Taught in a computer lab, the New Media course combines hands-on learning with theoretical concepts. For their final project, students create an Internet site for a real or fictitious organization. The course's critical aspects involve studying the history of the Internet and policy issues such as intellectual property laws.
Students learn though reading essays and watching films.
Butler has taught the New Media course at the University of Arizona for the past three summers. An Arizona native, Butler enjoys teaching in his home state. This summer, however, he will remain in Alabama to revise a textbook that he wrote on television criticism. Staying in Tuscaloosa gives Butler the opportunity to bring back TCF 389, which was offered at the University of Alabama two years ago. Butler said he hopes the course will be as successful here as it was at the University of Arizona.