Class Type: MCDM

Classes

Classes are designed to challenge your thinking and develop your professional skills. You’ll leave each class with a unique set of tools to approach new communications challenges.

Tailor your experience to your career goals by focusing on one of eight areas of specialization. Use the search widget below to sort classes by quarter, specialization, instructor and degree track for each quarter. Get a comprehensive view of the full academic year in our Course Guide.

View the University of Washington Academic Calendar for important dates, including quarter start and end dates, registration dates and deadlines, and campus holidays.

Registration numbers (SLNs) are located on the Time Schedule. Please read the Department’s statement on internet resource requirements for access to courses.

COMMLD 530B: Storytelling Across Mediums

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/05 – 12/14, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 22901

Course Description

Storytelling is the uniquely human superpower that we have used to communicate with other people since time immemorial. No amount of AI slop can replace it. That’s the reason the number of LinkedIn job postings in the U.S. mentioning ‘storyteller’ doubled last year, with roughly 50,000 listings under marketing and over 20,000 under media and communications.

Stories house our knowledge, our intentions, and our values, and communicate them across generations. Stories are expressed through different mediums depending on culture and context – from cave paintings to virtual reality games, from campfire stories to podcasts.

As a professional storyteller, you must harness your ability to craft stories to reach you or your organization’s audiences, customers, and constituents. In this course, students examine storytelling traditions across history and cultures, then apply those lessons to contemporary media and strategic communications. Through hands-on projects, students will develop and adapt stories across multiple formats while exploring how narrative functions in commercial, educational, journalistic, and advocacy communications.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Develop stories across multiple media formats for different audiences and platforms;

• Apply core storytelling principles to commercial, educational, and advocacy-based communications;

• Evaluate how narrative shapes audience understanding, emotion, and action;

• Integrate storytelling into broader strategic communications goals and campaigns;

• Adapt narrative structure, tone, and medium to meet specific communication objectives.

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COMMLD 563: Multicultural Marketing: Creating Equitable and Inclusive Communications

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/03, 10/17, 10/31, 11/14, 12/05, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12829

Course Description

This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 512: User Research & UX Strategies

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/05 – 12/14, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12806

Course Description

This course focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of user interfaces from a usability perspective. The aim of the class is to study the concepts, methods, and techniques of usability engineering, with a focus on the artifacts where user experience is essential. Historically, usability has covered aspects of efficiency, learnability, and ease of use. Today, a large number of other measures for success rely on elements such as playability, engagement, entertainment, immersion, and aesthetics.

The above concepts will be detailed with the expectation that by the end of the quarter, students will recognize the aspects of each of the following deliverables within Interface Design and User Research. At the completion of this course, students will have portfolio-ready, end-to-end work examples. The work examples are designed for students to demonstrate they can: understand basic principles of user interface design, implementation, and evaluation, design and conduct usability studies, select an appropriate evaluation method and articulate its advantages and disadvantages, establish useful test objectives, and prepare reports and presenting results.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 503A: Practicum: Advanced Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 10/01 – 12/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Application Required

Course Description

Level up your leadership. Build a real-world marketing strategy that actually gets used.

In this hands-on practicum, you’ll partner with a real client to create and deliver a strategic marketing plan—plus sample content they can start using now. You’ll assess their current outreach (social, web, posters, community engagement) and design a smarter, more integrated approach. The client will provide real-time feedback and decide what to adopt—so the stakes (and impact) are real.

This course is built for students ready to stretch: to lead through ambiguity, influence without authority, and work through the messy middle of real-world challenges. There’s no step-by-step playbook—just strong coaching, clear expectations, and support to help you grow fast.

You’ll also learn to work the way modern marketers actually work—with AI as a strategic tool, not a shortcut.

Throughout the practicum, you’ll use AI to accelerate and sharpen your work at three levels:

Deep research: Use AI to map competitive landscapes, surface audience insights, and synthesize market data faster than traditional methods—so you spend less time compiling and more time thinking.

Creative support: Leverage AI to rapidly prototype messaging, generate content variations, and pressure-test ideas before bringing them to the client—giving you more creative range without sacrificing craft.

