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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.

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COM 597: Analytics and Insights for Brands: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

(

Myers

)

- 2017-2018 | Spring

MCDM Elective, Meets Research Methods Core Requirement
Mondays, March 26th-June 4th (no class April 9th instead class will meet June 5th), 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12415

Course Description:

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of digital marketing analytics and driving insights on how to measure the efficacy and ROI of digital media. We will compare and evaluate some of the analytics tools on the market and learn how to perform a social landscape audit, establish KPIs (key performance indicators), set marketing goals, and determine methods for campaign performance tracking. We’ll deep dive into the components that comprise a monthly monitoring report, including managed channel (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) success metrics and KPI tracking, conversation themes, influencer identification, data insights, and listening & monitoring topics. We’ll examine the latest debates, tools, technologies, and social channels and their implications for social media analytics. We will further explore each channel used in digital marketing including paid, owned, and earned.

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COM 597: Black Mirror: Exploring the Ethical Questions of New Technology

(

Pearce

)

- 2017-2018 | Spring

MCDM Elective, Meets Law and Ethics Core Requirement
Wednesdays, March 28th-May 30th, 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12423

Course Description:

Emergent technologies always have unintended consequences, which frequently result in unanticipated ethical dilemmas for consumers, businesses, organizations, governments, and society at large. This course provides students opportunities to explore these ethical dilemmas and understand how to mitigate them. Students will learn practical strategies for identifying and managing ethical issues at the intersection of human behavior and technology that can be applied across sectors. Using the British television anthology Black Mirror as an organizational base, this course will provide project-based learning opportunities for students interested in exploring the darker side of new technologies. (Netflix announced this summer that they would pick up Black Mirror for an original third season—a sign of the show’s influence and provocative approach.) Students interested in this course should note that Black Mirror is a speculative fiction future-based show with mature themes related to technology and society. Episodes are fascinating, but also disturbing, as the show features graphic content, often of a violent and sexual nature. Students are advised to take this under consideration before enrolling in the course, but also know that all episodes will be watched together in class as part of a facilitated discussion. This format is a pedagogical tool that transforms the viewing into a shared learning opportunity, in real time. Each Black Mirror episode taps into our unease about technology and will provide fruitful examples of ethical themes—and each episode is a superb platform for ethical debates. Also, please note that due to the design of this course with weekly group work that carries over into the next week, absences will be very difficult to overcome.

Student Testimonial:

“This class was fascinating. I took it because it fulfilled the law and ethics requirement for the Communication Leadership program, and I knew it would be more interesting than a typical law or ethics class and it was fun! Black Mirror is such an interesting series and one that you can talk about endlessly, but how Katie Price approached the content, the themes, and the way technology was involved was really fascinating. I so admired Katie’s teaching style and the discussions she encouraged us to participate in. I loved this class and recommend it to everyone, although I know it won’t be taught every year, consider yourself lucky if you can take it! You will learn so much and really find ways to approach an interesting and thought-proving series with a new light.”

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COMMLD 520: The Future of Marketing: How Digital Media is Changing the Practice of Commercial and Consumer Engagement

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2018-2019 | Autumn 2018

MCDM Elective
Wednesdays, 9/26-12/5 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 23689

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. We will examine the impact of social media, mobility, big data, new content and rich media distribution technologies, multi-platform storytelling, apps, and other digital innovation on audience engagement. We will study how consumers and audience expectations are changing, and how marketers must shift their models to accommodate new realities and expectations. Finally, we will look at changes to the structures and processes that marketing organizations – corporate, agency or otherwise – can adopt to become resilient in the face of rapid change. This class assumes a general familiarity with the practices of digital marketing and digital technologies. It is recommended for marketing, advertising and commercial communications professionals interested in developments at the cutting edge of the field. We will offer a survey of techniques and practices, including case studies, readings from contemporary practitioners and thought leaders, and expert guest speakers.

Student Testimonial:

“The first day of class, Rob Salkowitz tells you that there is no crystal ball to predict the future of marketing. However, it really does feel like we were able to divine the future. Based around a technique called scenario planning, as a class and as groups, we looked at the future of technology (from 3D printing to Internet of Things), content/content creation, and a whole host of other things as they would relate to marketing in the future and to make predictions. It was a great class for thinking about trends and their influences and ways that marketers can stay ahead of the curve based on the knowledge that we have in-hand today.”

