71 courses with the subject ECM, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ECM 1000Academic Discourse4
Offered: Every fall semester In this course students should acquire the textual knowledge and develop the textual skills required for entrance to ECM 1100. This course emphasizes the complementary relationships among reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. Entering students may be required to take this course upon the recommendation of the Admissions Office or the Director of the First-Year Composition Program.
ECM 1000 with a grade of C- or better or placement by the Director of the First-Year
ECM 1120Scholarly Texts and Contexts4
General Education: Composition course Offered: Every semester Engaged learners pay attention to the world around them and strive to understand the texts and contexts that shape their lives. In this writing seminar, students will practice the processes of critical inquiry an communication for a variety of purposes and audiences. The course emphasizes the complementary relationships among reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. Texts from a variety of fields, disciplines and genres will facilitate the framing of productive questions to be explored through the development of college-level research skills and application of information and technology strategies. By acknowledging and making connections among the ideas of others, students will have the opportunity to participate meaningfully in academic and cultural conversations.
ECM 1130Review of English Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics1
Offered: Periodically based on student need This practical workshop includes a review of English grammar, usage, and mechanics (basic editing, punctuation, capitalization, etc.) through arranged weekly meetings for at least twelve weeks. No prerequisites. Pass/Fail grading only. May be repeated for a maximum of two credits.
Total hours = 42 for B.A. degree A course may be used to satisfy only one requirement within the major. For ECM 3610 Special Topics in English and ECM 3620 Special Topics in Communication and Media Studies, a course may be repeated for credit if the topics are different (maximum of eight credit hours per course number). Students may enroll in ECM 2410 Student Publication Practicums repeatedly, for a maximum of eight credit hours counting toward the major. Students select one or two credits for the practicum when registering for the course. The difference reflects work expectations. Major: English and Communication Studies Required Courses: Course number Course title Credit hours Choose one of these 2
Subject
ECM
Credits (min)
8
Credits (max)
8
Type
course
Repeatable
may be repeated for credit if the topics are different (maximum of eight credit hours per course number).
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Every spring semester Rituals, plays, and other performances have been used since antiquity to express the deepest desires and conflicts of human culture. Yet drama as an art form has varied over time and across the globe. In Greek tragedy, myths were repurposed to dramatize stories about people who make terrible mistakes, with life- changing consequences. In classical Japanese Noh, subtle and symbolic gestures of the actors were reflected in the music and poetry of fleeting images and departing emotions. French neoclassical drama reveals an obsession with exactly how stories should unfold on the stage. We will examine these and other differences in drama by analyzing how narratives can work on the stage, and how cultural and historical contexts shape artistic values. By reading a mix of Western and non-Western plays, students learn about the origins and comparative development of literary drama. While at times we will imagine how scenes might be staged and how to interpret lines, no acting ability is needed to succeed in the course.
ECM 2130Other Worlds: Science Fiction and Fantasy (H)4
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need Worlds other than our own are the focus of the two genres of fiction that we will explore together: science fiction and fantasy. Science fiction (SF) integrates a change to our universe, such as altering the laws of physics or anticipating future technologies, and engrosses us in the narrative that spins out from this conceptual point of departure. Space travel to alien worlds, androids who pass as humans, and life on post-apocalyptic earth are all examples of SF scenarios. Fantasy, on the other hand, replaces our everyday world with something extraordinary. We may know that hobbits, Harry Potter, and Alice in Wonderland are impossible creatures, yet often these narratives help us reflect critically on the value of understanding multiple perspectives in our everyday world. We will read works from both genres, using a literary perspective to analyze how the authors use language and narrative techniques to help us take imaginative journeys to other worlds. Students will demonstrate their learning through a variety of methods: different kinds of writing assignments; creative projects; oral presentations; and lots of thoughtful discussion.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course d Offered: Periodically based on student need Who created the universe—and how? How will the world end? Why do so many cultures have a flood story similar to Noah’s Ark? What do mythic monsters—the minotaur in the labyrinth, Medusa, the Midgard Serpent, the wendigo—reveal about the human mind? In this course, students answer these and other questions by exploring myth-making across time and around the globe. Each semester, the course will examine at least four mythological traditions, including those of non-Western cultures. Examples might include ancient Egyptian, Classical Greek, Chinese, and Norse. Myths are read in English translation and will be organized either by regional tradition or by types of myth. Students will be encouraged to connect myth-making with the modern world and contemporary fiction, such as the Percy Jackson series. We examine the claims of controversial thinkers who use myths to explain human behavior.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need Students will explore literary works through thematic analysis of issues in contemporary society. In addition to examining the importance of language, plot, character development, and style in YA literature, we will also focus on the social contexts in which works are produced and how they reflect the ever-changing and complicated worlds that young adults navigate. Novels will be supplemented by a variety of literary genres, as well as related music, art, and other media. Various critical perspectives will be introduced, and students will be encouraged to think critically about the works they read. Emphasis will be placed on developing written analyses of selected works; additionally, class discussion and active engagement are required for successful completion of ECM 2180. This course is open to non-majors and majors; it is recommended for students pursuing English with secondary licensure and Middle Grades Language Arts.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need How does a fiction writer create a whole new world from words alone? Using only written language, great writers generate wonders of the imagination that delight and move us. In this introductory course, students develop a literary perspective as they read, analyze, and discuss how authors use style, point of view, and literary devices to engage us in journeys of the imagination. We will work on two levels: unpacking how lines or passages can be interpreted, and connecting these smaller parts to the larger whole. While we may use other media to explore concepts, the course focuses on reading several novels or the equivalent in poetry. Selected readings will be tied to a single topic or problem, which will be advertised before the start of the term. May be repeated for a total of eight credit hours under different topics.