Process improvement: Apply AI tools to audit existing marketing efforts, identify gaps, and streamline workflows—so your recommendations are grounded in evidence, not just instinct.

You won’t just learn about AI in marketing. You’ll develop the judgment to know when to use it, when to push back on it, and how to integrate it into a professional workflow with integrity.

By the end, you’ll walk away with a marketing plan, content samples, client-facing experience, and a standout project for your resume or portfolio—plus a fluency in AI-assisted strategy that most practitioners are still figuring out.

Credit/No Credit only

**Since this class takes foundational concepts to the next level, students who register must have already taken any of the following courses:

• COMMLD 520: Advanced Marketing (Marr)

• COMMLD 520: Principles of Marketing

• COMMLD 520: Strategic Communications

• COMMLD 521: Digital Marketing

• COMMLD 522: Future of Marketing

Or have equivalent Marketing experience.

Please fill out the form below to the best of your ability. If your form is approved, you will receive an add code to register for the course. (Note: applications will be time stamped, and qualified applicants will be added to remaining class spots on an equitable basis determined by time of application and remaining time in the program.)

Apply to COMMLD 503 Marketing Practicum. Form will open on Monday, May 11, 6:15am PDT.

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COMMLD 580B: Conversational AI & the Future of Human Communication

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/05 – 12/14, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12832

Course Description:

What does it mean to form an identity alongside artificial intelligence (AI) technologies? How do deepfakes, digital twins, and agentic coworkers shape how we see each other in the world? This course takes these questions seriously, and not as theoretical abstractions, but as an urgent, practical, and ethical challenge for communication professionals navigating a rapidly shifting information landscape.

Students will experiment with AI technologies for writing, research, and design, and build out conversational assistants. Our challenge throughout will be how to hold onto a human voice while navigating the tensions between human and AI skills. By the end of the course, each student will produce a proof of concept for a conversational AI solution and a personal framework for engaging with AI’s role in their cognitive, creative, and professional life.

“What I appreciated most was how the coursework balanced theory with practical application: from studying conversational frameworks and ethical AI design to working on collaborative projects that explored real-world AI interactions. One of the most rewarding parts of the course was building a customized GPT project called ‘Mom-ent,’ which also became a strong portfolio piece that demonstrated how conversational AI can be designed with empathy, guardrails and purpose.”–Sheifaly Saksena, MCDM cohort ‘24 alumni

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30 – 12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12813

Course Description:

This course will take a close up look at corporate brand values in marketing communications today. Brand values should be timeless and unchanging, but in a constantly fluctuating business environment, is this goal even possible? While high volume video advertising and A/B testing is exploding, paradoxically, messaging of corporate brand values is oftentimes minimized. Marketing today is composed of ever-changing algorithms, transactional communications, and confusing narratives. Should creativity play a bigger role in storytelling in today’s marketplace? Do customers even know what the companies they make purchases from actually stand for values-wise? Does it matter? How can companies still connect emotionally with consumers? Students will ideate a marketing film for a company or nonprofit of their choice. All the while, they’ll be considering deeply how emotion, story, and marketing message function in a project that resonates with the consumer while also reinforcing an organization’s belief system.

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COMMLD 520A: Principles of Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/06 – 12/8, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12809

Course Description

This course provides a foundational understanding of marketing principles and their application within business, nonprofit, and public-sector organizations. Students will learn through the lens of integrated marketing, a key skill in today’s marketing landscape. Our focus will be on understanding the key elements of a marketing strategy, including goal setting, audience identification, planning, and landscape analysis. Students will learn practical and commonly-used tools like SWOT analyses, stakeholder maps, brand positioning exercises, and messaging frameworks.

Building on this foundation, the course will also explore elements of brand and behavior change marketing, with real-world applications in areas such as public health, sustainability, and social impact. Students will complete the course with increased confidence in designing and executing strategies that work across public relations, creative, digital, and operational functions in complex organizations.

Through lectures, case studies, guest speakers, in-class activities, and group projects, students will connect theory with practice, based on their areas of interest and expertise. Students will develop portfolio-level plans to support their career goals. This class is a fit for students who plan to pursue more advanced coursework, and those with an interest in marketing, communications, public affairs, or brand strategy careers where cross-functional collaboration is essential.

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COMMLD 544 A/B: Professional Short-Form Writing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 or 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30 – 12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
3-credit 544A Registration SLN: 12822
5-credit 544B Registration SLN: 12823

Course Description

This collaborative hands-on course explores the kind of short-form writing that dominates today’s rapidly evolving professional communications space — the digital space where lines between content and form increasingly blur and where always-on media feeds deliver a mix of advertising, marketing, public relations, human resources, personal brand-building and journalistic reporting and research. It’s a space that presents new writing challenges every day: professional emails, office memos, newsletters, website copy, funding proposals, executive summaries, op-eds, tweets, blurbs, blogs. Much of this material is badly done. Most of it is mediocre. The best of it, though, sings out and demands our attention, demonstrating mastery in the kind of critical thinking and dedicated practice that delivers copy sharply focused and sure in matching voice and material with form and audience. This course is part professional-communications criticism class and part writing workshop. It’s about learning how to identify good writing; it’s about understanding the process that produces good writing; and it’s about practicing that process yourself.

Students can choose between a 3-credit and 5 credit option:

• Section A will be 3 Credits and meet the Professional Writing Requirement. It meets 6-8:20.

• Section B will be 5 Credits and also meet the Professional Writing Requirement. It will meet for a longer period from 6-9:50 and include additional short form assignments over the course of the quarter.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 558: Law & Policy

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/06 – 12/8, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12827

Course Description

This course looks at how the law of digital media, interactive media and social media has facilitated the growth of multimedia storytelling, interactivity, and the explosion of collaborative consumption. Understanding when and how one can remix, reuse, republish, and remake content is critical to any organization’s successful advertising, content creation, distribution, and publication. This course will explore the legal issues surrounding free expression, content production and publication, intellectual property (with a special emphasis on copyright and fair use), and advertising. This course is designed both as a stand-alone course to satisfy the law and policy requirement of the program and as a companion to the data security and privacy law course offered in the Spring, which focuses more on data usage, privacy and security, FTC regulatory issues and intellectual property issues around data and analytics.

Kraig Baker’s humorous and comprehensive lecturing style, complete with the latest trend examples, helped me demystify the law and make it less of a “black box.” I gained a framework to assess and manage legal, ethical, and structural risks, tools to determine if I had a legal issue and insights on whether I needed a lawyer and how to communicate these legal issues effectively.—Aster Li, MCDM alum cohort ‘22 alumni

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30 – 12/9, 4:00pm – 7:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12821

Course Description:

The 24-hour news cycle, social media, and online reporting fundamentally changed how institutional leaders, executives, celebrities, politicians, and organizations address crises big and small. Effectively managing a crisis means not just employing PR strategies, but developing a comprehensive communications plan that disseminates actionable content and engages all stakeholders with equal focus across multiple and diverse networks.

This course will identify the key communication issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis (real or imagined). We’ll examine implementation strategies to engage traditional and social media; digital networks; federal, state and local lawmakers; external and internal stakeholders; and consumers or constituents. As important, we’ll deconstruct and reinforce the personal ethics and behavior required by professionals in a crisis situation. This class uses current events, interactive discussions, real-time exercises, and engaging guest lectures to provide practical insight about effective techniques and lessons learned.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling (Podcasting)

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30 – 12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12817

Course Description

The podcasting industry has surged in recent years, with podcasts also becoming an increasingly important part of marketing and communication campaigns. Since it is the only medium that audiences can consume while engaged in a multitude of other activities, audio storytelling has a unique advantage to inform, entertain and call to action.

This course will teach you how to use audio to tell a powerful story. You will learn how to create your own short sound-rich, nonfiction audio story driven by characters and scenes. You will move through the process of research, reporting, interviewing, writing, editing, and mixing an audio story, as well as pitching a story for radio or podcast. By the end of the class you will have a working knowledge of the basics of audio storytelling and production. You will feel more confident about how to support visual storytelling with audio, as well as how to work with a larger production team on audio projects.

