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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 503E: Practicum: Strategic Communications Planning

(

Chang

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 3/28-6/6, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 21582

Course Description

In this practicum, students will design and deliver a strategic communications plan to a live client for review and adoption. The purpose of the communications plan is to bring a systematic solution leveraging all the current outreach tools used by the organization (social media platforms, website, community engagement) to be less ad hoc and more strategic. Students will conduct a communication needs assessment, map current outreach approaches and proactively identify and work through the process of understanding the needs of the client, who will provide real time feedback in addition to deciding what to adopt real-time.

The learning challenge: This practicum is for students who are ready to grow as leaders–leaders who recognize that wrestling with real-world problems calls for moving through ambiguity in design, planning and collaborating. Just like in real-world work contexts, this course will not include heavy text-based teaching or pre-designed road maps of ‘here is what to do every step of the way’. Instead, there will be steady and strong coaching and support from an instructor with a specialized expertise in navigating ambiguity and leading through influence. You may not be as comfortable as you thought in this course, and that will be a mark of success and growth. Every student will create a tangible skill-based experience to use in their career development, professional networking and portfolio. In other words, there will be a direct answer to the question of “tell me about a time when you developed a real-life communications product for a client.”

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 503D: Practicum: UX Design for Chatbots

(

Joslyn

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30-6/1, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 21581 (application required)

Course Description:

This practicum will offer students the chance to experience what it’s like to plan, build, test, and complete a real-life UX design project. The goal of the practicum will be for students to create a chatbot that answers the primary questions prospective students have when exploring the Comm Lead program, which will be embedded in the Comm Lead site.

Students will be organized into pods to complete key milestones of the work.  Some students will work on project management, some in content design, product design, and UX research. A project brief and key milestones will be provided to start the class, but everything from picking out the chatbot product, working with stakeholders, creating the experience, conducting research, and providing a completed chatbot experience will be students’ responsibility to own. Class will be held each week, with some weeks giving more time back for pod working.

**Since this class takes foundational concepts to the next level, students who register must have either already taken one of our intro courses (511 or 512) or Psychology of UX (517). 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.gle/5WxQN58yUo9GoQJs6

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 professional skills (such as learning how to manage ambiguity), build foundations of practice, and produce work that they can include in their own professional portfolios.

Credit/No Credit Only

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COMMLD 530B: Ethics of Storytelling

(

Graney-Saucke

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 6:00PM – 9:50PM, 3/30-6/1 | DEN 111 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21729

Course Description:

Ethics plays a critical role in how we tell stories. What values are behind the story? Who is telling the story, and for whom? What is the intended outcome, and what could the potential impact be? What are the ethics around new media technology like deep fake as we continue to take stories at face value?

Ethics and subjective bias in storytelling can also be complex, and thus they require our attention and reflection in responsible and responsive creative communications. This course will address various storytelling mediums and scenarios where ethics in storytelling are actively at play. Students will engage in critical discourse and assignments to assess values that impact ethical decisions personally and professionally. Assigned media and reading material as well as student sourced case studies will be used in order to ensure diverse and current content. As a conclusion to the class, students will create a final video, audio, web or UX project that engages an ethical challenge.

Instructor: Elliat Graney-Saucke
elliatgs@uw.edu

Elliat Graney-Saucke (she/they) is a white queer femme documentary director/producer, creative sector consultant, industry curator, and educator. While producing media in the US, Germany, Denmark, England, Poland, Serbia, Italy, Spain, Canada, and Israel/Palestine over the span of 20 years, Elliat’s work has focused on marginalized cultural identities. Upon returning from spending the majority of ten years in Berlin, Germany, Elliat served as the first Executive Director of Seattle Documentary Association, organizing industry gatherings involving partnerships with the Wenatchi Tribe and the Washington Film Commission. Seasoned in working with communities and organizational stakeholders internationally, Elliat has produced and curated over 10 culturally specific creative arts festivals and conferences encompassing over 45 nationalities, leading to additional projects like editing the international anthology Innovate Heritage – A Time-Lapse: Contemporary Arts and Heritage in Today’s Society (Springer). Industry and research focus areas include: documentary film industry, storytelling ethics, intangible/tangible and uncomfortable heritage, international diplomacy (UNESCO), creative economy and policy, incarceration, decolonizing the mind, queer/lgbtqai culture and theory, oral history and intergenerational knowledge exchange, and embodied cultural, racial, and geographic equity/justice. Current documentary productions include Boys on the Inside, about three Latinx ‘boys’ who have experienced incarceration in women’s prisons, and Safta, about a holocaust survivor and her close yet complex relationship to her activist granddaughter.

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COMMLD 503C: Practicum: UX Design in Action

(

Gordon

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30-6/1 6:00PM – 7:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 21580 (application required)

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 one of our intro courses (511 or 512) or Psychology of UX (517) 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.gle/NmB7u9gL1oeafptX8

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 520: Qualitative Research for Social Media Marketing

(

Kubler

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 3/28 – 6/6, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21605

Course Description:

From selling the newest runway fashions to promoting donations to Greenpeace, successful online marketing campaigns and product launches often start with well planned qualitative research. This course offers a qualitative methodological perspective on how to conduct interviews and focus groups. This course explains the who, what, why and how of qualitative research with practical applications for those professionally interested in marketing, branding, and even user experience as well. Students will work throughout the quarter to design and implement their own qualitative research project.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

Instructor Bio – Kyle Kubler
kubler@uw.edu
Kyle Kubler is a postdoctoral research fellow at the center for Journalism, Media and Democracy, where he studies social media, political economy and information communication technologies. Kyle recently received his PhD from the department of communication at the University of Washington. His dissertation project focused on the beliefs, strategies, and cultural production of fitness influencers and content creators on Instagram. Kyle has recently published research on the framing of technology and the economy in the business press, as well as collaborating on research projects with the University of Washington’s Family Communication Lab.