Subject
ECM
Credits (min)
4
Credits (max)
4
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for a total of eight credit hours under different topics.
Offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2026 The field of game studies gives us the tools, vocabulary, and methodologies needed to analyze and evaluate digital games in their historical, cultural, and technological contexts. What makes some games more appealing than others? Is play necessary for healthy human development? Why do people turn games into competitions? How do game companies shape audience expectations? What do research studies reveal about the influence of violence in video games? In this foundational course, we put “fun” under the microscope to learn key principles of game design, get an overview of the game development process, and explore aspects of competitive gaming, including related game journalism.
Offered: Spring 2027 Students explore theories about the role of play and games in human development and culture, with readings drawn from diverse fields including philosophy, media studies, education, neuroscience, game studies, psychology, and sociology. Why do people engage in play? How might playing a sport differ from playing a first-person shooter (FPS) game? Do games mirror, distort, or help shape society? Students will explore selected games in depth to test theories about how games may intersect with cultural and social contexts. Greensboro College Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2024-2025 339
Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2026 Students explore present and past controversies that have influenced public discourse about digital gaming. How do young adults process violence in video games? What does the scientific research tell us? Is gaming addiction common among young people? What factors differentiate a healthy use of games from problem gaming? Examples of public debates about gaming have included rating systems, gore levels, racist stereotypes, glorification of criminal activities, morally ambiguous quests, cheating schemes and anti- cheating software, fitness and gaming, classification of competitive gaming as a sport, financial scams in multiplayer gaming, and deceptive monetizing models.
Offered: Spring 2025 & 2027 Students explore and practice essential stages of game design and development, including preproduction, production, and polishing. Topics include brainstorming, feasibility studies, concept art, game engines, level design, playtesting, versioning, prototyping, system mechanics, controls, gameplay, de-bugging, planning out a sound design, aesthetics, world-building, use of transmedia supplements and game lore, fan communities, teamwork, and crunch periods. Depending on the semester, distribution and promotion may also be covered. No programming experience is needed to benefit from and enjoy the course.
Offered: Spring 2025 Students sharpen their understanding of narrative design and storytelling techniques as they analyze examples drawn from multiple genres and eras. Topics include techniques for character development (NPC and player), building tension through conflicts and structure, backstory and exposition, branching stories, dialogue decisions and voice acting, quest lines and role-playing challenges, romance systems, spoilers, replayability, and creating emotional connection points for players. The course addresses some of the challenges that can occur at the intersection where character development, narrative arc, and AI limits meet.
ECM 1120; ECM 2450 Introduction to Creative Writing is recommended
ECM 2260AR and VR: Creating Immersive Experiences4
Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2027 Students explore key principles of and theories about immersive experiences, including world building in games, simulation in games and business settings, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). The course also considers marketing of “mixed reality”. Students explore different types of immersive experiences and evaluate relative success in generating desired effects, such as making a world feel “real” or defamiliarizing everyday life through augmentation. Course readings include theorizing of mind/body interaction in immersive experiences, HUD in military and industry settings, interface design, and game implementations of VR and AR. No programming knowledge is required. Students will sample gear and applications to evaluate a range of immersive experiences and interactive technologies.