This course is a good match for students who:

• Are seeking an individualized, project-based course

• Want foundational storytelling and editing skills that can translate into any medium

• Would like to learn how audio can elevate and transform storytelling

This class greatly elevated my ability to concisely tell stories!—Jacob Christensen, Foundations of Video and Advanced Video Practicum Instructor, and MCDM cohort ‘15 alumni

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COMMLD 531: Foundations of Video Storytelling: Marketing & Branding

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30 – 12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12815

Course Description

Approximately 183 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Video isn’t the future of marketing, the revolution is already here and how brands leverage that storytelling capability sets them apart from the competition.

Whether you want to create video content as a full time job or you want to have the skill set in your back pocket as you navigate your communications career, this class will provide a strong foundation for maximizing video content in your marketing endeavors.

We will go over basics of how to use cameras but we will also talk about why content is successful and how we can best emulate those formulas. You are expected to exercise the craft of content creation while at the same time critically evaluating and deconstructing content you see in the marketplace.

Note: This is one of the two foundational courses covering video storytelling. The other class is the “Foundations of Video: Documentary Storytelling” class. Both will qualify you for taking Advanced Video Storytelling.

This class is a good match for students who:

• want to work in marketing and a foundational knowledge of how compelling video content is created;

• want to specialize in video content creation long term;

• are prepared for a time-consuming and rigorous learning experience.

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COMMLD 530A: Storytelling with Data

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/06 – 12/8, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12814

Course Description:

This course teaches students to assemble visual evidence in service of a narrative story. It reflects the new reality that information graphics, maps, and data visualizations are no longer a supplement to text stories created by dedicated service desks, but are free-standing items produced by cross-disciplinary journalists with skills in data reporting and visual presentation.

This course leads students through the process of reporting, analyzing, and presenting a data-driven infographic feature story. Students will explore the gamut of influential and impactful visual stories: an explainer on Covid-19 transmission (the Washington Post’s most popular story of all time); articles exploring California wildfires and street protests in Hong Kong; and stories exploring larger historical and cultural themes like the rise of Confederate statues and such cultural questions as: why are women’s pants pockets so small and K-pop bands so big?

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COMMLD 522: The Future of Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/06 – 12/8, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12810

Course Description

Rapid evolution of digital media and technology continues to disrupt the business of marketing, making it essential for professionals in the field to keep abreast of trends in a number of areas. This class focuses on the technologies shaping marketing, advertising, media, public relations and communications in the 2-4 year horizon and explores strategies of successful marketing organizations, both digital and traditional.

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COMMLD 520B: Principles of Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/05 – 12/14, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Rooms on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 22780

Course Description

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COMMLD 513: Content Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Autumn 2026

Open Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/10, 10/24, 11/07, 11/21, 12/05, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12807

Course Description

This course focuses on the approach and implementation of marketing programs that encourage community building and engagement. Content marketing is a special kind of content that you can use to build relationships with audiences, drawing new audiences or rewarding loyal fans. Our focus will be on how to give freely of our knowledge. We will explore a research-backed method for how to make content that educates and supports audiences, that complements advertising, mission-driven, or task-based content.

To do so, we will learn the basics of a content strategy process. Our 6 part data-driven methodology includes working with secondary research: stakeholder goals and audiences. Conducting our own primary research in comparative and content review. Building from research, we’ll explore best practices and tactics for messaging, content planning, and delivering strategy concepts to clients or coworkers. Our final product focuses on building brand storytelling, effective messaging, and planning adaptable content for multichannel (physical or digital) environments. Final materials can be useful for portfolios.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 530B: Storytelling Across Mediums

COMMLD 563: Multicultural Marketing: Creating Equitable and Inclusive Communications

COMMLD 512: User Research & UX Strategies

COMMLD 503A: Practicum: Advanced Marketing

COMMLD 580B: Conversational AI & the Future of Human Communication

COMMLD 525: Brand Values

COMMLD 520A: Principles of Marketing

COMMLD 544 A/B: Professional Short-Form Writing

COMMLD 558: Law & Policy

COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication

COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling (Podcasting)

COMMLD 531: Foundations of Video Storytelling: Marketing & Branding

COMMLD 530A: Storytelling with Data

COMMLD 522: The Future of Marketing

COMMLD 520B: Principles of Marketing

COMMLD 513: Content Marketing

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