Master’s Degree in Social Communication (MA)

INTRODUCTION

The Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences program is designed to help graduates develop using methodological tools suited to the required level. Its main objective is to apply acquired knowledge to the need for research development in the field of social communication, both for the graduate’s community and social environment and for a spiritual and academic communication setting. This program emphasizes the importance of instilling in graduates a drive for change and for helping transform their environment.

The master’s program is designed for the online training of researchers and aims to generate intervention processes centered on the communicative dynamics of communities, organizations, and institutions with a view toward social transformation, and to give its participants the ability to sustain long-term projects. This school provides comprehensive training aligned with today’s changes in the media and in today’s technology-driven consumer society.

It seeks to develop projects focused on participation and interpersonal dialogue capable of building and sustaining communication and interaction networks. A priority is preparing students in oral, expressive, and image skills for working across fields such as television, radio, and internet broadcasting, and magazines. The academic program has been designed so that students engage with questions about the changes in public communication in an age of globalization, identity, and cultural diversity; the use of social media and the internet and its impact on the means of production, distribution, and consumption, among other issues; and so that students build methodological, quantitative, and qualitative competencies. The program is delivered in an interactive virtual format with a team of instructors and facilitators holding ongoing real-time sessions. Students carry a load of required courses along with elective seminars and workshops.

Objectives

• ●Train students in the areas of research in social communication
• ●Prepare students with the knowledge and skills to identify media and sources that support strategic interventions in social change and in their Christian ministry
• ●Train students in the analysis of creative communication, both on networks and as a system of audiovisual resources, whether self-produced or run by radio and television groups
• ●Prepare graduates to advise institutions and businesses on applied research in social communication

ADMISSION

Graduates entering our Master’s program may come from fields such as Social Communication, Theology, or Counseling, among others, as well as from non-governmental organizations, Christian ministries, and civic associations, and from the public sector: health, education, and social development. Candidates entering the Master’s in Social Communication must have the following knowledge, skills, and attitudes:

• ●Techniques and styles of oral, written, and/or visual expression.
• ●Research methodologies.
• ●Knowledge of theology and ministries, national and international.
• ●A tendency toward analysis and debate, written and oral.
• ●Analysis and interpretation of different socio-Christian realities.
• ●Basic use of information technology.

GRADUATE OUTCOMES

Graduates of the Master’s in Social Communication will be able to:

• ●Apply the theoretical-practical knowledge gained across various socio-community areas to advance the development of specific services.
• ●Conduct research on communication applied to ministry in response to new social challenges in the field of communication for development and social change.

Produce viable, sustainable proposals from a communications perspective for designing and evaluating public policy on Christian social development.

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PROGRAM

• ●DURATION: 2.5 YEARS
• ●CREDITS: 65
• ●INTERNSHIPS: 6

Quarter 1

Quarter 2

Quarter 3

Quarter 4

Internships

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

MCS 121 Oral and Written Expression Techniques

This course covers the importance of the functions of language for correct use at both the oral and written communication levels. The instructor emphasizes healthy practice in students’ presentation and use of their own expression, without notable shortcomings when producing written material and, especially, when delivering an oral presentation in public. The course’s core objectives are to build a solid repertoire and skill set in students to strengthen sound coherence in oral and written expression in their native or learned language; students will be able to critically self-assess their own oral and written expression, and the course promotes student independence in producing and correcting various types of oral and written texts using the resources of the Spanish language appropriately.

MCS 122 Introduction to Fundamental Theology

This course establishes the conditions and possibilities of the experience of faith, understood as occurring both through God’s self-communication in history (Revelation) and through humanity’s free response (Faith) to God’s initiative. It presents religion to students as an answer to life’s questions found in the words of Jesus of Nazareth, grounded in the fullness of Revelation carried to community and society. The instructor will explain to students how this course equips them to carry that message across the social, cultural, philosophical, and historical settings involved in understanding the revelation of the word given to the world.