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COMMLD 517: The Psychology of User Experience

(

Haverly

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 113 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21604

Course Description: 

Designers, product marketers, and entrepreneurs will learn the psychological constrictions of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation, and social influence that determine whether or not customers will be receptive to their digital innovations. This will give their innovations an edge on what are increasingly competitive platforms such as apps, bots, in-car apps, augmented reality content). Students will learn…

  • The psychological processes determining users’ perception of, engagement with, and recommendation of digital innovations
  • Examples of interfaces before and after simple psychological alignments that vastly enhanced their effectiveness
  • How to identify, apply theory, and develop consulting or research recommendations based on psychological theory
  • Application to their own business interests. A deeper understanding of common digital interfaces such as conversion funnels, display advertisements, and mobile notifications.
  • A broader understanding of the human context of digital ventures, and the ethical differences between alignment and meeting needs vs. exploitation and unsustainable design approaches

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

Instructor Sarah Haverly

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahhaverly/

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COMMLD 582: Communicating Trust and Credibility for Emergent Technologies

(

Lohmann

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays (In-Person) 4/2, (Virtual) 4/16, 4/30, 5/14, 5/28, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Partially In-Person | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 21480

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the art of honestly advocating for emerging technologies that an organization has decided to adopt and deploy. It provides a foundation to ensure students understand how to effectively inform stakeholders that these new solutions are both useful, safe and align with values that prioritize the good of the community as a whole. Yet, there’s a fine line between storytelling and propaganda, especially when it comes to making the case around these powerful innovations. What are the ethics of effective advocacy?
How can propaganda be differentiated from honest storytelling? How do we most effectively champion appropriate technologies to our employees, customers, clients or constituents?

We will also examine questions about the platforms and technology themselves: What reference should we use to recognize that emerging technologies are serving as trustful conduits and not propagating misinformation or disinformation? What communications methods, platforms and amplifiers are being used to spread propaganda and fake news, and how does this impact democracy? By learning how to critically think about such questions, students will learn how to communicate clearly and ethically in favor of the use of nascent technology solutions that might impact an organization or community.

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COMMLD 570: Leadership at All Levels

(

Myers

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 242 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21310

Course Description

Leadership shows up everywhere, every day–and it is open to us all. Building on the Comm Lead leadership coursework, this course will take the theoretical development of one’s leadership style and bring it into practice with one’s work style. Classes will focus on mini-workshops around the following topics: decision-making processes, presentation skills, practical communications, how-to be a team player (including how-to run a meeting, how-to write an email), and drafting your optimum work experience. Students will complete the class knowing how to address bias and success inhibitors within any organization; develop skills for collaborative and successful leadership at any level; and understand how to empower their workplace for everyone. Guest speakers will share stories from leadership perspectives at different companies and how they approach their own development and empowerment.

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COMMLD 559: Law, Data, and Privacy

(

Baker

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 302 | In Person
Registration SLN: 21579

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.

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COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 230 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21578

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.

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COMMLD 540: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 242 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 12608

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.

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COMMLD 534: Visual Storytelling: From Comics to Transmedia

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/2, 4/16, 4/30, 5/14, 6/4 9:00AM – 5:00PM | CMU 126 | In Person
Registration SLN: 21479

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 532: Advanced Video Storytelling

(

Chan

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21478 (application required)

Course Description

Today, the technology that surrounds the “tell” of a story (the modes and channels of communication) directly shape the immersive experience felt by the viewer, while leveraging the lessons of narrative and myth. This course focuses on the decisions we make when we tell our stories. This course is both theoretical and practical. Students will be afforded the skills to create and distribute video stories. Additionally, students will be expected to display critical thinking around point of view, audience targeting, ROI success criteria, methodology, and production standards. Students are expected to exercise the craft of content creation while at the same time critically evaluating and deconstructing content they see in the marketplace.

*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. 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 530A: Advanced Podcasting

(

Partnow

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 302 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 12606 (application required)

Course Description

This is a project-centered class for students with audio storytelling skills. Class time will focus on story/project development, visits with guest speakers, and skill building geared towards designing and implementing a large audio story project, such as a new podcast, audio mini series, or audio-driven multimedia project. Students will consider target audience and create an audience engagement plan, develop an editorial mission and focus, explore funding options and production needs, create an outline of the full project or first season of a new podcast, and produce an initial pilot episode. Students should come to the class comfortable with recording and editing audio. COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling or equivalent experience in nonfiction audio or video storytelling required.

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

1. Proficient experience in editing audio or video programs

Please fill this form to the best of your ability. 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 525: Brand Values and Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 213 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 12605

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 523: Foundations of Branding: Social Media Communications and Strategy

(

Tang

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/9, 4/23, 5/7, 5/21, 6/4 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Online
Registration SLN: 21453

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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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington