Spring 2027

Introduction to Mass Communication

Introduction to Mass Communication covers how mass media are organized, their technological, economic, and political foundations, and social implications in modern society.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jing Wang3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Greg Downey

Grading was described as super easy, particularly when compared to other communication B requirements.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Appraise the consumption, production, and transmission of media.

  • Summarize empirical research testing the effects of media and critique claims about what media can and cannot do.

  • Explain the role of mass communication in democratic government.

  • Identify ongoing changes in the media system and summarize their long-term implications.

  • Characterize ethical issues related to media production and distribution.

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

Freshman, sophomore, or junior standing only

  • Freshman, sophomore, or junior standing only
JOURN 201 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
  • Freshman, sophomore, or junior standing only

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 5.00/5 from 3 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 — Fall 2023: 3.71 GPA, 87.8% A/AB (n=245 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.66 GPA, 86.0% A/AB (n=279 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.58 GPA, 77.6% A/AB (n=196 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHRISTOPHER WELLS is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GREG DOWNEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

HERNANDO ROJAS is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JACK MITCHELL is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JING WANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHRYN MCGARR is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LEWIS FRIEDLAND is recorded teaching in Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL WAGNER is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MOLLY STEENSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Fall 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHAWNIKA HULL is recorded teaching in Fall 2011, Fall 2012. 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 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3500
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 312Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 315Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 313Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 314Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 150

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 · Greg Downey

Students found the class interesting and noted that the workload was light for a four-credit writing-intensive course.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.72 GPA, 86.8% A/AB (n=265 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.68 GPA, 86.2% A/AB (n=276 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.58 GPA, 77.6% A/AB (n=196 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Greg Downey

Grading was described as super easy, particularly when compared to other communication B requirements.

Past student reviews · Greg Downey

Reviewers indicated that the course content remained engaging regardless of whether students intended to major in journalism.

Topics

  • Mass media organization and function in modern society
  • Technological, economic, and political foundations of media
  • Role of mass communication in democratic government
  • Ethical issues in media production and distribution

Skills

  • Appraising media consumption, production, and transmission; characterizing ethical issues in media.
  • Summarizing empirical research on media effects and critiquing media capability claims.
  • Explaining the role of mass communication in democratic government.
  • Identifying ongoing media system changes and summarizing their long-term implications.

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 · 0.15 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
JOURN 201 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Mass Communication

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": "1274:512:010718",
    "course_id": "JOURN 201",
    "course_uid": "course_b53a6b9d1b893ffe166e8160",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010718",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Introduction to Mass Communication",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "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 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "82741797afb8092ac311c48fa5a10ea4e0521dc8073d33180b20fbfcf37fcfb3",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}