We consult regularly with our professional faculty to determine the skills and curriculum students need to become successful communicators in the immersive media space. To find out when the courses below are offered and to register, visit the UO Class Schedule.
Core Classes
J594 Strategic Communication Research (4 credits)
Learn how and why public relations and advertising professionals conduct research, and how they use it to formulate strategic campaigns and evaluate their effectiveness. This class is a mix of theory and skill building.
J611 Mass Communication and Society (4 credits)
This introduction to graduate study in communication emphasizes the major intellectual traditions and enduring issues in the field of strategic communication.
J629 Media and Communication Ethics (4 credits)
This course explores the ethical issues communications professionals face almost daily. It addresses how to survive and thrive in the turmoil and disruption of the current media landscape with an emphasis on the power of immersive media. We will explore what is changing, why it is changing, and how you can do good work despite, and sometimes because of, these changes. You’ll focus on ethical decision-making and potential outcomes—on a continuum of positive to negative—of communicating through digital media.
J664 Foundations in Immersive Media (4 credits)
Explore the uses of virtual worlds and augmented, virtual, and extended reality through the strategic lens of communications (marketing, advertising, branding) and community building. Investigate the attributes of the technologies that create both opportunities and barriers to adoption and effective use.
J665 Media Psychology (4 credits)
This course offers an overview of media psychology with an emphasis on emerging media platforms. Learn why humans consume certain types of media content and gain an understanding of the affective, behavioral, and cognitive implications of media messages to better understand audiences.
J667 User Experience & Design (UX) (4 credits)
Learn fundamental principles of user experience (UX) and human-centered design (HCD) in the context of strategic communication. The class teaches theoretical and applied approaches from human-computer interaction, media psychology, and more and features domains for mobile apps, traditional web, service/customer experience, gaming, and others industries.
J668 Experiential Marketing (4 credits)
This course provides fundamental immersive media marketing concepts. Learn to develop a framework for building immersive media marketing strategies. Specific topics include leveraging augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR) to meet branding and marketing objectives.
J669 Creating for Immersive Platforms (4 credits)
Get an introduction to the tools used for designing and building virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. Work with the game engine Unity to design your first interactive VR scene, AR builder Zapworks to create mobile augmented visuals, and 3D content creation software to learn the foundational skills for building real-time ready assets. Explore off-the-shelf resources to get started quickly and gain an understanding of the overall production pipeline for generating content for immersive spaces. This course sets the foundation for future building class electives. No prior experience necessary
J670 Immersive Media Seminar (2-4 credits)
This course allows a timely deeper dive into the most relevant emergent technologies in immersive media. For example, were this course to have been offered in the 2021-22 academic year, it would have likely addressed the metaverse, including the opportunities and challenges of the concept.
Questions?
Need some guidance? Here are a few options:
- Download our graduate handbook for more details about program requirements and resources.
- Contact our graduate recruiter with questions about the program, the application process, and admission.