AY24/25 CNM Courses Review - Foundation

Disclaimer: The following reviews are submitted by CNM students who have taken the courses in the specified semesters of AY23/24. Please use this information at your own discretion, as course syllabus may have changed over time.

Aside from cosmetic changes, CNM Society has not made any alterations to the content of these reviews.

Also, do note that this list is not exhaustive. For a complete list of CNM courses, please visit NUSMods. These are the courses and the corresponding number of reviews that this post contains:

Foundation

• NM1101E (2 reviews)

• NM2101 (3 reviews)

• NM2103 (3 reviews)

• NM2104 (3 reviews)

• NM2207 (1 review)

• NM2209 (1 review)

NM1101E - Communications, New Media and Society

Workload Rating: 3/5

Difficulty Rating: 2.5/5

Review: As the introductory course, NM1101E is a course that all freshmen majoring in CNM will have to take. Largely centered around 4 main units (Media Effects, Communication Management / Public Relations, Interactive Media Design & Communications and Culture), the course provides a basic yet broad introduction to the world of Communications and New Media. With a specific focus on real-world application of CNM in daily life, the lecture and tutorial content is engaging and accessible without feeling overwhelming. The main forms of assessment are a major group project allowing students to propose the use of NM strategies to address societal problems as well as one open-book, closed-Internet final paper comprised of MCQ questions and short essay responses. (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

Review: Course was quite easy to understand and workload is manageable. Tutorial is participation and weekly reflections is 10%, mid-term assessment is 20%, group project is 30%, peer evaluation is 10% and final assessment is worth 30%. The readings given in the course were quite lengthy and I have to spend some time to finish the readings. The challenges faced are mainly due to the project as time management could be an issue and not all group members are able to meet at the intended time due to commitments. A tip for future students is not to be overly stressed for the course as it is open book and always read the assigned readings before the lecture starts to gain a better understanding of the concept taught during lectures. (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

NM2101 - Theories of Communication and New Media

Workload Rating: 2.5/5

Difficulty Rating: 2.5/5

Review: As a compulsory course, NM2101 is a course that all freshmen majoring in CNM will have to take. Building upon the fundamentals of NM1101E, NM2101 focuses on a broad range of theories across the critical, empirical and cultural schools of thought, covering a wide range of communication theories such as social learning theory and spiral of silence alongside new media theories such as big data and metric society. The content comes off as somewhat drier and perhaps not as immediately accessible as NM1101E, and students who are able to personally draw connections with real-world applications will find themselves at an advantage in assessments. The main forms of assessment are a major group project proposing a research study into a societal issue utilising the framework of a media effect, as well as a midterm and a final paper, both comprising MCQ questions, true-or-false questions and short essay responses.(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 2)

Review: Workload is light at the start of the semester (first 6 weeks) with the Midterms as the only “workload heavy” item. Midterms and Finals are worth 25% each. Towards the end of semester 2, more work and effort will be expected to be put in due to the submission of the last leg of the project worth 25% if I remember correctly. As for class participation, it will be best to engage during the tutorials to learn more about the content covered for 2 weeks. If you don’t understand the content taught for that week, it will be best to listen during tutorials as tutors will go through the important aspects. Tips to score well for this course: Score well for both midterms and finals because they take up 50%. Both are open book papers, consisting of true/false, MCQ and 2 open ended questions. It is relatively easy to score provided that you understand the concepts, rather than memorise them because going through your notes will take up a lot of time.(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 2)

Review: Do your weekly readings and answer quizzes. Tip: take note of the quiz deadlines because it takes up a significant amount of the grade. This is a very theoretical course, introducing many theories of CNM, how media has changed/adapted in the present, how it affects people, and much more. Assessment consist of 1 or 2 online exams (I forgot), 5 or 6 quizzes, 3 group project tasks (Problem statement, presentation video, bibliography, extended proposal).(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

NM2103 - Quantitative Research Methods

Workload Rating: 2/5

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Review: This course is very similar to GEA1000 in the sense that much of the theoretical content is applicable (it’s all statistics after all). The first half of the semester was more theory-based, and R was only introduced after recess week. Lectures were conducted online, and were recorded so you could review the content whenever necessary. Tutorials were mainly used to discuss your group project and practice a bit of coding. The group project (develop your research question, and collect data to test your hypothesis using R analysis) is very simple and manageable, especially if you split the work amongst your group. One tip for the group report is to reference concepts in the textbook to rationalise your group’s choice of survey etc.(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 2)

Review: tutorials are super chill (45mins weekly) the hardest is the group project & having someone who can do R in the group really helps. super foundational stuff like how to conduct research surveys analysis etc, did not feel rigorous enough (which was ok! since it's a foundational course + Im really bad at stats so this was a lot chiller than I expected) (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

Review: 2 exams are manageable thus steeper bell curve. Understanding basic statistics knowledge, usage of R, working with your groups to understand a certain issue related to cnm and then produce a report together. (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

NM2104 - Qualitative Communication Research Methods

Workload Rating: 2.5/5

Difficulty Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Found this course difficult to score in, as someone who doesn't write well. Dr Shoba's lectures are very good, but it's just tough to do the assignments well. Assessment breakdown: class participation (15%), weekly post-lecture quiz (10%) and 3 individual assignments (though I heard they've changed this). The 1st individual assignment (15%) was visual analysis on an advertisement, 2nd (25%) was detailed fieldnotes on participant observations using thick descriptions and vivid descriptions, and 3rd (35%) was to develop a research question, conduct semi-structured interviews and analyse. I liked how they were all individual, and slowly built on each other. Some tips for future students would be to complete the weekly post-lecture quizzes as a lot of students miss out on that but it's really easy to score, and to fully participate in the tutorials as it's the only chance you have to practice your writing in the required format/style.(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

Review: Learning the process of ethnography, how to observe, take field notes, then writing it in formal notes & report format. Readings were very informative and lectures helped to clarify/deepen your understanding of the reading. Treat this course as a process, how much you take in and apply at the start will determine the quality of your final work (Eg. Good/thorough field observation -> jotting down good in-depth field notes -> understanding the different concepts well -> output: good report/assignment) (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

Review: felt like a if you get it, you get it course. there are 3 essays but on completely different skill sets so it's not possible to train/redeem yourself you just have 1 shot at the grade & despite trying I couldn't really get what a good essay was looking for? but overall rather fun and chill. my ta (taara) is super nice! (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

NM2207 - Computational Media Literacy

Workload Rating: 5/5

Difficulty Rating: 5/5

Review: Took this course when the syllabus changed to R, so the course materials were being tested for the first time. As someone with no coding experience, there is definitely a gap between those with and without BUT it’s still possible to catch up if you put in the effort. The course structure was such that you would watch the lecture videos and code-alongs before your 3hr seminar session, where an in-class exercise is given by the TAs. The in-class exercise is quite easy, and you can usually adapt the solution from the lecture videos. The assessment breakdown is as follows: Tutorial/Participation (30%), Midterm Quiz (30%), Project Final Submission (40%). The final project focuses on creating a highly interactive website to convey a compelling data story. We used Quarto for webpage creation and Shiny as the main interactive element. A tip for future students is to get really good at Google searching! Also, your professors and TAs are there to help you so don't be afraid to ask them questions.(Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)

NM2209 - Social Psychology of New Media

Workload Rating: 2/5

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Review: Easy course if you are looking for a NM2K course. Workload is light and tutorials are chill. Will just need to apply readings into essays written and you should be fine! (Taken in AY23/24 Semester 1)