International Media Italy

GONZAGA GRADUATE SUMMER INSTITUTE IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND PROFESSIONAL MEDIA

The course is a hybrid that combines classroom instruction and lab work with aspects of internship and practicum courses, including field work in a setting unfamiliar to student participants. Students work to produce multi-media stories with faculty members serving as supervisors. Faculty work with students to master intercultural competence and apply media skills.

Students participating in the Cagli Project are assigned time each day to work on the project. This includes time spent in class, in the field researching and producing stories, and in the lab completing assignments and coordinating the elements of each story. Students should be prepared to perform a variety of assignments and tasks to support the effective functioning of the project. In addition to the course in Cagli, students in this program will participate in various excursions throughout Italy, including the 2-day program opening in Rome.

Because of its setting, students will have a unique opportunity to learn how to access a foreign culture and to acquire practical language skills, rapidly -- using an immersion technique. The ability to assimilate quickly and to hone in on another cultures values are indispensable tools for anyone preparing for a career in a field where globalization and multi-culturalism are becoming increasingly important. At the micro level, students will learn how to read another culture on its own terms -- thereby eliminating cultural bias. At the macro level, students will be ready to become facilitators in the inter-cultural dialogue that the modern world requires.

Cagli is an ancient town of 15,000 people, nestled on the eastern slopes of Italys Appennini Mountains in the little-known Marche region in central Italy. The Adriatic coast and its beaches are a 40-minute bus ride away, but Cagli has plenty of attractions amid its small cobblestone streets: shopping, a gem of an opera house, a weekly street market, numerous cafes and amazing restaurants, mountain hiking, a modern fitness center, bike rentals, excellent medical care, two hotels, a waterfall, river swimming, and a fantastic, lively piazza. Hidden from tourists, Cagli offers a unique opportunity to explore authentic Italian life.

Cagli has a rich history dating back well over 2000 years. Cagli became part of the Roman Empire in 295 BC and quickly grew in prominence as a vital stop on the ancient Via Flaminia, one of Romes earliest and most important roads. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Caglis strategic location made it a popular staging ground for battles. In 1287, the city was destroyed by fire in a battle among noble Italian families but was rebuilt two years later under orders from Pope Nicholas IV. Various noble families held Cagli until it was incorporated into the Papal States in the 17th Century, with it eventually becoming part of united Italy in 1860.

The courses in Italy are designed to give Graduate Students an intercultural learning experience that combines an immersion into Intercultural Communication, Italian and multi-media communication skills.

For students who also want to earn the Certificate, 3-6 credits of this curriculum are taken in Italy and the additional credits can be taken at the Gonzaga campus in Spokane, Washington or online in any location in the world.

Cultural Immersion classes in Italy (Students can take 3 or 6 credits):

• COML 506 Intercultural & International Communication (3 credits) or
• COML 513 Advanced Topics in Communication: International Media and Culture (3 credits)
• COML 517 Communication Practicum in Multi-Media (3 credits)

Online or campus-based classes for completion of certificate:

• COML 508 Theorizing Communication (3 credits)
• COML 509 Social Dynamics of Communication Technologies (3 credits)

Course Schedule
Class schedules vary, but are generally planned for Monday to Thursday, allowing independent travel on weekends.

A typical class day:
8:30 - 10:30 a.m
Class sessions
10:30- 11 a.m.
Caffe discussions
11:00 - 1 p.m.
Class sessions II
1:00 2: 30 p.m
Lunch & Pausa
2:30-6:00 p.m.
Lab and Field work

Modules include:

• Intercultural and International Communication
• Conversational Italian
• Photography
• Blogging and Journaling

Students will develop essays, blogs/podcasts and photos that explain and describe elements of intercultural communication in a foreign environment.
There will be both pre-program readings and a post program reflective essay. Additionally we may have guest speakers on art, winemaking, Italian media, etc.

Projects Planned for Summer 2010:
This summer there are two distinct projects; one is two weeks in length and one is four weeks in length.

TWO-WEEK PROGRAM: June 24 July 10, 2010. This Program is for graduate students or graduating seniors only. This is a multimedia summer program in a "small Italian town involving the creation of a web documentary. This program begins in Rome with a two-night stay at the Globus Hotel, an opening dinner, and a walking tour of Rome that starts at the Vatican , St. Peters and includes the Roman Forum, and the Coliseum. On the third day we will take the train or bus to Cagli, Italy where the bulk of our teaching and fieldwork will take place. In Cagli students will share apartments with full-cooking facilities and a washing machine for laundry. In addition we will have a possible daytrips to the Renaissance city of Urbino and there will be weekend travel available to Florence. The two-week program has online components including readings and postings preparing for Italy and a post Italy reflection paper.

FOUR WEEK PROGRAM: June 3 - July 2, 2010 . This program is in conjunction with San Francisco Sate University and IeiMedia and will include undergraduate students. For work purposes graduate students will form their own working team. Graduate students will have a reflective paper due one month after the end of the time in Italy. This program also begins in Urbino, and allows for weekend travel. The four-week program allows a greater depth of experience and more time to develop a story and the skills to communicate it. Costs to be determined.

Costs for the two week program:
The International Residential experience costs for 2010 are estimated at $1649 plus tuition (airfare not included). Students can take either three or six credits.

The Program costs include:

• Hotel stay and opening dinner in Rome, Italy
• Roundtrip transportation from Rome to Cagli
• Shared apartment residency
• Technology fees and courses in a famous 14th Century Palazzo in Cagli
• Day trip to the classic Renaissance city of Urbino
• Guest Lecture by Italian Media specialist
• Closing dinner celebration

For more information and an application go to:
Admissions into the Courses, the Certificate and/or the Masters Program:
Those students not interested in receiving the Certificate in Intercultural Communication & International Media can sign-up for the Cultural Immersion Project only
For an application, click here , or please contact Shannon Zaranski, SPS Summer School Coordinator at zaranski@gonzaga.edu