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COMMLD 510: Aligning UX Design With User Psychology

(

Evans

)

- 2018-2019 | Winter

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Core Requirement
Tuesdays, 1/8-3/12 | 6:00-9:50pm | SOCC 303
Registration SLN: 12624

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

Student Testimonial:

“This course explores the fascinating relationship between UX design and human psychology. In his lessons, Professor David Evans describes the psychological constraints of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation, and social influence, and uses real-world examples to provide a deeper understanding of their role in user design. Students are assigned weekly assignments where they apply one of the psychological processes to an example of their choice. Additionally, this class includes an in-depth ethics discussion centered on human behavioral traits and whether UX designers meet user needs or exploit them. As a final deliverable, students write an ethics paper based on the discussions. As a whole, Aligning UX Design with User Psychology is beneficial beyond the classroom because David’s enjoyable teaching style ingrains the lessons in his students. At the very least, this class will draw awareness to your own behavioral traits and help identify when they are manipulated.”

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COMMLD 534: Visual Storytelling

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2019-2020 | Spring

MCDM Elective
Saturdays, 4/4,4/18,5/2,5/16,5/30 | 9:00am-4:50pm | CMU 126

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 a media studies and business dimension, incorporating both theory and practice.

Student Testimonial:

“For the uninitiated in transmedia, it’s a crash course in visual storytelling and pop culture. For those familiar with transmedia, it offers a series of case studies in what you can do right or wrong in transmedia campaigns. The class definitely emphasizes comics, so while it’s not necessary to have an extensive knowledge of that format, it’s definitely for someone who’s curious about them. I was surprised to learn that a degree of visual abstraction can actually enhance storytelling. Rather than using a more precise visual format, such as photography or accurate illustrations of reality, using caricatures lets a person’s imagination fill in the gaps. I also found the study of the more formal aspects of comics to be very interesting. The all-day Saturday sessions went surprisingly fast. Rob does a great job of mixing up the class between discussion, lecture, guests, and video. Still, it’s not for the faint of heart, so if you’re going to take the class, plan on committing your Saturdays. You don’t want to miss a class.”

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COMMLD 520: Analytics and Insights for Brands: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

(

Rehfeldt

)

- 2019-2020 | Autumn

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Core Requirement
Wednesdays | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12814

Course Description:

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of analytics and insights derived from marketing. We will look at data-driven marketing measurement including how to calculate the financial return of investment. We will compare and evaluate some of the tools and learn how to drive data-driven marketing through developing a marketing strategy. Finally, we will understand the marketing investment required to develop and operate a truly data-driven team. We will examine the latest debates, tools, technologies, and social channels and their implications for social media analytics. we will further explore each channel used in digital marketing including paid, owned, and earned; and end with an exercise in segmentation.

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COMMLD 514: Product Content Strategy

(

Schwieterman

)

- 2019-2020 | Winter

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement
Wednesdays, 1/8 – 3/18 | 6:00 – 9:50pm | CMU 232
*Will not meet 2/5, last class session 3/18

Course Description:

The goal of this course is to provide a strong foundational knowledge of product content strategy as a function within a user experience design team. Skill areas include responsive content strategy, inclusive design, content auditing, performance auditing and more. Specific focus is also given to understanding the perspectives of partner roles, building skills around collaborating and communicating with each role type. You should walk away ready to join a real team and get to work. You will also gain real work examples by working with brands from around the region.

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COMMLD 530: Visual Storytelling: Graphic Storytelling as Communication Platform

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2018-2019 | Spring

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays, 4/6. 4/27, 5/4, 5/18, 6/1 | 9:00am-4:50pm | CMU 126

Course Description:

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COMMLD 522: Future of Marketing

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2020-2021 | Autumn

MCDM Elective
Tuesdays 10/6-12/8, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online

Course Description:

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COMMLD 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

(

Schiller

)

- 2020-2021 | Winter

Track Neutral Elective | 3 Credits
Sundays 1/10, 1/24, 2/7 | 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online

Course Description:

This advanced marketing writing class is designed for students who can already write well, but want formal training in persuasive copywriting techniques – the kind that drive people to call, buy, join, or sign-up. If you’ve ever agonized over finding just the right words to achieve your goals, this class is designed to get you there faster. It introduces some of the most effective and well-tested methods used by professional storytellers to outsell and outrun the constantly changing market. Students will learn how to use techniques based in psychological research to get measurable lift in subject line open rates, landing page conversion rates, app store downloads, and more. Using a combination of readings, case studies and practical writing assignments students will learn the art and science of creating top-performing marketing text.

