UW Bothell Course Descriptions
UW Tacoma Course Descriptions
Glossary
Detailed course offerings (Time Schedule) are available for
COMMLD 501 Leadership and Communities (5)
Considers leadership scholarship, models of communication, and connecting to communities and networks in new forms of outreach and meaningful engagement. Credit/no-credit only. Offered: A.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 501
COMMLD 502 Narratives and Networks (3)
Key discussions on communication and organizational narratives facilitated by digital media and emerging technologies. Explores methods of creating powerful communication networked tools for organizations. Students create their own communication projects. Credit/no-credit only. Offered: Sp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 502
COMMLD 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum (1-5, max. 10)
Students apply theoretical knowledge acquired in the communication leadership program to solve the challenges of real-life organizations. Students also engage with and understand the uses of course concepts in contemporary professional practice. Recommended: COMMLD 501. Offered: Sp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 503
COMMLD 504 Communication and Leadership Capstone (2)
Culmination of experiences through a project that students complete at the end of their graduate program. Responds to the needs of the professional communities, using tools of Communication and Leadership. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 504
COMMLD 510 Topics in Content Strategy and User Experience (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics in content strategy and UX. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 510
COMMLD 511 Introduction to User Centered Design (5)
Focuses on applied user-centered design methodologies, with the center of the course user research. Students analyze existing interfaces across desktop and mobile platforms and review tools and theories that guide user experience designers in their practice.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 511
COMMLD 512 User Research and UX Strategies (5)
Design, implementation, and evaluation of user interfaces from a usability perspective. Students have portfolio-ready and end-to-end work examples to demonstrate they can understand basic principles of user interface design, implementation, and evaluation and design and conduct usability studies. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 512
COMMLD 513 Content Marketing (5)
Approach and implementation of marketing programs that create impactful campaigns and adaptable content for a variety of channels and platforms. Focus on building brand storytelling, effective messaging, and models for optimizing and measuring digital marketing. Offered: WSp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 513
COMMLD 514 Multi-Platform Content Strategy (5)
Examines the framework of social media applications. Introduces terminology, history, and evolution of website development and content management systems; elements of effective website design; and project management techniques needed to organize digital assets, allocate resources, and meet deadlines. Students gain a solid understanding of legacy and emerging technologies.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 514
COMMLD 515 Advanced User Design (5)
Focuses on the advanced design, implementation, and evaluation of user interfaces from a usability perspective. Includes user-design research strategies and various methods for evaluating user interfaces. Practices skills with broader application to address the solve usability issues through user research and applying human computer interface conventions. Prerequisite: either COMMLD 511, COMMLD 512, or COMMLD 517. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 515
COMMLD 516 Advanced Content Strategy: Creation, Curation, and Optimization (5)
Covers writing for the web and search engine optimization techniques. Explores the integration of social hooks, APIs, and introductory web programming. Students work to produce or redesign a website, complete with content plan, audience analysis and assumptions, and promotion plan.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 516
COMMLD 517 The Psychology of User Experience (5)
Psychological constrictions of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation, and social influence that determine whether customers are receptive to their digital innovations. Includes psychological theory, digital innovations, understanding the human context of digital ventures, and ethical differences between alignment and meeting needs vs. exploitation and unsustainable design approaches. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 517
COMMLD 518 Decision Science for Content Strategy and User Experience (5)
How people make decisions and how students can use that knowledge to ethically influence audiences through content and design. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 518
COMMLD 520 Topics in Marketing and Branding (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics that explores professional marketing and branding practices. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 520
COMMLD 521 Digital Media Branding and Marketing (5)
Critically examines the role of advertising, marketing, and other promotional efforts in establishing the branding of digital media companies. By using communication theory to analyze successful cases of established and start-up digital media companies, participants identify practicable and effective strategies for brand building and enhancement. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 521
COMMLD 522 The Future of Marketing (5)
Technologies shaping marketing, advertising, media, public relations, and communications in the two-to-10 year horizon. Examines marketing through consumer brand marketing (B2C), business to business marketing (B2B), non-profit or non-governmental organization marketing/PR, and small business. Offered: A.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 522
COMMLD 523 Foundations of Branding (5)
Brings brand squarely into focus with particular emphasis on its role in creating and engaging communities, triggering passionate evangelism, and driving loyalty across key audiences. Delves into the evolving role of brand as traditional marketing techniques fall by the wayside in the era of savvy consumers and constant communications. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 523
COMMLD 524 Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing (3)
Effective and well-tested methods used by professional storytellers to outsell and outrun the constantly changing market. Using a combination of readings, case studies and practical writing assignments students learn the art and science of creating top-performing marketing text.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 524
