I'm Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius
media & communication researcher by training, interdisciplinary and curious by nature
Teaching
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Interests
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Pedagogically, I am concerned with strengthening critical thinking and media literacy skills of my students.
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My teaching develops in two general directions. In my primary discipline, media and communication studies, I have coordinated and taught in a Master's level course Finnish Media and Communication System (2016), developed and taught a Master's level small group method seminar on textual analysis (2017), acted as a tutor in the Globalizations: Politics, Economy and Communication Master's level course (2017) and as a guest lecturer in the Media, Culture and Society Bachelor's level course (2019). Most recently, I designed and coordinated the Bachelor level course Digital Media and Society (2020), which I will give again in a renewed format in spring 2021.
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My second teaching area concerns the Polish society and politics, particularly as it figures in the broader context of East Central Europe. I have given a number of guest lectures in the Master’s Programme in East Central European, Balkan and Baltic Studies ('Refugee crisis' from the perspective of East and Central Europe: Representations and discourses of ‘refugee crisis’ in Poland, 2016; The Growth of Populism in Central Eastern Europe: Case Poland, 2019; Geopolitical imaginaries around the Baltic Sea: Mobility and migration, 2020), where I will also teach a course on ‘Conspiracy theories and illiberalism in Central Eastern Europe’ in autumn 2020, which I have developed from scratch.
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Accordingly, I am available to supervise Bachelor and Master theses and co-supervise doctoral dissertations that deal with critical media and communication studies (especially in the area of ethics of communication and/or digital media and technologies) and/or are interested in the Polish society and politics.
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Teaching, supervision and pedagogical competence ​
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Co-supervisor of a doctoral dissertation on Polish energy policy, University of Tampere starting autumn 2020
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Pedagogical training: UP 2.1: Constructive alignment in course design, 5 ECTS, University of Helsinki, March – April 2020
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Guest lecturer: ALKU-IK533 Geopolitical Imaginaries around the Baltic Sea, lecture on mobility and migration, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, March 2020
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Master’s Thesis evaluator: Master’s Programme in European and Nordic Studies, University of Helsinki, February 2020
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Responsible teacher: PVK-V205 Digital Media and Society, University of Helsinki, January – February 2020
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Guest lecturer: ALKU-IK532 The Growth of Populism in Central Eastern Europe, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, October 2019 (two classes)
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Guest lecturer: PVK-V202 Media, yhteiskunta ja kulttuuri, University of Helsinki, February 2019
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Tutor: GPC-311 Globalizations: Politics, Economy and Communication, University of Helsinki, September-October 2017
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Small group instructor: 77024 MGC4 Advanced Research Methods in Communication: Text Analysis Exercise Group, University of Helsinki, February 2017
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Guest lecturer: 94338 'Refugee crisis' from the perspective of East and Central Europe, guest lecture on representations and discourses of ‘refugee crisis’ in Poland, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, November 2016
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Responsible teacher: 770087 Finnish Media and Communication System, University of Helsinki, September 2016
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Pedagogical training: UP1: Teaching and learning in higher education, Grade: 5, 5 ECTS, University of Helsinki, April – May 2016
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Master’s Thesis tutor, International Master’s Programme in Media and Global Communication, University of Helsinki, January – March 2015