Curriculum
Fall
MEJO 711: Writing for Digital Media
Digital media combine and converge skill sets, tools and technologies. They also blur the traditional roles of producer and consumer, publisher and reader, message sender and message receiver. This course is about writing — clearly, precisely, accurately, with energy and voice, and for specific audiences. Good writing is valued on screen just as it is on paper. Effective writing is, as an editor at the Los Angeles Times website once said, about putting the right words in the right order.
This course is designed to help you:
- Further develop your abilities to write clearly, precisely, accurately, with energy and voice, and for specific digital audiences
- Learn practical skills for writing and developing content for digital publishing and delivery
- Understand how to purposefully blend text, graphical content, multimedia and links
- Explore how trends in personal publishing and social media are transforming journalism and public relations
Spring
MEJO 712: Visual Communication and Multimedia
This course guides students in the development of literacy in visual communication and multimedia, their role in journalism and mass communication and their basic principles and best practices. The end goal is to give you knowledge to speak the language of design; confidently evaluate works of visual communication; and collaborate effectively with designers, photographers and other practitioners.
This course is designed to help you:
- Develop an understanding and appreciation for visual communication theories and principles
- Gain experience putting those theories and principles into practice
- Learn to analyze and critique works of visual communication
Summer
MEJO 713: Digital Data and Analytics
This course explores the fundamental concepts and principles that underlie techniques for extracting useful information and knowledge from data, particularly focusing on modern digital platforms. The primary goal of the course is to help you view problems from a data perspective and understand how to systematically analyze such problems. More importantly, the goal of this class is for you to learn what data actually mean and how you can use data strategically. This data-analytic thinking can then be applied in a variety of ways, from data-driven storytelling to the creation of actionable insights.
This course is designed to help you:
- Understand the types of questions that data can and cannot answer and how data are used in a variety of communication fields
- Understand the ethical implications of accessing/using data
- Understand the basics of data analysis
- Learn how to best communicate and present the results of your analysis