COMMLD 525 Brand Values and Creativity (5)
Introduces corporate brand values in marketing communications. Includes considering deeply how emotion, story, and marketing message function in a project that resonates with the consumer while also reinforcing a company's belief system. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 525
COMMLD 526 Analytics for Brands: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness (5)
Fundamentals of digital marketing analytics and analytics tools. Focuses on managed channel (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) success metrics and KPI tracking, conversation themes, influencer identification, data insights, and listening and monitoring topics. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 526
COMMLD 528 Programming and Data Science for Communicators (5)
Basic programming and data science tools give students skills to find, access, and synthesize data into information that can be analyzed and acted on. Introduces software to collect and process data to produce numbers, hypothesis tests, tables, and graphical visualizations that answer real questions.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 528
COMMLD 530 Topics in Storytelling (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics that explores storytelling. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 530
COMMLD 531 Foundations of Video Storytelling (5)
Introduces capture and editing skills to create and distribute video stories. Students study point of view, audience targeting, success criteria, methodology, voice, and production standards.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 531
COMMLD 532 Advanced Video Storytelling (5)
Enables students to create high-value video work with a human-driven focus. Students conceive of, shoot, and edit a short, character-driven film in partnership with a client, consider deeply how story functions, and navigate relational challenges such as building trust with subjects, managing clients, and crafting a compelling narrative from real-life material. Recommended: basic knowledge of technical aspects of video production and editing; previous foundational COMMLD storytelling class or equivalent technical experience. Offered: W.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 532
COMMLD 533 Storytelling for Emergent Platforms (5)
Introduces tools necessary to create immersive (Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality) experiences and web stories. Emerging models paired with the study of technical aspects of story creation and implementation of media production tools and platforms.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 533
COMMLD 534 Visual Storytelling (5)
Provides 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. Offered: Sp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 534
COMMLD 535 Foundations of Audio Storytelling (5)
Emphasizes the potential audio storytelling has for broad reach, powerful impact, and building mindset-shifting community around content. Traces its evolution from terrestrial radio to podcasts that educate, entertain, and inspire action. Consideration given to core characteristics of strong storytelling, observed through an auditory filter. Students experiment with designing their own short audio pieces. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 535
COMMLD 536 Intensive Video Storytelling (3)
How online media affects storytelling, with emphasis on video. Includes hands-on practice in producing online video stories. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 536
COMMLD 537 Principles of Storytelling for Social Impact (5)
Focuses on the art and craft of storytelling to communicate ideas and emotion, build relationships and community, promote change, and inspire action. Explores, investigates, and discusses the elements of narrative and looks at examples of storytelling across media. Students learn to "think story," to pinpoint, pitch, and gather material for the production of original, compelling, and persuasive content. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 537
COMMLD 538 Storytelling and Communication for Mission-Driven Organizations (5)
Examines common ethical conflicts that arise in communications work. Students develop a plan to address a real mission-driven organization's communication challenges, and provide a practical, executable plan that fits the organization's resources, mission, and values. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 538
COMMLD 540 Topics in Organizational and Professional Communication (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics on organizational and professional communication. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 540
COMMLD 541 Crisis Communication (5)
Addresses how the tools of communication influence crisis communication strategies. Identifies key communication issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis. Examines implementation strategies to engage traditional and social media; digital networks; federal, state, and local lawmakers; external and internal stakeholders; and consumers or constituents. Offered: WS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 541
COMMLD 542 Distributed and Diverse Teams (5)
Students build leadership and communication effectiveness by working in distributed teams at the global, national, or local levels. Offered: Sp.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 542
COMMLD 543 Leadership Approaches to Equity Initiatives in Organizations (5)
Builds skills for learning across difference as organizational change-makers for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Students learn collaboratively to explore interconnections among dimensions of intersectional identities. They also practice self-awareness and expand understanding of the roles of individuals, groups, organizations, and societal structures in making real system change. Offered: WS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 543
COMMLD 544 Professional Short-Form Writing (3)
Explores short-form writing and how it dominates today's rapidly evolving professional communications in the digital space. Investigates how lines between content and form increasingly blur and how always-on media feeds deliver a mix of advertising, marketing, public relations, human resources, personal brand-building, journalistic reporting, and research.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 544
COMMLD 545 Engaging Interviews (2/3)
Covers how to prepare without over preparing, create rapport with an interview subject, and cultivate curiosity and presence while in an interview. Accomplishing an interview goal by creating an engaging experience for both the subject and listener/viewer. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 545
COMMLD 546 Professional Long-Form Writing (1-5, max. 5)
