Media Studies

a drawing of colourful blocks and keyboard parts stacked on each other

MDIA 200: Media in the 21st Century

Survey the field and apply its methods with media studies superfan, Dr. Jentery Sayers.
Image credit: Danielle Morgan. 

Learn more about the course.
static and glitches on a television screen

MDIA 300: Critical Media Practice

Make and think through media with acclaimed cultural critic and creative practitioner, Dr. Pierre-Luc Landry.
Image credit: Jonathan Johnson. 

Learn more about the course.
a circuit-bent Nintendo used to play Tetris on a small tv screen

MDIA 360: Game Studies

Experience what's in a game with cultural critics and scholars of play, Dr. Sara Humphreys and Dr. Jentery Sayers.
Image credit: Nina Belojevic.

Learn more about the course.
a boom box with a cassette deck, radio, and two speakers, all in black and white

MDIA 375: Cultures of Sound

Engage the social life of sound with cultural anthropologist, Mark McIntyre. 
Image c
redit: Austin Kirk.

Learn more about the course.

Learn the people skills of media, communication and culture. 

  • credential in Media Studies with a certificate that requires only 10.5 units of study to enrich and expand your career paths
  • take an accessible, entry-level course on the foundations of media analysis in the 21st century
  • immerse yourself in studies of gamessound and the book
  • develop practical skills in community-based media and communication

Announcing our 2024-25 courses

We are offering four Media Studies courses in 2024-25. Each of them is open to all students. You do not need to be actively registered in our certificate program to take these courses. 

  • Media Studies 200, "Media in the 21st Century" (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, taught by Jentery Sayers): an introduction to media studies that surveys the cultural and material roles media play around the world, with an emphasis on building a common vocabulary for studying media (prerequisite: academic writing requirement satisfied)
  • Media Studies 300, "Critical Media Practice" (Spring 2025, taught by Pierre-Luc Landry): a study of how audio, images, video, and text are produced around the world today, with an emphasis on the values of media practice and applying such knowledge to critical, cultural and community-based work (prerequisite: MDIA 200 and academic writing requirement satisfied)
  • Media Studies 360, "Game Studies" (Fall 2024, taught by Sara Humphreys; Spring 2025, taught by Jentery Sayers): surveys approaches to games around the world, from board and tabletop games to video games, alternate reality games and even sports, with an emphasis on experiential learning (prerequisite: academic writing requirement satisfied)
  • Media Studies 375, "Cultures of Sound" (Fall 2024, taught by Mark McIntyre): surveys approaches to sound around the world, from oral storytelling, soundscapes and acoustics to wax, wire, tape, discs, streaming and the MP3, with an emphasis on experiential learning (prerequisite: academic writing requirement satisfied)

News

  • Tuesday, October 22nd: We're excited to announce that Dr. Candis Callison (UBC) will give a Distinguished Women Scholars Lecture at UVic on Monday, November 4th at 2:30pm in the Ceremonial Hall of the First Peoples House. Details about the event are online.
  • Tuesday, September 3rd: Today's the start of a new term and our second year as a UVic program. We're offering MDIA 200, 360, and 375 this Fall. See you there!  
  • Thursday, August 29th: We're thrilled to welcome Kaye Miller to our front office! 
  • Friday, June 14th: Congratulations to our 2023-24 MDIA grads! You are the first group of students to receive UVic's Media Studies certificate. 

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.