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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.

COM 597: Community and Media: Storytelling and Audience Engagement

(

Banel

)

- 2017-2018 | Winter

MCCN Elective
Thursdays, Jan 11th-March 8th, 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 242 (January 4th class has been cancelled, a makeup class is TBD)

Course Description:

This class is about putting smart, strategic and soulful storytelling to work to rise above the roar of everyday digital media. As professionals honing messages, sharing stories and conducting outreach to 21st century audiences, the ability to craft meaningful narratives that engage audiences and create real connections is more important than ever.  A deep understanding of the transformative power of engagement and connection throughout recent history is critical to mastering the skills necessary to become communications leaders in digital media. “Community and Media: Storytelling and Audience Engagement” is a hands-on, practical course designed to teach students storytelling skills, along with a fundamental strategic underpinning, to help create deep connections between storytellers and audiences.  Along the way, we’ll examine the history and context of 20th century media storytelling, and mine award-winning radio and TV programs for timeless audience engagement techniques and methods that worked in previous eras, but that are still relevant and effective in the digital era. We’ll also learn practical strategies from contemporary media professionals who are constantly navigating profound changes to the technology, economics, architecture and even the social consciousness of the modern media landscape. Through case studies and hands-on exercises with communications professionals, we’ll learn how to create engaging interactions with audiences, and powerful connections with each other and our communities.

Student Testimonial:

“The class was driven by conversational discussion of contemporary news as relative to media history, and as intersections with the readings assigned. Lengthy interviews with local-legend media producers brought venerable views and opinions of contemporary community media outlets–their struggles and successes. The final projects were explorations and research of media effects, students had wide leeway in choosing their content and presentation style.”

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COMMLD 520: Brand Matters

(

Captain

)

- 2018-2019 | Autumn 2018

MCCN Elective
Thursdays, 9/27-12/6 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 23687

This course would bring brand into focus and answer questions such as what is brand and why does it matter? How does an idea become a brand? How can a brand motivate a community or group to take action? How do you create a brand that triggers desired behaviors? Is a person a brand? How do brands stand out in this age of message inundation? What vehicles best communicate brand? What are the most popular brands on the planet and why? This is a timely topic because the media and messaging landscape is morphing so fast. In the era of skeptical consumers, today’s communicators must be savvy thinkers and shrewd creators of future brands.

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COMMLD 513: Content Marketing

(

Weaver

)

- 2019-2020 | Spring

MCCN Elective
Saturdays: 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23, 6/6 | 9:00-5:00pm | CMU 232

*This course was previously Autumn 2019’s COMMLD 510: Content Marketing and Strategy for Communities

Course Description:

This course focuses on the approach and implementation of marketing programs that encourage community building and engagement. The course starts with how to build a content strategy that supports the organization and its audiences as a foundation for content marketing. Building from strategy, we’ll explore best practices and tactics to create impactful campaigns and adaptable content for a variety of channels and platforms. Class work focuses on building brand storytelling, effective messaging, and models for optimizing and measuring digital marketing.

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COMMLD 550: The Law and Ethics of Community Building in Private, Public, and Nonprofit Entities

(

Tausch Lapora

)

- 2018-2019 | Spring

MCCN Elective, Meets Law and Ethics Core Requirement
Wednesdays, 4/3/19-6/5/19 | 6:00-9:50pm | Room CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12432

Course Description:

All organizations — private, public and non-profit — inevitably encounter legal and ethical challenges when building and engaging with their communities and networks. Leaders must be able to identify, anticipate, and problem solve issues such as how legal relationships are created and to whom legal and ethical duties are owed. They must also grapple with challenges such as how to balance privacy concerns with building an organization’s base, who owns specific content or ideas, and what advocacy strategies to employ when defining deliverables and implementing initiatives. This course considers and juxtaposes the legal and ethical realities of community building through a cross-sector approach. We will survey a wide array of case studies in which law and ethics may overlap, conflict, or be silent. We will engage in practical story exercises that maximize understanding of how law and ethics impact how organizations communicate to clients, customers, and constituencies. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to bring in legal and ethical issues from their professional experiences to enrich discussion of course topics such as legal relationships and duties, privacy, ownership, and making advocacy choices.

