Communications Concentration
The internet and digital technology are increasingly transforming the communications industry. As the communications industry migrates to new media, corporations and organizations need employees who understand the technology and can provide both written and visual content. Communications concentrators create this content--designing and developing written and visual content for print and digital media.
Students who opt for a concentration in Communications must complete:
Three of:
DCOM 316 Journalism in the Digital Age| This course will investigate ways that digital technology continues to transform journalistic standards, practices, and values. Participants will study and learn how to create professional blogs, use audio and video equipment, and employ varied techniques to create narratives appropriate for multimedia platforms. By the end of the semester students should have enhanced their communications skills, and heightened their awareness of social, cultural, economic, and political implications of online technologies and applications. |
| Students will learn programming and scripting for the web. This should teach the importance of clean, semantic markup coupled with advanced CSS techniques of today and tomorrow [CSS3]. Also cross browser compatibility, web accessibility, and web standards. Topics to be covered would be CSS and XHTML. Students begin by learning how web pages are structured and styled with scripting, then learn to use advanced applications to create sophisticated presentation and interactive effects, including typographical and layout control, and interactive elements. Students receive hands-on experience programming in web/multimedia projects and learn to create advanced Web sites and multimedia projects using current scripting languages and website authoring software. |
| This course explores the influence of technology on literary (written) culture, establishing a historical perspective on the way we produce, communicate and receive cultural works and how different technologies influence the production, dissemination, and reception of cultural artifacts. |
| From classic novels and poetry, to popular fiction, to hypertext/media, participants will explore how the art of storytelling changes with the medium in which the story is told. This course first focuses on close reading and analysis of literature, and then explores the aesthetic and theoretical implications and opportunities of digital and interactive media that have created a rich new platform for the creation of literary and artistic works. |
| Introduction to the basic skills of journalistic writing such as interviewing, gathering and reporting news and writing feature stories according to standard formats and styles. The course also covers ethical and legal considerations related to news reporting. |
| Investigation of the purposes and methods of contemporary public relations as practiced by corporations, non-profit organizations, trades and professions as well as celebrities, sports stars, and political figures. The course requires planning of promotional campaigns using state-of-the-art digital technology. Usually offered alterante fall semesters. |
| Introduction to the theory and practice of editing, with an emphasis on reading closely, revising, creating headlines, and other aspects of refining and preparing copy for publication or online distribution. Usually offered alternate spring semesters. |
| Investigation of the impact of the media on the political process and vice versa. Exploration of the history of the interaction between politics and media, and the impact of evolving digital technologies on the face of political communication in the United States. Usually offered alternate fall semesters. |
Recomended courses:
DCOM 390 Special Topics
ENG 390 Special Topics| Study of diverse topics that vary from year to year. Past topics have included Film Criticism, Environmental Literature, Sports Literature, and Small Town Life. Usually offered at least once a year. |
At the discretion of the student's advisor, courses from other concentrations or from outside DCOM can be used to satisfy the required courses in this concentration.