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COMMLD 512: User Research and UX Strategies

(

Levine

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/30-6/1, 6:00PM PST – 9:50PM PST | Online

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 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

(

Schiller

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Sundays 10/03, 10/17, 10/31 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 23204

Course Description:

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COMMLD 522: Future of Marketing

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2021-2022 | Winter 2022

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/4 – 3/9, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126 | Hybrid
Registration SLN: 12698

Course Description:

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COMMLD 559: Law, Data and Privacy

(

Baker

)

- 2019-2020 | Spring

MCDM Elective, Meets Law & Ethics Core Requirement
Tuesdays, 3/30 – 6/5 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 302

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.

Student Testimonial:

“This course was a fascinating overview of a quickly changing field. We touched on a variety of ethical and legal issues surrounding emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and big data. The course is exciting and engaging because many of these areas are so new that laws haven’t even been written, and it provided a great framework to view these topics through a legal lens. Although we charted lots of unfamiliar territory, Kraig Baker is an outstanding lecturer and makes the topics approachable and even fun. You don’t have to have a law background to glean interesting and useful information from this course, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in how nascent digital fields will be shaped by the law, and vice versa.”

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COM 597: Design + Content: An Introduction to UX and Content Strategy

(

Holmberg

)

- 2017-2018 | Autumn 2017

MCDM Elective, Meets Research Methods Core Requirement
Mondays, 10/2-12/4, 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126

Course Description:

This course focuses on the fundamentals of both traditional user experience (UX) and content strategy, and seeks to build the overlapping skills and concepts needed to successfully design products and services for humans (otherwise known as the human-centered design process). Students will learn the foundations of both UX and content strategy, including user journeys and user research, content hierarchies, basic wireframing, principles of information architecture, basic prototyping and more, culminating in a creative strategy brief which encompasses both fields. The goal is to come away from the class with a holistic understanding of both UX and content strategy, and their relationship to one another.

Student Testimonial:

“From class activities to assignments to even the class slides, Dave crafts an optimal user experience for the student. He takes the time to provide useful, in-depth feedback on all assignments which enhances the learning experience considerably. The UX Content Strategy Playbook we created was an incredible way to learn the specifics of UX exercises we studied in class; I’m sure I’ll use it for years to come. The books Dave selected for class will serve as excellent resources down the road as well. This was definitely one of the best classes I’ve taken in the Comm Lead program.”

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COM 597: Graphic Storytelling as Communication Platform

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2017-2018 | Spring

MCDM Elective
Saturdays, March 31, April 14, 28, May 12, and June 2, 9-5pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12419

Course Description:

Understanding how to use words and pictures in combination to tell stories is a core competency for communicators in the digital era. This class 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, videogames 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 a media studies and business dimension, incorporating both theory and practice. We will look at the anatomy of the medium in all its forms; study how comics are used in entertainment, literary, documentary, journalistic, educational, training and business communications contexts; examine the challenges of bringing comic-based subject matter to other media; explore the business issues associated with the explosion of comics in the wider culture; and create an original digital transmedia project incorporating the visual language of comics.

Student Testimonial:

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COM 597: Analytics and Insights for Brands: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

COM 597: Black Mirror: Exploring the Ethical Questions of New Technology

COMMLD 520: The Future of Marketing: How Digital Media is Changing the Practice of Commercial and Consumer Engagement

COMMLD 510: Aligning UX Design With User Psychology

COMMLD 534: Visual Storytelling

COMMLD 520: Analytics and Insights for Brands: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

COMMLD 514: Product Content Strategy

COMMLD 530: Visual Storytelling: Graphic Storytelling as Communication Platform

COMMLD 522: Future of Marketing

COMMLD 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

COMMLD 512: User Research and UX Strategies

COMMLD 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

COMMLD 522: Future of Marketing

COMMLD 559: Law, Data and Privacy

COM 597: Design + Content: An Introduction to UX and Content Strategy

COM 597: Graphic Storytelling as Communication Platform

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