Student Testimonial:

“This course helped me to build a basic understanding of legal and ethical issues related to business and companies. I am very interested in intellectual property and how to protect trademarks and copyright. Thanks to this the class, I have developed a habit of checking every contract from digital services. Before the class, I just clicked “Agree.” I have developed the habit of asking for permission when I record interviewee’s for video or podcast production. Brenda is passionate and informed. She reads business news every day and researched about issues of ethics and law from the news and brought them to class as timely examples. You can feel her enthusiasm from her voice.I was so inspired by her that I even thought about getting a law degree!”

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COMMLD 558: Law and Policy

(

Baker

)

- 2019-2020 | Autumn

MCDM Elective | Meets Law and Ethics Core Requirement
Thursdays, 9/26-12/5 (no class 11/28) | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 230

Course Description:

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.

Student Testimonial:

“Law & Policy is usually among the favorites of each cohort, and I completely understand that! Kraig is an incredibly knowledgeable professor who is detail oriented, and cares deeply about getting his students interested in the material. Law seems like a boring subject at first, but he makes sure that the material is tailored to the interests of each class and gives his students the freedom to adapt the course to their passions and learning styles. Also, this course is incredibly relevant to many questions we always have looming over our heads about copyright and content. This subject will continuously be relevant, and Kraig does a great job at making sure you’re confident in that.”

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COMMLD 580: Communication for Emerging Technologies

(

Bellinger

)

- 2019-2020 | Winter

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement
Thursdays, 1/9-3/12 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 242

Course Description:

This course is about dealing with the uncertainty of emerging technologies. While the course will not, unfortunately, provide students with a crystal ball capable of predicting all future impacts of a new technology, we will develop a set of questions and conceptual tools that will enable students to critically assess technologies in early periods of development and adoption, and we will explore strategies that students can use to help their organizations better plan for and adapt to technological change. Part of this will involve critically examining the narratives used to explain new technologies and their development: We will examine the theoretical assumptions underlying accounts of technological change, the limitations and liabilities of different theoretical perspectives, and the ways that these assumptions become integrated into expert commentary on new technologies. We will also, as a class, collaboratively develop a “toolbox” of key questions to ask about emerging technologies, precisely to aid in identifying the aspects of technological change that can be overlooked. And finally, we will review practical models for organizational strategy in the face of uncertain technological developments.

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COMMLD 531: Foundations of Video Storytelling

(

Keller

)

- 2020-2021 | Autumn

MCDM Elective
Wednesdays 9/30-12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online

Course Description:

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.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Partnow

)

- 2020-2021 | Winter

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/5-3/9 | 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online

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 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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COMMLD 532: Advanced Video Storytelling

(

Chan

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays, 3/31-6/2, 6:00PM PST – 9:50PM PST | Online

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.

Students must fill out the COMMLD 532 Advanced Video Storytelling application to prove they meet the minimum qualifications. We are accepting submissions at 6:00AM PST on February 12, 2021. We will not be accepting submissions before this time. After reviewing applicants, add codes will be sent out by the first week of March to the first 15 students who qualify for the course. This allows the course to have the same level of fairness as other courses in the registration process.

For your convenience, the questions on the form are provided below. We recommend preparing your answers ahead of time and copy and pasting your answers when the form goes live:

  1. First and Last Name
  2. UW Email
  3. Please describe your video production experience. List the platforms/programs you have used, as well as how long you’ve worked with them. If you’ve held positions that utilize video production, please list them here as well.
  4. Please provide links to videos that showcase your work.

The COMMLD 532 Advanced Video Storytelling application is now available.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Warga

)

- 2021-2022 | Winter 2022

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 22037

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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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 510: Leveraging Diverse Perspectives in Product Content Design

(

Davies

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 09/28-12/07, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 212
Registration SLN: 13012

Course Description:

This course will guide students through a variety of techniques and processes to building experiences that are inclusive, and designed to directly serve their intended audience. This includes a lightweight look at understanding and defining your audience, testing for a variety of accessibility challenges, designing for inclusion, and an overview of ways to get feedback from your audience.Students will then be able to leverage these techniques to evaluate experiences to identify opportunities to improve.

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COMMLD 510A: User Interface and Visual Design

(

Gordon

)

- 2022-2023 | Summer 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 credits
Thursdays 6/22 – 8/17, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 10830

Course Description

Design is an umbrella term describing several overlapping concepts. User Interface Design (UI or IxD) is concerned with how navigational components are organized on a system interface so the page layout is easy to navigate and guides users on how to achieve their goals. Visual Design centers on aesthetics and strategic implementation of communication components, images, colors, fonts, and other graphic elements to design effective visual layouts.