PSI 100 Psychology of Communication

This course covers the study of communication processes and their persuasive dimension, analyzing the most relevant psychological variables of the sender, the message, and the receiver. The instructor explains the theoretical-practical details of verbal and non-verbal communication and how communicating and understanding is not just about the use of words but also other paralinguistic features such as tone of voice, gestures, posture, and facial expressions. Students will also focus on producing and detecting message content and its connection to reality and the fundamental principles of persuasion, and will learn the art of communicating in groups and through audiovisual media.

MCS 221 Theories of Audiovisual Communication

This course covers the four basic professional profiles addressed during the course. The instructor reviews with students the theories applied to communication practice based on the roles of director, screenwriter/audiovisual producer, production, visual/sound design management, and researcher. Students engage in studio practice with audiovisual resources and work alongside experts in visual studies to model work in a digital environment. By the end of the course, students gain the ability to apply image-composition techniques and procedures across different audiovisual formats, drawing on classic principles and the aesthetic and cultural movements in the history of the image through new information technologies, along with the ability to analyze audiovisual programs and texts.

PSY 001 Introduction to Pastoral Psychology

This course guides students through an introduction to the principles of psychology as applied to the context of Christian life. It aims to guide pastors, teachers, laypeople, parents, and students interested in the healing of the soul. Students are trained to counsel in crisis intervention grounded in present, observable evidence and primary prevention, to detect people’s spiritual and physical needs and help support stable emotional growth.

MCS 222 History of Audiovisual Media

This course gives master’s students knowledge of various media and their evolution — from photography, film, television, and video — and their social and cultural relevance over time to the present, with attention to gender perspective, enabling students to practice their profession efficiently, current, and critically in relation to each social and cultural context. The instructor guides students toward a collaborative working method to help them build the competencies and skills they will need in their professional careers.

MCS 223 Introduction to Mass Media

In this course, the instructor reviews with students the nature of information and its various forms of production, the management of its ethical-legal aspects, use and transfer, and the handling of primary information sources across any medium. Students learn about national and international realities regarding information policy and services and the industries behind communication media outlets.

MCS 224 Screens and Digital Narratives

This course covers communication tools that support learning a digitalized narrative style through video. It presents practical work drawn from research on the development of digital narratives. Instructor and students analyze storytelling as a comprehensive human cognitive skill and how to apply it strategically to support learning narratives delivered through digital video distributed via the internet and social media.

MCS 225 Social Science Methodology

This course covers topics related to the philosophy behind the methods social sciences use to understand and explain social action and phenomena, and the practices and methods for verifying them. In the social communication master’s program, epistemology — the study of the structure and limits of scientific knowledge, from which new paradigms applicable to communication may emerge — is treated as essential. The instructor covers the theoretical basis of approaches such as Explanation, Rationality, Individualism, Nature and Culture, Social Norms, Relativism, and the role of values in science.

MCS 226 Journalistic Writing

This course covers the study and analysis of professional practice to guide learning in journalistic writing. It addresses genre theory and the fundamentals of journalistic writing for producing news content, selecting and weighing facts, working with sources, and developing a journalist’s writing style. Theory is paired with practical work, the core of student learning, aimed at building the skills needed to produce quality journalistic texts.

MCS 227 Principles of Christian Ethics

This theoretical-practical course helps students build an appreciation of Christianity and the Church as forces for transforming and energizing humanity, and trains students in up-to-date content on the principles, ethical, and moral values of the Christian faith. Students will understand the instructor’s role and scope in a globalized, pluralistic social and educational context. The course sits within the values-and-transcendence domain, aiming to build competencies that create space for reflection on the ethical dimension of human action from a Christian moral standpoint in personal, professional, and social contexts. It covers ethical concepts from both the Old and New Testaments, along with practical ethics topics such as sexual ethics, marital ethics, family ethics, social ethics, and civic ethics.

MCS 228 Cross-Cultural Missions

This course covers the theoretical evolution and stages of carrying the gospel to a group of people without access to the Word of God. Students analyze authors on culture and foreign languages, focused on ensuring that whoever delivers the message achieves genuine understanding among their audience. Cross-cultural missions require going to another culture, learning its language, translating scripture, and making disciples. The instructor also discusses with students the possibility of cross-cultural relocation and living in a distant country to fulfill a comprehensive mission oriented toward professional spiritual service for those who wish to serve the Lord and be a useful tool for the extension of His Kingdom.

