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Communication at SFU- What do you think?

DesolateDesolate
edited June 2010 in General
Sorry for the afternoon spam, but here's a second topic.

Just wondering more about communication classes. Who are some good/bad profs? Is the program at SFU pretty good? Are you enjoying the program so far?

I'm think minoring or joint-majoring in Communication would be good for me, since it seems to go hand in hand with the Business degree I'm going for (concentration in marketing). Gonna be taking 110 in the fall with Gary McCarron, so hopefully that goes well.


Also, I see in some old course outlines that it says "The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and
distribution of grades." So does this mean that the courses are curved or scaled?

Comments

  • NukeChem
    edited May 2010
    Yeah, that's usually bafflegab for some kind of scaling as it's often an unofficial policy to make the distribution of grades not change much from semester to semester.
  • rkn2
    edited May 2010
    I've done 8 communications courses so far and the actual grade you get it the one you earned - generally there is no changing of the grades with a bell curve or scaling.

    The program itself is fairly broad. There are streams on technology, arts & culture, political economy, and international issues. So, you could be study anything from video games to globalization of biotechnology.

    I'm enjoying the program so far (just about my 3rd year as a cmns major).
    Some profs I've enjoyed are: Stuart Poyntz, Martin Laba, Kathi Cross, and Darryl Cressman. I wasn't a fan of Ian Chun... at all.
  • SpectreFire
    edited May 2010
    Jody Baker's pretty good too.
  • DesolateDesolate
    edited May 2010
    See that sounds interesting to me. Definitely looking forward to taking my first CMNS class in the fall. Thanks for the responses :)
  • JamieZh
    edited May 2010
    it's good to see this thread~
    i'm taking cmns110 and cmns130 in summer
    but i really want to find somebody to proofread my writing or to be my tutor =.=
    does anyone know where to find a cmns tutor?

    thxthx~ =D
  • Iran1988
    edited May 2010
    I love CMNS, if it didn't lead to nothing for me then I would totally major in it.

    CMNS 110, and 130 are awesome.

    Profs I had: Roman Onufrijchuk (I like this guy a lot, people might not because he's kinda all over the place but he's so intelligent it blows the mind. Dude also cusses like a sailor). Stuart Poyntz (Meh).

    Courses were not scaled.
  • nicole
    edited May 2010
    Communications has opened the doors immensely for me. So happy that I`m majoring in it.
  • DesolateDesolate
    edited May 2010
    Good to hear. Thanks for all the responses, this has made me actually quite excited to take CMNS 110 in the fall.
  • FlatTax
    edited May 2010
    With the exception of Communications 110, which I had with Roman, most of the classes are quite academically light. Show up, absorb the post-structuralist discourse, regurgitate in an essay, get an A.
  • Iran1988
    edited May 2010
    FlatTax;64360 said:
    With the exception of Communications 110, which I had with Roman, most of the classes are quite academically light. Show up, absorb the post-structuralist discourse, regurgitate in an essay, get an A.
    roman's course was the easiest
  • FlatTax
    edited June 2010
    Well it was an introductory course. While it was easy, it had solid foundations.
  • blizzario
    edited June 2010
    Just wondering. What is the overall perception that people have of this programme? Is Communication a pointless major? The only reason I'm asking is because whenever I tell people that I want to major in CMNS, they'd tell me to get a bank-able minor (e.g.: business, statistics, CMPT etc). It's either that or they'd suggest that I not major in CMNS at all. Makes me think twice about declaring a major for this course.
  • nicole
    edited June 2010
    I think it depends what you make of it. You can`t expect your degree to just take you places - it`s about what you do with it I suppose. My Communication degree so far has taken me to working with the Canucks, a large corporate company and a non-profit organization. Super broad, and that`s exactly what I`m looking for.

    Personally, I think Communication is one of those degrees that you should take if you want a ton of doors opened for you. I find that Business students are very specific with what they want to do, which is fantastic, but I couldn`t work that way. I need options!
  • NukeChem
    edited June 2010
    One thing I'll say is that I wish I'd had more courses in technical writing because the same skill at breaking down a complex task into several steps that can be followed without trouble translates to being able to write a scientific paper.

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