Offered: Spring 2026 This course invites students to become part of the growing field of game journalism by studying and practicing different aspects of this art. Game journalism as a career field includes writing, editing, and publishing game reviews; producing video essays or commentary about a franchise, genre, or controversy; producing a podcast about gaming; producing content for a gaming channel; commentating as part of esports competitions; interviewing leaders in game design and development; researching and reporting on news in the games industry; or providing a focused history of a game type or genre. Students will produce their own game journalism using different media as part of the course.
ECM 1120; at least one games and interactive media course; permission of the instructor and
ECM 2300Grammar and Linguistics4
Offered: Spring semesters, 2027 and 2029 This course covers the basic principles of language study, including a history of the English language. Among topics covered are word origins; linguistic developments; dialects, linguistic geography, and usage; social use of oral and written language; phonology and phonetics; morphology; syntax; semantics; first and second language acquisition; language and dialect interference. With emphases on traditional, structural, historical, and transformational approaches, this course will also examine the influence of power, race, class, and gender on the development of languages through and across time.
ECM 2301Field Component for Grammar and Linguistics (1) (E)
Offered: Spring semesters The field experience treats linguistic diversity and its representations in the classroom, focusing on prescriptive and descriptive grammar and usage as well as the influence of first language/dialect. Students will prepare morphological, phonological, syntactic, and lexical analyses to work effectively with middle and secondary students.
ECM 2350Verse and Voice: Discovering the Poet in You4
Offered: Periodically based on student need This class is designed to study the history, relevance, and art form of spoken word poetry. The class will be an interdisciplinary elective in which students will create their own work as well as study and critique the work of others. The focus of this course will be creative writing as well as performance and delivery. Students will learn to work independently as well as with a group to complete assignments. Choreography and collaborative works will also be implemented. Student will discover and develop their own unique voices, and understand how our voices, our stories are vital in building community and building legacy. This class will show students how this art form connects us all and how they can not only grow and change themselves, but also the world around them. Cross-listed with THE 2350. This is a cross-listed course; students planning to use the course to satisfy requirements for their major in THE or ECM should use the major prefix when enrolling in the class (i.e. THE for theatre majors, ECM for ECM majors).
Offered: Periodically based on student need Designed for beginners with no background in art, this course introduces students to some of the basic principles of visual design that enhance 21st-century communication. While the specific design principles to be explored may vary by semester, representative examples include when and how to use contrast, balance, visual hierarchy, typography and font selection, negative space, lines, scale, and color schemes. Students practice these visual design principles and apply them in digital media projects to deliver more compelling multimodal messages. Topics may include when to use different layouts, web design features such as navigation aids, creating infographics, constructing digital flyers and brochures, the basics of using layers and masks in Photoshop, or optimizing media files for use in different social media.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course focuses on the principles of news writing and major issues in the news media within a framework of ethical reasoning and decision-making. Instruction emphasizes interviewing and reporting on news events along with discussion of basic press law, professional ethics, and the role and responsibilities of the media in American politics and society. Students are encouraged to submit their story assignments to campus publications.
Offered: Every semester This workshop introduces students to the conventions and protocols of business and administrative communication, including standard English usage. Using computer technology students will produce different types of correspondence, formal written reports, oral presentations, and effective résumés and job application letters.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Every fall semester Canonical and contemporary works of literature will be discussed and analyzed as a route to developing and honing students’ own writing skills in a variety of forms, including fiction and poetry and, at the discretion of the instructor, additional genres such as screenwriting, or creative non-fiction. Students will be encouraged to submit works produced during the course to The Lyre, the campus literary magazine, and/or participate in a final public reading.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course introduces students to major theoretical approaches used in the fields of literary, communication, and media studies. Students learn scholarly and disciplinary conventions, expand their knowledge of research techniques, and study representative texts.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course provides an introduction to mass communications, specifically the role that media play in shaping our social, political, and cultural experience. We are constantly engaging in media. Therefore, the ability to interpret the intent and strategies of media can significantly inform our lives. Students will hone and develop their media literacy skills, while gaining an understanding of the history of mass media as well as its rapid development and constant evolution.
Offered: Fall semesters, 2027 and 2029 This course engages students in hands-on practice as they produce compelling original works for different audiences and purposes using multiple media. The focus of the course will vary based on the expertise of the instructor. Examples of focus could include videography; documentaries; social media campaigns; web design; interactive storytelling; animation; and audio production.