MCS 261 Photojournalism

This course gives students, theoretically and practically, a guiding structure for a multimedia storyline, highlighting the value of the image in conveying news information. Students learn the core concepts underlying photojournalism from its origins and its value as evidence of social events, while producing photographs for all journalistic formats. As a foundation, students learn to identify the visual concepts used by media outlets, identify visual language in journalism, recognize resources for creative work — primarily equipment and technology — and understand the image as a complement to news information.

MCS 262 Audiovisual Scriptwriting and Design Practicum

In this practical course, the instructor covers the theoretical definition of the audiovisual script within the broader audiovisual-communication curriculum, guiding students to develop skills in the conceptual foundations underlying the creation and production of audiovisual scripts, while providing the practical tools and methodological guidelines needed to develop and carefully write audiovisual scripts in professional formats. The instructor assists students in using theoretical resources, documents, and equipment for interactive practice sessions.

MCS 263 Sociology of Mass Media

This course aims to give students the multidisciplinary competencies, along with the specific content of this subject, needed to analyze social events and processes. Students are trained in: knowledge, critical reasoning, and command of the main concepts, theories, and methodologies of Sociology for analyzing social reality, along with the ability to apply them to their immediate environment; reflection on the contributions of the social sciences as a whole to the study of human beings, establishing interdisciplinary connection and complementarity among scientific disciplines; and understanding of the main sociopolitical, economic, and cultural dimensions that shape human behavior and drive change, diversity, opportunity, and social inequality.

MCS 364 Marketing Management in Social Communication

This theoretical-practical course involves interaction between instructor and student around marketing ideas related to social communication as a core way to develop and incorporate service-management approaches for clients. The instructor shows students the importance of operational and organizational actions as the central driver of an organization’s dynamics. Students carry out practical activities to learn to manage this commercial approach and develop creative campaigns that both market and communicate the importance and benefits of customer service.

MCS 365 Documentary Theory and Practice

This theoretical-practical course guides students toward a comprehensive perspective on the documentary form and its evolution. The instructor reviews various authors and helps students become familiar with documentary topics and recognize different genres, styles, and new documentary trends and formats, apply narrative to bring stories to the digital screen, and develop their creativity by producing short documentaries on topics relevant to society, covering: basic concepts, an introduction to the history of documentary film, web-docs (reinventing the documentary online), cyberactivism and political documentary, fake/mockumentary, informational documentary, creative documentary, and branded documentary.

MCS 366 Multimedia Design and Creativity

This course covers the advertising environment and its importance in the field of multimedia work. It shows students how to develop a highly persuasive advertising message and how to develop multimedia design creativity as a discipline that helps present commercial and advertising messages in a continually evolving technological world.

Students build the ability to develop new creative approaches in assigned tasks, communicate effectively to optimize group synergies and support decision-making, and take responsibility for creating, designing, developing, and executing communication messages and products.

MCS 367 Personal Evangelism

This course covers the basic methods of evangelism and trains students to carry out the personal work God entrusts to every believer, and how to respond to unbelievers and to mistaken ideas about salvation, hell, sin, divine healing, the Second Coming of the Lord, and Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

MCS 401 Radio and Television Workshop

This course covers the design and creation of radio and television projects, including the development, production, and post-production of content for different formats and media. It covers planning and organizing human and technical resources and managing financial resources for creating linear and non-linear radio programming, and also examines the use of technology platforms in networking and interactive radio, podcasting, and vodcasting. The instructor uses a system for assessing student progress based on class contributions and assigned practical work. Various audiovisual texts used in class will count toward graded evaluation.

MCS 501 Thesis

The objective of this course is to bring together the various research competencies built throughout the program, so students can complete and defend the capstone research project begun in the Research Workshop course. Students are expected to complete data collection and analysis and present their results in a written document, demonstrating their ability to answer the research objectives and questions based on analysis of the empirical data, and discussing the relevance of their findings in relation to the theoretical framework and current state of the topic. Evaluation considers students’ ability to communicate results and argue their conclusions, both in writing and orally.