material being covered.
3) In-class discussions and discussion assignments. I moved one class a week from a lecturing to a new “learning by doing” discussion, centered around a “contrasts or comparisons” task where students define their own ideas on how their culture is different from the one they study, like:
Compare the famous recruitment posters and outline the distinctive features of the Soviet propaganda style, image, and the idea. What makes Soviet propaganda different?
The students discuss their ideas in small and large groups and submit their observations after the class in a discussion task paper via BlackBoard.
4) Essay. At the end of each lesson, students summarize the topic of the week in an essay-type paper designed to enhance student’s ability to formulate their thoughts clearly and concisely.
I also generated a new format for the final project and named it “Russian Perspective.” In the new format, students present a Russian perspective on a problem of their choice. The “learning by doing” principle encourages them to examine the topic in actual interviews with Russian peers, nationals, and experts in Russian studies via a Skype and personal communication and present the results in “interview” recordings, etc. The project encourages developing ideas after conducting research or examining sources. The Russian Perceptive Project obligates students to access the Russian Internet and/or analyze Russian social media, mass media and blogs.
The cross-listed course SLAV 503/COMS 503: Post-Soviet Communication covers mass media and communication in the Soviet Union prior and after its collapse. Last offered in Fall 2008, the course was resumed in Fall 2015 due to the increasing coverage of Russia in the news and rising importance of the post-Soviet region.
The Challenge
While teaching the course in Fall 2015, I realized that as compared to 2008, an average student is less knowledgeable about international affairs and specifically about Russia.
Most of the students were born after the end of Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The significance of Russian-American communication is just non-relevant history for them. They have little understanding of the importance of these issues to world politics.
Also, the students have changed in the past decade. They seem much less eager to listen to traditional lectures or to read long texts. Traditional lectures seem to be much less effective now.
Considering the current political environment existing between Russia and the US, I also viewed projects as essential for building positive, trans-cultural connections and providing a bridge between the two countries, regardless of existing tensions.
Lord Kitchener Wants You
1914, by Alfred Leete
I want you for US Army,
1917, by James Montgomery Flagg
You, Have you volunteered?
1920, by Dmitri Moor.
The Goals
The new challenges prompted me to look for different ways of presenting the content and address the current changes, specifically:
Use out-of-class time more effectively to promote learning
Utilize in-class time better to increase students’ interest