Module Review for NM2209

NM2209 - Social Psychology of New Media

What is it?

It is a fairly interesting module (not as dry as NM2101), taught by Professor Zhang Wei Yu. It's about different theories again combined with how new media technology affects human behaviour. Psychology majors are recommended to take this module too. Tutorials are even more relax than NM2101, and I suggest don't do the tutorial questions
too seriously as it doesn't benefit much for the exams. Tutorials are considered more interactive.

Exam format + How to score

Mid-terms is 30 marks with weightage of 30%. They give 3 passages to read and subsequently answer a set of short open-ended questions (each passage comes with a set of questions, so total there are 3 sets of questions). A few lines for the answers will suffice. Time management is important, I read too slow hence do not have enough time towards the end. Read fast and apply the concepts well. For my mid-terms, I guess I was in a B- range with 4 marks below the average score.

Whatever is tested in the mid-terms won't be tested again in the finals. Memorise all definitions (important) word by word and also apply the theories using relevant examples from the passage. This is what the professor says when I consult her personally. The passage is not for decoration only, it is required to make references to it when necessary. You need to demonstrate good understanding of concepts and able to link everything that you have written together. Hence the writing format would be:

 definition + explanation + example from passage + conclusion/justification

within one short paragraph, so be concise and go straight to the point. There is past year paper released on IVLE before mid-terms but it just shows you how the exam paper is like, not giving you any hints about what will be coming out for the exam. Attempting the questions will allow you to train how to answer them well.

Class participation is 10% and an individual assignment of 20%. The assignment is 20 marks and just to find a news article related to new media and do a write-up about it, basically analysing the article and your own reflection. START EARLY. I started 2 weeks early before the deadline to write the assignment (excluding finding articles). Hard work paid off and I got above average for both my assignment and class participation.

Finals are exactly the same as mid-terms, just that the content tested has changed. For the finals is 40 marks weighing 40%.

Overall 

I got an overall grade of A- for this module.

mid-terms: 30%

class participation: 10%

individual assignment: 20%

finals: 40%

Lectures: 2 hr per week

Tutorials: 1 hr per week