Course Description
COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling
(
Partnow
)
- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025
Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 9/30 – 12/2, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room TBD
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 534: Visual Storytelling: From Comics to Transmedia
(
Salkowitz
)
- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024
MCDM Electrive | 5 Credits
Saturdays 3/30, 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/25, 9:00am – 5:00pm | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 12562
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.
COMMLD 537: Principles of Storytelling for Social Impact
(
Kessler
)
- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025
Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Saturdays In Person 1/11, Online 1/25, 2/8, 2/22, In Person 3/8, 9:00am – 5:00pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12712
Course Description:
Storytelling for Social Impact is a foundational class that focuses on the art and craft of nonfiction storytelling to communicate ideas and emotion, build relationships and community, promote change and inspire action. The class reflects the need in all sectors for superb storytelling.
The class explores, investigates and discusses the elements of narrative — what makes a story a story – and looks at examples of nonfiction storytelling across media (text, sound, still image, moving image and multimedia combinations). This platform-agnostic, birds-eye view of story is about learning how to reframe/ reconceptualize “information” and “report” as story, how to locate the small story that illuminates the larger issue, and what it takes to produce such work.
At its heart, the class is about learning how to conceptualize issues, topics, brands, and ideas as narratives. Students will learn to “think story,” to pinpoint, pitch and gather material for the production of original, compelling and persuasive content.
COMMLD 537: Storytelling for Social Impact
(
Kessler
)
- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023
Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Saturdays (In-Person) 1/7, (Online) 1/21, 2/4, 2/18, (In-Person) 3/4, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12784
Course Description:
Thinking Story is a foundational class that focuses on the art and craft of nonfiction storytelling to communicate ideas and emotion, build relationships and community, promote change and inspire action. The class reflects the need in all sectors for superb storytelling. The class explores, investigates and discusses the elements of narrative — what makes a story a story – and looks at examples of nonfiction storytelling across media (text, sound, still image, moving image and multimedia combinations). This platform-agnostic, birds-eye view of story is about learning how to reframe/ reconceptualize “information” and “report” as story, how to locate the small story that illuminates the larger issue, and what it takes to produce such work. At its heart, the class is about learning how to conceptualize issues, topics, brands, and ideas as narratives. Students will learn to “think story,” to pinpoint, pitch and gather material for the production of original, compelling and persuasive content.
COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling
(
Partnow
)
- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024
Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/26 – 5/28, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | PCAR 492
Registration SLN: 21556
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.
COMMLD 558: Law and Policy
(
Baker
)
- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022
MCDM Elective | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 13027
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 Fall, which focuses more on data usage, privacy and security, FTC regulatory issues and intellectual property issues around data and analytics.
Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.
COMMLD 540A/B: Professional Longform Writing & Platforms
(
Crofts
)
- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023
Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement (3 or 5 credit) or Research Methods Requirement (5 credit) | 3 or 5 Credits | CMU 126
Sundays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | 3-credit Section 540A | Registration SLN: 12786
Sundays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, 3/5, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | 5-credit Section 540B | Registration SLN: 12787
Please note: 540A is 3 credits, and 540B is 5 credits. These courses will run concurrently. Students registered for 540A (3 credits) will attend the first three dates, and students registered for 540B (5 credits) will attend all five dates.
Course Description:
Have you ever read an in-depth piece online that so moved you or shifted your thinking that you immediately sent it on to a friend or colleague? The “long-form” medium offers the writer ample space for synthesis, critique, and personal stories to capture the imagination, change the conversation, and inspire action. With a broad selection of writers, leaders, and cultural commentators as curricular guides, this course invites each student to hone their long-form professional writing skills (>1000 words) and deepen their understanding of the current professional communication long-form landscape. With scaffolded steps to refine their writing voice and scope, this course serves both students with writing experience, as well as those keen to develop this foundational skill. In addition, we will consider the evolution of platforms, from colonial-era pamphlets to today’s crowded community of digital newsletters, hosted by the likes of Substack, Mailchimp, or Ghost.
Meets Professional Writing Requirement. 5-credit class meets Research Methods requirement. Class cannot be used to meet both requirements.
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.
COMMLD 540A: The Power of Revision
(
Baltus
)
- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023
Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/2-12/4, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13013
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.
COMMLD 510B: Listening Skills for UX
(
Crofts
)
- 2023-2024 | Winter 2024
Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 1/9 – 3/5, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | PCAR 297
Registration SLN: 12621
Course Description
While there are many skills that contribute to being a successful UX researcher, one of the most foundational is being a superb listener. Strong UX design relies on listening at many stages of the process: focus groups, client sessions, and 1:1 user interviews to name just three environments where these skills contribute to excellent deliverables.
Using UX researcher Ximena Vengoachea’s book Listen Like You Mean It as the core text, students in this class will learn techniques to actively engage with users, particularly in the 1:1 environment, by listening to their needs in order to glean meaningful data which then inform UX decisions. To do so, this class will spend the quarter hearing from UX practitioners about their listening habits, engaging in listening exercises, and in groups producing an original listening methodology proposal, all to refine essential listening skills required to conduct superior user research and to create user-centered deliverables.
COMMLD 540A: Building Teams and Community
(
Baltus
)
- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024
Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 3/26 – 5/28, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12564
Course Description:
Building meaningful community around your work begins with your team. This course focuses on cultivating community from the inside out, in a series of concentric and overlapping circles. First it addresses ways to bring people together within the workplace and make sure they feel valued through rewarding opportunities to brainstorm, collaborate and critique. Then it explores what it means to set communication norms within an organization and how those norms affect an organization’s culture and identity. Finally, it provides a methodology for deepening connections with external audiences, conducting credible outreach, building load-bearing bridges and inviting widespread engagement that leads to social impact.
COMMLD 530A: Ethics of Storytelling
(
Graney-Saucke
)
- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024
Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 6/18 – 8/13, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 10833
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.
Meets Law & Ethics requirement.
COMMLD 540A: The Power of Revision
(
Baltus
)
- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024
Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 9/30 – 12/2, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 13065
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.
COMMLD 540B: Human-Centered, AI Augmented Internal Comms
(
Abplanalp
)
- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025
Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12714
Course Description:
This course explores the intersection of internal/ organizational communications and artificial intelligence (AI) with an emphasis on human-centricity and organizational culture. Topics will focus on organizational brand, leadership and voice; automation tools and techniques; pitfalls of artificial intelligence; and considerations for diversity, equity, and inclusion, anti-racism, and accessibility.
Students will examine the impact of AI on internal communications practices and strategies within organizations, including integration of AI technologies in communication development and its implications for leadership and decision-making. Students will also develop strength as human-centered, AI-augmented internal communicators, enhancing workflows and sharpening editorial acumen and critical thinking. Each week, students will engage in case study discussions to analyze real-world scenarios and explore the application of AI in different aspects of internal communications.
COMMLD 530 A: Storytelling with Data
(
Mcghee
)
- Current Quarter | 2024-2025 | Spring 2025
MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 4/2 – 6/4, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
SLN: 12580
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?
COMMLD 540A: The Power of Revision
(
Baltus
)
- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025
Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 9/29 – 12/1, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Course Description
University of Washington
Department of Communication