Spring 2027

Introduction to Contemporary Media

Introduction to Contemporary Media covers key concepts for critical analysis of television, film, radio, and digital media, focusing on meanings, aesthetics, technology, industries, representations, and audiences.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jason Lopez3.4/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Lori Lopez

The course is writing-heavy and multi-dimensional, which can be challenging if you dislike writing or social politics. Paper prompts are tough to work through, but tests were described as fair with mostly short-answer questions.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain what media are and why it’s important to study media

  • Develop media literacy and skills for engaging in critical analyses of contemporary media

  • Understand how media industries developed and how they have changed over time

  • Challenge common understandings about the relationship between media technologies and society

  • Analyze the different ways that audiences engage with media as individuals and as communities

  • Develop the study skills and habits of independent learners to be successful in more advanced Communication Arts courses

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
COMARTS 250 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.50/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.23 GPA, 63.4% A/AB (n=213 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.39 GPA, 75.4% A/AB (n=224 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.39 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=132 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JASON LOPEZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LORI LOPEZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online (some classroom)0 / 1600
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Lori Lopez

Students found the class interesting and thought-provoking, though others described the content as repetitive and bland. It is a writing-intensive course that requires attending lectures and doing readings.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.39 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=132 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.23 GPA, 64.2% A/AB (n=229 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.17 GPA, 68.6% A/AB (n=86 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Lori Lopez

The course is writing-heavy and multi-dimensional, which can be challenging if you dislike writing or social politics. Paper prompts are tough to work through, but tests were described as fair with mostly short-answer questions.

Past student reviews · Lori Lopez

Feedback on lecture engagement was mixed; some found the professor funny and the readings unnecessary if attending class, while others found lectures unengaging due to a strict script and dense slides that were not posted online.

Topics

  • Meanings, aesthetics, technology, media industries, representations, and audiences
  • Development and change of media industries over time
  • Relationship between media technologies and society

Skills

  • Media literacy and critical analysis of contemporary media
  • Analyzing audience engagement with media as individuals and communities
  • Study skills and habits of independent learning for advanced Communication Arts courses

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.17 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMARTS 250 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Contemporary Media

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:250:003784",
    "course_id": "COMARTS 250",
    "course_uid": "course_fb12f8f4e36e2746ff4a6bd9",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003784",
    "source_subject_id": "250",
    "title": "Introduction to Contemporary Media",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "d41b4bdb4452a3fec5eebefbbd53dbe495030d40ecefeb2c9fe7ee7a42c07989",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}