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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 515: Advanced User Design: UX Studio

(

Levine

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 104
SLN: 12553

Course Description

In this class, students will work in small groups to design and prototype innovative user-centered solutions to real-world problems and develop an application. Students will develop their projects from a user experience (UX) design perspective and produce a strong piece for their portfolio.

The course emulates real-life aspects of UX design teams, including in-depth experience with user research, usability testing and iterating on the product with real-life users. By the end of the course, students will construct a map of a product’s full customer journey, develop personas with use cases, design a working prototype, and build a proposal with requirements for the concept.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

Course Prerequisites: COMMLD 511, 512, or 517.

This intensive course structure includes lecture, small and large group activities, and extended studio time for hands-on work on the projects. Several guest speakers from the UX design field are planned throughout the quarter.

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values & Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 113
SLN: 12556

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 503D: Practicum in Podcast Strategy

(

Gray

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 3/27 – 6/5, 5:30PM – 7:20PM | DEN 113
SLN: 12548

Course Description

A strong branded podcast can reach new audiences and strengthen engagement with existing customers. It can fill communication gaps and build organizational identity. But a podcast with no audience or without a clear editorial mission can be a drag on time and resources. Before you ever press ‘record’ it is vital to first understand the organization’s communication needs and target audience. In this practicum students will work in teams, supported by a faculty mentor, to create a plan for a branded podcast concept and format. Students will meet with key organizational stakeholders to understand communication needs and potential audience interest. The final deliverable will be a description of the show and segments, a detailed plan or recording of a pilot episode, and a content outline for season one.

Credit/No Credit only.

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum

Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give students an opportunity to engage with and understand the uses of course concepts in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations.

Each section of the Comm Lead Practicum focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations who are interested in partnering with Communication Leadership students.

In the span of a quarter, students analyze the issues faced by the client organization(s), collaborate and brainstorm collectively in small teams, and with the support of their faculty mentor create a deliverable for the client organization(s) that relates to the specific practice. Students may also create creative samples as part of the project. In doing so, students can develop and enhance skills, build foundations of practice, and produce work that they can include in their own professional portfolios.

Instructor Bio coming soon. In the mean time, feel free to connect with them on LinkedIn.

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COMMLD 580: Scenario Planning: Crafting Stories to Communicate the Future

(

Rasmus

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 230
SLN: 21368

Course Description

This course explores techniques for exploring possible futures and how to apply those futures to create business narratives. The class will work through a complete cycle of scenario planning. Learners will gather and document uncertainties related to the future of work with an emphasis on communications. The class will then build rich narratives that explore how the future may unfold under different social, technological, economic, environmental, and political circumstances. The course will also explore how to use scenarios to inform strategic choices and drive content development. Students will be expected to demonstrate their mastery of scenario planning through individual work and team presentations. Team presentations will focus on the future of work and its implications for communications. Individual stories will feature multimedia presentations that describe the learner living in one of the futures.

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication

(

Hennessey

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | Online
SLN: 12565

Course Description

Effectively managing a crisis means not just employing PR strategies, but having a comprehensive communications plan already in place. This class will identify key communication issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis, and examine how to engage traditional and social media, digital networks, federal, state, and local lawmakers, external and internal stakeholders, consumers and constituents. We will examine how organizations attempt to prevent and recover from crises, how the broadcast and print media cover different types of crises. As important, we’ll deconstruct and reinforce the personal ethics and behavior required by professionals in a crisis situation.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

Instructor Bio coming soon. In the mean time, feel free to connect with them on LinkedIn.

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COMMLD 570B: Community Data Science

(

Hill

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 3/27 – 6/5, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 104
SLN: 12571

Course Description

This course will introduce basic programming and data science tools to give students the skills to find, access, and synthesize data into information that can be analyzed and acted on. We will cover the basics of the Python programming language, web APIs including APIs from Wikipedia and Twitter, and basic tools for statistical hypothesis testing, data manipulation, and visualization. Students will be encouraged to bring questions and problems from their own area of interest and apply Python and Data Science to those problems through an independent project. Our target audience is students with no previous programming experience. 

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 110
SLN: 12566

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.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 559: Law, Data & Privacy

(

Baker

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126
SLN: 12568

Course Description

“Big Data,” “The Internet of Things,” “Behavioral Advertising,” “Analytics” — all buzzwords capturing the explosion of data and the promise of what we can do with data. Collecting, using, organizing, and sharing data and information also evokes legal issues and individual and collective uncertainty over who owns this data, what rights does one own, how does the data usage implicate privacy issues, how is and how should data use be regulated by the government, by private entities, for advertising, etc. This course will explore the legal issues associated with data usage, data collection, sharing of user information, and licensing. This course will pay particular attention to privacy laws in the United States, how the FTC and other regulators are approaching advertisers’ use of personal information, how organizations attempt to keep data secure, and how intellectual property rights protect (and do not protect) data and databases.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 540A: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 242
SLN: 12562

Course Description

No matter what kind of writing you do, editing skills are essential to producing your best work. In this course, experienced writers will learn a rigorous, methodical approach to revision that transforms a rough draft into a compelling finished piece. You’ll gain the awareness and control you need to diagnose and address problems, develop ideas and themes, create structure, and craft a story. You’ll also hone your ability at the line level, learning ways to make your writing clearer and more precise by eliminating clichés, clunky phrases, and extraneous words. As an editing workshop, this course emphasizes the importance of giving and receiving kind, productive feedback. It focuses on longer-form texts for public audiences, such as blog posts, executive op-eds, and news releases, though its principles are applicable to all forms of writing and creative iteration.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 534: Visual Storytelling: From Comics to Transmedia

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/1, 4/15, 4/29, 5/13, 6/3, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | CMU 126
SLN: 12560

Course Description

This course will provide you with a solid understanding of the medium of sequential art and visual narrative (aka “comics”) and the practical ability to incorporate visual storytelling into traditional, digital, and transmedia projects in a variety of entertainment, business, education, social and journalistic scenarios. Why comics? Comics and sequential art have gone from the margins of popular culture to the center of a multi-billion dollar global industry and a respected art-form. Many of the most popular movies, television, video games and transmedia projects are adapted from comics and/or depend heavily on storytelling styles that originated with this unique medium. Issues of digital distribution, adaptation and audience engagement that arise in today’s “comics culture” affect the future of publishing, technology, social media and gaming. Beyond the world of entertainment, the principles of visual narrative are becoming fundamental to all manner of storytelling projects, global initiatives and creative enterprises. This class will explore the history and potential of comics as a storytelling medium in the digital age in both media studies and business dimension, incorporating both theory and practice.

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COMMLD 523: Foundations of Branding: Social Media Communications and Strategy

(

Tang

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/8, 4/22, 5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Online
SLN: 12555

Course Description

Communication on digital platforms and networks will be the forever norm of our society and human experience. In this course, we will learn, practice and investigate the fundamental principles of communication through digital platforms such as social media. We’ll identify strategies used by social media platforms to maximize their key metrics and apply them to business metrics that brands and organizations use to fulfill their objectives and goals. At the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify areas of opportunity on social media platforms to create interesting campaigns, analyze emerging social trends to stay ahead of the curve, and use the tools and best practices of the world’s most powerful brands to engage audiences.

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COMMLD 503B: Practicum: UX Design in Action

(

Gordon

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 3/27 – 6/5, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | CMU 230
Application Required – See Description

Course Description

In this practicum, students will work on a real-world design problem—forming a partnership among design students, instructor, and a client.  Students will work in a team-based context and apply their design-thinking skills to improve a business’ website by reducing user frustrations and helping the business reach its goals.

The final deliverable will be a client presentation highlighting what frustrations were discovered through research and testing, how the design thinking process was applied to maximize user and business needs, and will include a prototype to visually express the proposed solution incorporating the totality of the evaluation.

Credit/No Credit Only.

**Since this class takes foundational concepts to the next level, students who register must have either already taken COMMLD 510: Introduction to Information Architecture, one of our intro courses (511 or 512), or Content Marketing (513) or have equivalent UX experience. Please fill out this form 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. The application can be found here: https://forms.office.com/r/SCLBjnYa2w

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum

Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give students an opportunity to engage with and understand the uses of course concepts in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations.

Each section of the Comm Lead Practicum focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations who are interested in partnering with Communication Leadership students.

