Online Bachelor of Arts Degree Completion Program

Curriculum

The curricular offerings for the Online BA Degree completion Program in Community Studies are listed below:

CORCOM130 Media Literacy

Most of our information about other people, different cultures, and social phenomena comes to us via the mass media, as they produce and disseminate the words, sounds and images that comprise our popular culture. As such the media have become powerful tools of education, socialization, and indoctrination, able to shape our perceptions of ourselves and others and the way the world works. In this course we will explore the complex relationship between the media and society and learn how the media communicate. This course is being taught online and, as a result, we will make extensive use of online resources such as electronic reserves, web-based assignments, streaming audio and video, online discussions, and real time audio chats.

CSTCOM220 Community Formation: Concepts of Community

To most of us growing up in a specific location, town, city, or neighborhood throughout the US or elsewhere, who we were seemed crystal clear and that was the end of the discussion. We were New Yorkers, or we were Californians, or Americans. Each of these social/geographical identities carried with them a value system, or perhaps a view towards life distinct from each other. However during the latter part of the 20th century a significant number of changes took hold of most of our world, and our understanding of who we were was up for grabs. Although there is a rich literature in the Social Sciences which provide the student of communities analytical frameworks in the understanding of what brings people together and what separates them from others, new social formations and social phenomena seem to challenge our traditional views.

By examining different models and concepts of community, this course will help students understand how communities form over time and as a result of various influences ranging from the geographical and historical to the social and cultural. Students will select one community to study. Student is expected to complete a number of short papers to demonstrate their knowledge of the literature and to produce a longer in-depth research project examining a particular community. Students will be able to participate in on-line discussions on the validity and relevance of the concept of community and add their views to the discussion.

CORCOM225 Community Portraits

Through this course a student will become familiar with and develop the ability to utilize various types of community information, including Census and similar types of demographic data, agency reports and public records, maps, historical documents, and other types of qualitative and quantitative information. The student will become familiar with and learn to utilize various places and sources where information about local communities can be obtained, including: formal sources, such as libraries, the Census Bureau, other public and community agencies, and the Internet; and informal sources, such as newspaper classified ads and key informants. The student will develop practical skills in actually obtaining, summarizing, interpreting and evaluating both qualitative and quantitative information about a local community. The student will be required to produce short written research papers that are based upon community information, inferences drawn from the information and the student’s own unifying ideas.

CMTCOM220 Media and Community

From community technology centers to low power and listener-sponsored radio to public access cable television, there is a growing movement of community and labor-oriented activists who seek to use media and communication technologies as tools for social goals. This course is designed to explore a range of existing models and best practices in the use of media and communication technologies for workplace and community-based projects, with a particular focus on opportunities for access, training, technical development, and community mobilization.

CSTCOM300 Comparative Methods of Community Analysis

The study  of communities has a rich history in the social sciences, in history, and in such diverse fields as geography, architecture, and even art. Each approaches community from a unique perspective that highlights different aspects of the experience, the life, and the heritage of communities: from the "eye" of the architect envisioning the urban form and its evolution; to the historian’s analysis of documents, photographs, and life histories of communities; to the planner’s use of geographic information systems, the sociologist’s analysis of the formation and social characteristics of communities, and the anthropologist’s ethnographies of cultures and groups. All are useful tools for students of community processes as well as students focusing on communities for the purposes of planning, organizing, and service delivery.

This course will provide you with the understanding of the array of methods used to study communities and the skills necessary to plan an appropriate community study. You will become familiar with the "methodological tools" that different disciplines and fields use to study, represent, and understand communities and the criteria that can be used to select the most appropriate methodology for the intended purpose. It will also help you develop skills in the design of appropriate community studies. This course will not require you to actually carry out the research, but will require that you gain some experience with one method of data gathering and show competence in the analysis of data gathered in using that method.

CORCOM300 Social Research

Through this course you will learn how to critically assess research. You will learn how to formulate problems, develop measures and samples, design research, and analyze and interpret data. You will identify the shortcomings of research designs and how different designs have different purposes.

CORCOM310 Economic Distribution

This course will look at how the distribution of wealth and income in the U.S. has changed in recent decades, at how this affects our society, and at various efforts to reduce poverty and inequality. Through exercises and assignments, as well as by studying economic data and concepts, students will develop a better understanding of the distribution of wealth, income and assets in the US and among other countries.

CORCOM351 Debating Policy Issues

Although this course focuses on debating policy, upon the completion of this course you will find that the skills and knowledge developed in this course are transferable across settings. Remember the last time you lost a political debate to your friend, offspring, spouse, mate, or partner. This course is designed to prepare you to win next time. Students develop critical skills necessary to develop arguments to affect issue outcomes across a broad spectrum — ranging from micro issues effecting your personal family and work life to macro issues effecting society. Students learn how to analyze policy issues and to develop persuasive arguments both in support of positions one favors and against those with which one disagrees. The examination of issues helps students to understand the broader political, social, and philosophical perspectives. Based on these understandings, each student is able to construct a strong argument for a policy issue which will be persuasive to as many people as possible - not just those who already agree but also those who are neutral or opposed.

CSTCOM340 Communities in a Global Context

Contemporary communities are linked in a large number of ways to communities in other countries and on other continents. Many communities and segments of communities are transnational in culture, language and even politics. Moreover, all communities share the circumstance of being heavily and constantly affected by the global economy. Most significant issues of social justice have global dimensions. Therefore, in order to understand and participate effectively in modern communities, it is extremely important to understand their global aspects. In this course students will apply relevant concepts and knowledge from history, the social sciences and cultural studies to explain the multiple, connected global relationships that affect communities.

CORCOM372 Critical Readings: Environmental Issues & Policies

This class is designed as a broad survey course encompassing the important environmental issues facing us as a society. We will explore the causes and consequences of environmental problems and analyze different schools of thought as to their severity while focusing on solutions. We will look at public policy and the differences between command-and-control-direct government regulations and market-based economic incentives for mitigating pollution, and determine which are most appropriate for the particular challenge.

Weekly case studies will supplement reading assignments and facilitate discussions centered on current environmental issues. Through this course students will gain a working knowledge of environmental politics and economics as well as the science behind the issues. In addition, the understanding that our choices matter and how we, as individuals, can make a difference in our communities and beyond. Economics is vitally important and at the core of many of our most challenging environmental problems and solutions, hence, natural resource economics will be a major part of this course.

Topics include: Water Resources, Food Supplies & Agricultural Policies, Carrying Capacity & Population Growth, Poverty & Environmental Justice, Renewable & Nonrenewable Resources, Impacts of Climate Change, Low Carbon Economy, Energy Sources: Issues & Alternatives, Endangered Species & Biodiversity, Market Failures & Distortions, Economic Valuation, Economic Incentive Instruments.

Plan of Study

This program expects students to be in cohort groups. Those who are opting to take full load are required to take 4 semesters course load to complete your studies. Those who are on a part-time schedule are required to complete your course of study in not more than 8 semesters.

In order to earn a degree from UMass Boston, students must complete a minimum of 30 credits from this institution. You are required to complete the full package of ten courses in the Online BA Degree Completion Program in order to earn a degree from us. This also applies to those who may have more than 90 credits from other institutions.

The following are the schedules for the 10 courses that are the ideal plan of study. A full and part-time course load will look like the following, depending on when you enter the program.

Full-Time

Part-Time

About the Program

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