Programme And Module Handbook
 
Course Details in 2026/27 Session


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Module Title LI Our Digital World
SchoolEng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department English Literature
Module Code 09 39969
Module Lead Dr Rosie Graham
Level Intermediate Level
Credits 20
Semester Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions None
Contact Hours Lecture-10 hours
Seminar-20 hours
Guided independent study-170 hours
Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description How can we make sense of our digital present? What led us here? And what will the future of digital culture look like across the globe? Our Digital World invites you to think about past, present and future versions of digital cultures in everyday life, print, and on screen. We will explore the role played by authors, theorists, filmmakers, and videogame developers, alongside social media companies, artificial intelligence, and software developers, in co-creating the media landscape we live within.

This module will introduce you to the ways you might read and critique the digital world around you: from interactive storytelling to social media, and consider big global issues, from the impacts of AI to the environmental impact of big tech. We will also address how digital culture impacts people differently around the world. This includes an exploration of the interplay between the digital world and topics such as race, gender, social and economic inequality, disability, and other real-world societal factors.

This module provides a range of skills and experiences to enable you to understand and critique our increasingly digital world.
Learning Outcomes By the end of the module students should be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key debates, terms and concepts used to describe digital cultures and innovations, through close reading of individual works.
  • Illustrate knowledge and understanding of appropriate critical and theoretical approaches to the study of digital topics, which may include AI, global communications, environmental impact, technology and work, and virtual reality demonstrating a clear sense of historical development and understanding of specific movements and approaches.
  • Critically analyse contemporary experiences of digital cultures and the place of new technologies in everyday life through comparison with fictional and non-fictional accounts introduced on the module.
  • Construct original arguments that develop from and relate to existing academic research on digital cultures.
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions Assessment:

3,500 word essay, or 15 minute recorded presentation/video essay as an alternative assessment option (100%)

Reassessment:

Failed component only
3,500 word essay, or 15-minute recorded presentation/video essay as an alternative assessment option (100%)

Other
Reading List