In this class you’ll learn the fundamentals of human motor performance, perception, and cognition that inform effective interaction design, as well as how UI and Visual Design work together in concert. Some of the topics we’ll cover are research, mood board creation, testing, user flows, Figma essentials, component libraries, general layout and design, wireframing, prototyping, microcopy, and more. At the end of this course, students will know how to create impactful UI design and have knowledge of the tools to bring designs to fruition.

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COMMLD 503A: Practicum—Building Community through Live Streaming

(

McLean

)

- 2023-2024 | Winter 2024

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 1/8 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 22268

Note: Students enrolled in this practicum must be available all day Tuesday, February 13, 2024 to help produce a live stream of the annual Comm Lead Connects event.

Bridging the gap between brands and their audiences, interactive live streaming offers a transformative approach to deepening community ties and enhancing brand narrative. In this course, we focus on shifting from one-way broadcasts to immersive community-building experiences. Through hands-on experience with producing a live stream for the annual Comm Lead Connects event, students will experience the nuances of crafting a project that aligns with brand mission, values, and goals.

Drawing insights from seminal works like “Media Events” by Dayan and Katz and “Watch Me Play” by T.L. Taylor, we’ll understand the evolving dynamics of digital broadcasts and their potential for storytelling. Guided by principles from Charles Vogl’s “The Art of Community” and Priya Parker’s “The Art of Gathering”, we will emphasize the importance of purposeful engagement in virtual spaces.

By the course’s end, students will have a deep understanding of how live stream production can forge genuine community bonds. Leaving with a detailed guidebook, they’ll be ready to lead their own projects with confidence.

About Communication and Leadership Practicum:
Communication and Leadership Practicum courses can be taken at any time in your Comm Lead Journey. They give you the opportunity to engage in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations, and focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. 

Designed to mirror a professional setting, our Practicum offer you the opportunity to work at a higher level and with greater responsibility than what you might encounter in an internship or in entry-level work. In the span of a quarter, you will enhance highly-desirable professional skills, produce work that you can include in your own professional portfolios, and most importantly, leave with a story–your story – of what you did in this project to create value for your client.

Credit/No Credit Only

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COMMLD 504: Communication Leadership Capstone

(

MacLaren

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Thursdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | CMU 126
Application Required

Course Description:

In the COMMLD 504 Capstone class for MCCL students, you will refine and finalize your near complete capstone project, develop professional presentation skills, and hone your professional narrative prior to graduation. This course will help you learn how to target your audience, effectively support your ideas, and select and organize materials to prepare for a presentation or portfolio using multimedia tools. Students will think, reflect, respond, and provide/receive feedback throughout the course. Your interactions will be a learning experience as you engage with each other’s work, diverse perspectives, and presentation styles. 

Note: Registration for this class is add-code only after submission of an application.

More about the 504 Capstone

The Communication and Leadership Capstone project is the culmination of your MCCL journey in the Communication Leadership Program. Before graduation, students work to complete a project that responds to professional communities’ needs, using communication and leadership tools. 

Capstones are a chance to demonstrate your learning and build your portfolio through an in-depth, independent project done under the guidance of faculty and staff advisors. It’s also a chance to impact the world and help address the needs of real-life organizations. 

Completing your capstone and the accompanying credits is a multi-quarter process, usually done during the student’s second year in the program. Projects can be research-based, work done in a class, for a client organization, or even for your current job.

Credit/No Credit Only.

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COMMLD 503 A/B: Practicum in Immersive Experience Design

(

Cioffi

)

- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024

Track Neutral | 2 or 3 credits
Thursdays 6/20 – 8/15, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 302
2-credit 503A Registration SLN: 10828
3-credit 503B Registration SLN: 14193

Course Description

In this practicum course, students will collaborate with Mental Health Over Dinner and the Seattle Chamber of Connection to advance storytelling projects across various platforms. Through event design, user-generated content strategies, and immersive technologies like XR, students will develop comprehensive story plans to drive client missions forward. They will learn essential skills such as navigating ambiguity, deep listening, and delivering tangible outcomes like storyboards, slide presentations, and execution plans. By the course’s end, students will have honed their storytelling abilities and gained practical experience in real-world project development and collaboration.

Section A will be 2 credits. Section B will be 3 credits.

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.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington