Spring 2027

Topics in Digital Studies (communication Science & Rhetoric)

Explores communication science and rhetoric with a digital focus, analyzing digital media through historical, technical, cultural, social, or political lenses.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Matthew Hannah

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Sebastian Scherr

The final exam accounted for 45% of the grade, and students reported that the instructor did not allow alternate formats for this assessment.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and describe key theories, concepts, and methods used to analyze digital media within their historical, technical, cultural, social or political contexts.

  • Identify and describe key theories, concepts, and methods used to analyze how digital information structures shape the flow of information, policy law, culture, or power.

  • Apply key theories, concepts, and methods in the analysis of digital media and digital information structures.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
COMARTS 377

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 85.9% A/AB (n=64 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MATTHEW HANNAH is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SEBASTIAN SCHERR is recorded teaching in 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 002Classroom Instruction0 / 800
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 312Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 313Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 314Classroom 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 · Sebastian Scherr

Past students described the course as confusing and noted it heavily emphasized statistics, making it unsuitable for those unfamiliar with the subject.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.60 GPA, 85.7% A/AB (n=49 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.53 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 85.9% A/AB (n=64 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Sebastian Scherr

The final exam accounted for 45% of the grade, and students reported that the instructor did not allow alternate formats for this assessment.

Past student reviews · Sebastian Scherr

Feedback indicated that course expectations were unclear from the start, leaving students feeling confused about the material and requirements.

Topics

  • Communication science and rhetoric
  • Digital media analysis in historical, technical, cultural, social, or political contexts
  • Digital information structures shaping information flow, policy, law, culture, or power

Skills

  • Analyze digital media and digital information structures using key theories, concepts, and methods.
  • Describe how digital information structures shape information flow, policy, law, culture, or power.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

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 377 · Spring 2027

Topics in Digital Studies (Communication Science & Rhetoric)

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMARTS 377 · Spring 2027

Digital Conspiracy Theories

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "title": "Topics in Digital Studies (Communication Science & Rhetoric)",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  },
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    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024416.9",
    "source_subject_id": "250",
    "title": "Digital Conspiracy Theories",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
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]
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 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "1f4985dcc178c0ff198583ca86d666601a6e4bde30f47f1abf1a2a2214f984cb",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}