Spring 2027

Mass Communication and Political Behavior

Mass Communication and Political Behavior examines interrelationships of news media, political campaigning, and the electorate, including impacts on voting and participation.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Young Mie Kim3.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Young Mie Kim

Grades were determined by smaller assignments that seemed confusing at first but were not difficult, and the reviewer rarely read the provided textbooks.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the major theories, approaches, concepts, and current research findings in the area of health communication.

  • Characterize the methodological issues involved in the construction and evaluation of health communication.

  • Recognize the connections between the environment (e.g., physical, social, media), cognition, and behavior.

  • Communicate effectively through written reports, oral presentations and discussion.

  • Evaluate ideas from different sources critically.

  • Derive new testable hypotheses by integrating or contrasting different theories.

  • Develop variations on theoretical models or ideas such as contingent conditions or mediating factors.

  • Integrate and critique academic theories and empirical studies to propose new directions or questions for research on political communication.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing

  • Junior standing
JOURN 618

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Junior standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.29/5 from 17 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.

For this course: 2.0/5 raw quality · 1.0/5 difficulty · 1 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Young Mie Kim

Young Mie Kim’s course required students to show up, speak a few times, and submit work on time to pass, with readings described as interesting and based on current events. The student noted that discussions sometimes got repetitive, and that grades were determined from a bunch of smaller assignments that may seem confusing at first but were not that bad at all.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2021: 3.93 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2022: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Dietram Scheufele, Christopher Wells

Students described Dietram Scheufele’s teaching as engaging, with straightforward tests and no surprises, though one student felt he favored a few individuals and read from slides. Christopher Wells’s section was discussion-based with minimal lecturing, using articles instead of a textbook. Assessments included four 600-word discussion papers, a 10-page midterm, and a final group project.

CHRISTOPHER WELLS is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DIETRAM SCHEUFELE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YOUNG KIM is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2025. 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 / 250

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 · Young Mie Kim

With Young Mie Kim, students found the readings interesting and based on current events, while the course structure allowed for passing by showing up and submitting work on time.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.76 GPA, 95.2% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Young Mie Kim

Grades were determined by smaller assignments that seemed confusing at first but were not difficult, and the reviewer rarely read the provided textbooks.

Past student reviews · Young Mie Kim

The reviewer spoke a few times during the term and noted that discussions could sometimes become repetitive, though the overall experience was positive.

Topics

  • News media, political campaigning, and the electorate
  • Media coverage, persuasive appeals, image/issue voting, participation, and socialization

Skills

  • Analyze interrelationships between news media, political campaigning, and the electorate.
  • Evaluate impact of media coverage and persuasive appeals on voting, participation, and socialization.
  • Communicate effectively through written reports, oral presentations, and discussion.
  • Integrate and critique academic theories and empirical studies to propose new research directions.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— 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 Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

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 618 · Spring 2027

Mass Communication and Political Behavior

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": "1274:512:010771",
    "course_id": "JOURN 618",
    "course_uid": "course_d52e6550516b857ad50d5da1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010771",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Mass Communication and Political Behavior",
    "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
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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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": "0fb9ae7ff8d2a2e3e6f4dbea64edbfb5d0483f453cabc6e023d595150e76d5e6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}