Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University
COURSE COMPACT
2018/2019 Academic Session
Faculty: Social Sciences Department: Mass Communication
Course Code: MAC 461 Unit(s): 2 Semester: First
Course Title: Environment Communication
Lecturer: Dr. Chinenye Nwabueze Programme: B. Sc.
(A). BRIEF OVERVIEW OF COURSE
This course provides an insight on the effective communication strategies that could be used in drawing attention to environmental concerns. It is designed to train students to have an in-depth understanding of the concepts and dynamics of environment, environmental communication, environmental risk, environmental risk communication, environmental news, environmental news reporting, and environmental advertising and public relations, among others. The course equips students with the most appropriate modern strategies of green communication in view of the fact that the field of environmental communication is becoming more and more important as the stakes in global environmental debate have become greater and greater and the tools for communicating become more diverse. At the end, students would be conversant with diverse forms of interpersonal, group, public, organizational, and mediated communication that make up the social debate about environmental issues and problems, including basic facts about how man engages in mutually beneficial interactional relationship with the environment.
(B). COURSE OBJECTIVES/GOALS
By the end of this course, students will have learned:
- Basic concepts associated with environmental communication;
- Various media of environmental communication;
- The fusion between Traditional, Mass, New Media and Green Communication;
- The Dynamics of Green Advertising and Public Relations;
- Basics of Environmental Problems in Urban and Rural areas, including emerging issues in Climate Change, and an understanding of environmental disasters in contemporary society.
- Dimensions of Environmental Risk Communication.
(C). METHOD OF LECTURE DELIVERY
- Lectures
- Indoor Quizzes
- Outdoor Quizzes
- Practical Classroom Sessions
(D). COURSE OUTLINE
- Introduction
Understanding the concepts of Environment
Types of Environment
Environmental Problems in the society
How Man Interacts with the Environment
- Environmental communication defined
Meaning of Environmental communication
Role of environmental communication
Approaches to Environmental Communication
Environmental Communication Campaign
- Media of environmental communication
Personal Communication Media
Non-Personal Communication Media
Social Media and Environmental Communication
Media Selection Strategies in Environmental Communication Campaign
- ICTs and Environmental communication
Meaning of ICTs
Role of ICTs in Environmental Communication
Problems Militating Against ICT Use in Environmental Communication
- Environmental news reporting
What is environmental news?
What is environmental News Reporting?
Environmental Beat
Factors Militating Against Environmental Beat Reporting
Quick Tips for Covering the Environment
- Mass media and the Environment
Nigerian Mass Media and the Environment: An Overview
Why Do We Need Effective Media Coverage of the Environment?
Mass Media Roles in Environmental Communication
- Green Marketing: A Conceptual and Historical overview
Meaning of Marketing
Meaning of Green Marketing
Why Green Marketing Practice is growing
- Environmental public relations
What is Public Relations?
What is Environmental Public Relations?
Environmental Public Relations Implementation Models
Environmental Advertising: Supporting Green Public Relations
- Culture and Environment
What is Culture?
How Culture Interacts with the Environment
A Look at Cultural Practices in a Multi-ethnic Society: Implications to the Environment
Culture and Environmental Communication
- Communication Environmental risk
Meaning of Risk
Meaning of Environmental Risk
Communicating Environmental Risk
Objectives of Environmental Risk Communication
Factors that Militate Against Environmental Risk Communication
Quick Tips to Effective Environmental Risk Communication
- Class Activities
(E). METHODS OF GRADING
- Assignments and tests attract a minimum of 30%
- Examination attracts a maximum of 70%
Total ____________________________100%
(F). GROUND RULES AND REGULATIONS
- Anyone guilty of academic theft, cheating or plagiarism will face disciplinary action.
- Attendance below 75% disqualifies any student from sitting for the course examination. Students who miss class for health reasons or grave challenges are to see the course representative with a doctor’s note (native doctor’s report WILL NOT be accepted) and acceptable evidence to explain their absence.
- Students would be required to observe punctuality in attending lectures and in submitting assignments.
- Class quizzes (indoor and outdoor) and all practical sessions are mandatory for all students.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Nwabueze, C. (2015). Environmental Communication: Perspectives on Green Communication and Information Management. Owerri: Topshelve .
Corbett, Julia B. (2006). Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages. Washington: Island Press.
Cox, Robert. (2010). Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Hendry, Judith. (2010). Communication and the Natural World. State College, PA: Strata Publishing.
Important Links
1. Environmental laws and regulations in NIgeria
2. Social Media Use In Environmental Communication
3. Effectiveness of Green Advertising On Clean Environment In South South Nigeria