Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT3095: Social Media, Disinformation, and Authoritarianism

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Module Aims

The intentions of this module are to critically assess social media from a social scientific perspective. How social media platforms enable, exacerbate, and profit from the spread of disinformation will be a key focus. Further, this module connects the spread of disinformation on social media to rising and emergent authoritarianism around the globe.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate extensive familiarity with the major social media platforms and how they operate to spread disinformation globally 2. Show an advanced understanding of the impact of social media on different cultures 3. Display a critical awareness of the relationship between social media and politics
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Show an in-depth understanding of how qualitative social scientific approaches can be used to study digital sources 5. Evaluate how social media platforms affect societies
Personal and Key Skills	6. Communicate effectively in written and oral form 7. Conduct specialised research on a topic and organize findings in written form in a compelling manner

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay outline	500 words	1-7	Written

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	65	2,000 words	1-7	Written
Presentation	35	10-minute presentation	1-7	Written
	0
	0
	0
	0

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay	Essay, 2,000 words (65%)	1-7	August/September reassessment period
Presentation	Presentation, 10 minutes (35%)	1-7	August/September re-assessment period

Re-assessment notes

RE-ASSESSMENT NOTES – for presentation, reassessment can be a recorded presentation rather than in person.