The inclusion of international pop culture references in a visual communications course provides the opportunity to broaden students’ cultural awareness, as well as to increase diversity within the curriculum. This idea builds on the premise that incorporating familiar references into course content helps meet students where they are and then allows for the development of new concepts on a foundation of their existing knowledge and experiences. The inclusion of timely and topical cultural references provides students with connections to something familiar that can be used as an entré to the field of graphic design. Expanding the references used to include international media examples. In academic environments in which faculty are encouraged to highlight connective threads between courses and material covered, inserting international pop culture references supports such efforts increasing the visibility of connections made across disciplines. This presentation is designed to share a series of classroom activities and resources with the audience.
About the presenterKatherine Hughes
Katherine Hughes, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications at Elizabethtown College. She earned a Ph.D. in Mass Communications and a M.S. degree in Television/Radio/Film from Syracuse University. She received a B.S. in Mass Communications from James Madison University. Dr. Hughes worked in multimedia production for half a dozen years before returning to the classroom.