Offered: Periodically based on student need Students are introduced to key issues, questions, and controversies in the field of new media studies. Starting with the historical, cultural, and technological developments that led to the creation of the Internet students examine the ways in which digitalization has changed how we communicate and live. Students examine and apply theories drawn from various fields: media ecology, science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, digital game studies, human factors psychology, and the digital humanities.
Offered: Periodically based on student need Students use readily available website-building software to plan, design, and complete a website for a specific purpose and audience. This course introduces the basic principles of web authoring, with attention to research on UI/UX principles and usability studies. The course includes topics such as targeting and understanding an audience, search engine optimization, rendering due to platform and browser differences, basic web analytics, ethical considerations when driving traffic to a web site, writing for the web, and adhering to legal requirements. No knowledge of computer programming or scripting is required to take the course; however, students are expected to be able to create a standard web page using HTML, recognize and use basic CSS, and explain how meta tags can be used. Basic visual design principles are explored.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Every fall semester What’s the story with AI? Long before computer scientists developed artificial intelligence, creative people were actively imagining a future with autonomous robots and intelligent machines. In the 1860s and 70s, Samuel Butler wrote playfully about machines rising up to dominate humans. In I, Robot, Isaac Asimov imagines how the three laws of robotics might prevent AI from turning on its human creators. Films such as The Matrix suggest we might be living in a simulation. In Iain M. Banks’ Culture series, AI “Minds” protect and care for humans. Today’s AI models also know these same stories; they know that humans enjoy power dynamics and AI apocalypse. Drawing on a rich mix of written stories and movies, we will explore ideas about human-AI relations through role plays, simulation, and AI-based projects.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course surveys American literature from its Puritan beginnings, through the Romanticism of the American Renaissance and the Naturalism and Realism of the fin de siècle, ending with World War I.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course examines twentieth-century American literature, using various topics to emphasize the relations between literary texts and their historical, cultural, and literary contexts. The focus of the course may vary from offering to offering but will usually use major authors to cover the breadth of the century.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need This course introduces students to the scholarly study of both art and commercial films from around the globe, including Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Students will be exposed to divergent cinematic styles, as well as to culturally and politically formed modes of expression. A significant emphasis will be placed on students’ written and oral responses to viewing, including written responses to key theoretical and critical texts in film and media studies.
Offered: Fall semesters 2026 and 2029 This course explores a selection of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry, with attention to historical, cultural, and literary contexts. Students read, analyze, and discuss Shakespeare’s works, including the creation, dissemination, and reception of the texts. Students will examine how choices in staging and performing may affect acts of interpretation.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course provides a focused study of a particular literary genre, mode, or form, such as the memoir, satire, Gothic literature, the bildungsroman, the chivalric romance, or the graphic novel. Particular attention will be paid to the literary as well as cultural and historical contexts of the genre, mode, or form. Since the focus of the study may vary by term, the course syllabus will identify the area of concentration.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course investigates one of the most rapidly growing and influential forms of literature today, the graphic novel. Combining literary and historical approaches to investigating this sequential art, we will learn about its joint ancestry in fine arts and literature; examine its historical development up to the twenty- first century; and analyze some of the broader cultural and aesthetic factors that have accounted for its growth and sophistication as a genre. We will also attend to the broad variety of artistic and storytelling approaches that graphic novels have employed to reflect themes of politics, sexuality, censorship, cultural and ethnic diversity, and more. Readings will include classic and contemporary works by writers and artists such as Lynda Barry, Alison Bechdel, R. Crumb, Neil Gaiman, Joe Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, Riad Sattouf, Art Spiegelman, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Chris Ware, and others.
Offered: Periodically based on student need Building on skills developed in Introduction to Creative Writing, this course moves beyond creative writing exercises and techniques. In a workshop setting, students learn to critique one another’s work and accept constructive criticism in a professional manner, while also learning to incorporate a variety of revision strategies. Students will advance their study and understanding of writing as a craft by analyzing the work of contemporary writers. May be repeated for a maximum of four credits.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need We will explore the connections between race and literary expression by examining the social, cultural, and literary patterns linking the lives of African-American writers with their works, especially those of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will examine the writers, texts, themes, and literary and historical contexts that have shaped the African-American literary canon. Authors studied in this course may include, among others, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Greensboro College Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2026-2027 331 Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need This course focuses on what one might call—and, likewise, call into question—the literature of cultural identity. Provocatively, it examines the historical forces and narrative influences that shaped the work of writers emerging from the former European colonies as well as those residing in immigrant communities abroad. Topics such as hybridity, political struggle, the conflicts of assimilation, postcolonialism, and the difficulties of self-representation will be explored. Authors studied in this course may include V.S. Naipaul, Isabel Allende, Jamaica Kincaid, Sandra Cisneros, Chinua Achebe, Sherman Alexie, or Amy Tan.