In the span of a quarter, students analyze the issues faced by the client organization(s), collaborate and brainstorm collectively in small teams, and with the support of their faculty mentor create a deliverable for the client organization(s) that relates to the specific practice. Students may also create creative samples as part of the project. In doing so, students can develop and enhance skills, build foundations of practice, and produce work that they can include in their own professional portfolios.

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COMMLD 503A: Practicum: Creating Video Content with Real World Clients

(

Christensen

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | CMU 302
Application Required – See Description

Course Description

The world of video production is a mysterious and ambiguous place consisting of freelancers, business owners, and in-house roles. In this course students will learn about how to best set up their team for success by adding structure to their client interactions, tapping into their team’s talents, and how to ensure that they’re delivering content that fits their client’s needs. Students will collaborate in teams throughout the quarter to create one short video for a real-world client.

Credit/No Credit Only

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum

Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give students an opportunity to engage with and understand the uses of course concepts in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations.

Each section of the Comm Lead Practicum focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations who are interested in partnering with Communication Leadership students.

In the span of a quarter, students analyze the issues faced by the client organization(s), collaborate and brainstorm collectively in small teams, and with the support of their faculty mentor create a deliverable for the client organization(s) that relates to the specific practice. Students may also create creative samples as part of the project. In doing so, students can develop and enhance skills, build foundations of practice, and produce work that they can include in their own professional portfolios.

*Students must prove their proficiency in video production to register for this course by meeting the minimum qualifications:

1. Proficient experience in editing video on the following platforms: Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, and/or DaVinci Resolve.

2. Experience in shooting video with either DSLRs or Video Cinema Cameras.

Please fill this form to the best of your ability. It will be available on February 10, 2023 at 6:30AM PST. You may be reached out with further clarifications. If your form is approved, you will receive an add code to register for the course.

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COMMLD 502: Narratives and Networks

(

Yasin

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Core Requirement | 3 Credits
Thursdays 3/30 – 6/1, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | EXED 110
SLN: 12544

Course Description

This foundational class uses the lens of social impact to explore the professional practices that make up the Communication Leadership program. Students get to meet leaders from key organizations in our region and learn about their approaches to their practice, as well as the challenges they confront. Throughout the quarter students develop a communication or leadership project in one of the Comm Lead specialization areas, to address a critical issue of our time. The project they develop will go into their portfolio to exhibit their values, creativity, and commitment to positive change and solutions in our world. Credit/No-Credit only.

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COMMLD 550: Ethical Questions of Big Data

(

Lohmann

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 230
Registration SLN: 22335

Course Description:

Big Data: Cure or Curse? This course will provide you with an overview of the benefits and challenges of the use of big data and encourage you to apply the Communication Leadership core declaration tenets for its ethical use. The class will provide a basic understanding of the use of big data in analytics, predicting crises, on social media, behavior tracking, and even in marketing. This course provides an overview on the new regulations and conversations around secure data, intellectual property, and the challenge of data privacy. It also examines the benefits of some uses of anonymous big data for research and health innovation and cures. By the end of the class, students will understand how big data contributes to tracking pandemics, creating health cures, predicting crises, behavior tracking and targeted messaging on social media and in marketing. They will know how to research, market, and innovate with big data in a way that honors the values of integrity, accountability and transparency, and builds community. They will also be able to reflect on how they can make an impact with big data in a way that demands and honors diversity, takes responsibility, is aware of bias and does not amplify inequity.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Perry

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 22243

Course Description:

Whether gathered around a radio in a living room or walking plugged in with headphones, the medium of audio storytelling has always offered the opportunity to build a mindset-shifting community around content. This course traces the evolution of audio storytelling from radio to podcasting that links to communities for various purposes: to educate, to entertain, and to inspire action — and the new golden age of podcasting that we find ourselves in means that audio storytelling has the potential for broad reach and powerful impact. Consideration is given to the core characteristics of strong storytelling, observed through an auditory filter. Class materials are twinned with a selection of cross-sector guest speakers who bring their own craft perspective. Students will experiment with designing their own short audio pieces.

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commlead@uw.edu
206.543.6745
4101 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA
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© Copyright 2022 Department of Communication. University of Washington

University of Washington

Department of Communication

© Copyright 2022 Department of Communication. University of Washington