Hones long-form professional writing skills and deepens student understanding of the current professional communication long-form landscape. Serves both students with writing experience, as well as those keen to develop this foundational skill. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 546
COMMLD 550 Topics in Ethics and Law (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics on law and ethics. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 550
COMMLD 551 The Law and Ethics of Community Building (5)
Considers and juxtaposes the legal and ethical realities of community building through a cross-sector approach. Understanding how law and ethics impact how organizations communicate to clients, customers, and constituencies.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 551
COMMLD 558 Law and Policy (5)
Examines the existing frameworks that govern how organizations and end users approach free expression, intellectual property, privacy, security, and advertising. Provides students with practical guidance for applying these frameworks to news, entertainment, social media, and digital media environments.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 558
COMMLD 559 Law, Data, and Privacy (5)
Explores issues associated with data usage, data collection, sharing user information, and licensing. Focuses on privacy laws, how regulators are approaching advertisers' use of personal information, how organizations attempt to keep data secure, and how intellectual property rights protect data and databases.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 559
COMMLD 560 Topics in Communication and Culture (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics on communication and culture. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 560
COMMLD 561 Qualitative Research in Communities and Organizations (5)
Discerning the unique cultural foundations of organizations and communities, based on member interaction and motivation. Students study cultural values, rules, and symbols as vital resources for promoting successful collaboration within and across groups. Offered: W.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 561
COMMLD 562 Communication for Advocacy (5)
Focused on "integrated advocacy," a strategy of communicating advocacy efforts through multiple channels, students will develop an integrated advocacy campaign working for a client. Real-life challenges and needs of clients allow students to apply the integrated advocacy model, build stories around goals and solutions, come up with tactics, and create a campaign to ignite change. Offered: W.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 562
COMMLD 563 Multicultural Marketing (5)
Evolution of multicultural marketing. Explores how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted, and transformed; and how we engage with diverse audiences. Building marketing campaigns rooted in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 563
COMMLD 570 Topics in Community and Leadership (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics on community and leadership. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 570
COMMLD 571 Communicating Ideas (5)
How ideas produced by thought leaders in different fields are structured, and what makes these ideas resonate - or not resonate - with audiences. Types of communication techniques thought leaders develop that result in the impact of their ideas in public discussion. Offered: A.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 571
COMMLD 572 Innovation Communities (5)
Techniques firms use to harness the surge of innovation by introducing a "democratized" or "user-centric" innovation paradigm, including how user communities bolster their ability to innovate through specific technological tools and innovative social routines. Examples of how to use communities effectively, both as sources of inspiration and as collaborators.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 572
COMMLD 573 Listening and Leadership (1-5, max. 5)
Key listening behaviors as a core leadership attribute. Includes texts related to leadership, overview of eight styles of listening, and interview audio programs. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 573
COMMLD 574 Cross-Cultural Storytelling for Leadership and Global Networking (5)
Robust nature of new global networking. Applies the organizational diversity continuum, a visualization of the many layers of diversity organizations encounter each day, internally and externally. Successful and failed cases in cross-cultural context. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 574
COMMLD 580 Topics in Emergent Technologies (1-5, max. 20)
Focuses on a variety of topics on emergent technologies. Specific topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 580
COMMLD 581 Leadership in Emerging Technologies and Trends (2-5, max. 5)
Emerging technologies in the context of social change. Questions and conceptual tools help you critically assess technologies in early periods of development and adoption. Also explores strategies to help companies or organizations better plan for, adapt to, and advocate more equitable solutions. May only be taken for credit once. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 581
COMMLD 582 Communicating Trust and Credibility for Emerging Technologies (5)
The art of honestly advocating for emerging technologies that an organization is deploying or creating. Ensures how to effectively inform stakeholders that new solutions align with values that prioritize the good of the community as a whole. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 582
COMMLD 583 Communications for Emerging Web Technologies (5)
Emerging forms of communication arising from development of Web 3 technologies, interactive digital spaces, and online communities connected via social media platforms. Involves understanding the emerging use cases of Web 3 technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, decentralized autonomous organizations, decentralized applications, trustless/permissionless environments, and smart contracts. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 583
COMMLD 591 Independent Research (1-5, max. 10)
Research projects designed and led by students with faculty supervision. Credit/no-credit only. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 591
COMMLD 593 Communication Internship (1-5, max. 15)
Provides students an opportunity to connect their scholarship with communities outside academia by engaging in a project that uses communication theory to inform practical work. Credit/no-credit only. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 593
COMMLD 600 Independent Study or Research (1-10)
Intensive independent research project exploring a specific topic in communication leadership. Requires a committee, formal proposal, and public presentation of results. Prerequisite: Completion of a minimum of 50% of degree course work. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: COMMLD 600