General Education: Artistic/Literary course, Humanities course Offered: Periodically based on student need This course considers literary texts and interpretative strategies through the lens of gender and sexual identity. Through close reading, discussion, and critical analysis, students will have the opportunity to broaden their perspectives on gender and sexuality beyond those offered by the dominant culture. We will consider works of literature and film that interrogate and offer insight into the prevailing assumptions that define masculinity, femininity, romantic love, the nuclear family, and gender identity. They also provide insight into the ways in which ideologies of gender and sexuality are inseparable from those of race, class, gender, religion, nation and region. Readings may include: Dorothy Allison, James Baldwin, Jericho Brown, Alison Bechdel, Junot Diaz, Emily Dickinson, Michel Foucault, Tony Kushner, Audre Lorde, Annie Proulx, Adrienne Rich, Danez Smith, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, and Jeanette Winterson.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course covers special topics in literature and literary theory. May be repeated for a total of eight credit hours under different topics.
Subject
ECM
Credits (min)
4
Credits (max)
4
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for a total of eight credit hours under different topics.
ECM 1120 or equivalent, admission to Educator Preparation Program; EDU 3100 is strongly
Corequisite
ECM 3701
ECM 3701Field Component for Pedagogy of Language and Literacy for Adolescents (9-12) (1) (E)
Offered: Every fall semester This field experience allows for practical implementation of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions addressed in ECM 3700. Required for licensure in secondary English.
Offered: Periodically based on student need This course explores a major literary movement, author, or circle of writers. Foci, which will vary from offering to offering, may include such movements as British Romanticism or High Modernism, such authors as Milton or Faulkner, or such circles as the Bloomsbury Group or the Beat Writers.
Offered: Spring semesters, 2027 and 2029 This course covers the basic principles of language study, including a history of the English language. Among topics covered are word origins; linguistic developments; dialects, linguistic geography, and usage; social use of oral and written language; phonology and phonetics; morphology; syntax; semantics; first and second language acquisition; language and dialect interference. With emphases on traditional, structural, historical, and transformational approaches, this course will also examine the influence of power, race, class, and gender on the development of languages through and across time. Required for all ECM majors. Required for licensure in middle grades language arts and secondary English.
ECM 4301Field Component for Grammar and Linguistics1
Offered: Spring semesters The field experience treats linguistic diversity and its representations in the classroom, focusing on prescriptive and descriptive grammar and usage as well as the influence of first language/dialect. Students will prepare morphological, phonological, syntactic, and lexical analyses to work effectively with middle and secondary students. Required for licensure in middle grades language arts and secondary English.
ECM 4500The Pedagogy of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages3
Offered: Course is not currently in rotation This course will cover the following as they relate to oral and written, language and content-specific approaches to language instruction and the English language learner: lesson planning; curriculum design and development; evaluation; assessment; technology; test design; special populations in the mainstreamed and ESL classrooms; reflective practices; legal issues; family literacy; social service; human resource, and state and federal programs; integration of content; bilingual education; and other critical issues in the field
ECM 4501Field Component for the Pedagogy of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
(3) (E) Offered: Course is not currently in rotation This field experience is designed to give students specific opportunities to practice the methods taught in ECM 4500.
Offered: Fall semesters, 2026 and 2028 This is an interdisciplinary and hands-on video production course. In addition to learning the basics of videography, lighting, sound, and editing, students will work collaboratively as production crew members and assistants on a digital videography project. The focus of the project will vary based on instructor interests. Bringing the fields of art and media studies together, the course assumes proficiency in using computers. Students will work with advanced software and equipment in a Mac lab.
Offered: Every fall semester This seminar serves as the capstone course for the major in ECM. By drawing from and reflecting on past learning experiences, students prepare for their future as disciplined professionals in the varied fields of English, communications, media studies, and games and interactive media. The course has a tripartite structure involving an extended project, completion of the professional portfolio, and development of professional identity. A passing score on the major portfolio is required to complete the major in ECM. EXERCISE AND SPORT STUDIES (ESS) School of Sciences and Mathematics
