Wondering what you can learn in the Multimedia Storytelling Master’s (formerly Multimedia Journalism Master's) program? To find out when these courses are offered and to register, visit the UO Class Schedule.
Core Courses
JCOM 510 Community Listening 2 credits
This interdisciplinary course invites student to delve into community listening as a foundational approach to effective storytelling, journalism, and public engagement. The course emphasizes the importance of values, ethics, and participatory methods in creating and disseminating community narratives. Students will learn to apply these principles to enhance public engagement, foster community trust, and support local civic information ecosystems through empathetic listening and inclusive storytelling.
JCOM 608 Video I 2 credits
This is the introductory video production course for incoming Multimedia Storytelling Master’s students and the first classroom opportunity to tell a cohesive story combining interview with storytelling cinema verité footage (B-roll). The course covers the basics of video production and editing using Adobe Premiere Pro software. Students who are new to video production should take this class in preparation for the required Video II class offered later in the term.
JCOM 611 Media and Society 4 credits
Learn the social, technological, economic, and political trends that influence communication practice in the digital age and analyze the forces challenging legacy news organizations today.
JCOM 628 Story Production 4 credits
Building on the lessons from Thinking Story and Video II, students refine production skills and elevate their storytelling and proficiency work with the visual language. Students strive to create a short documentary video project worthy of inclusion in their professional portfolio. The course also covers distribution and approaches to social media.
JCOM 629 Digital Ethics 4 credits
This course explores ways we engage media and the impact of digital communication on feeling, knowing, thinking, expressing, interacting, and living. Students will gain an awareness of ethical decision-making processes and potential outcomes on a continuum from positive to negative. We will seek together to understand our personal ethics as the course of deepening professional ethics.
JCOM 635 Thinking Story 4 credits
Explore the art and craft of nonfiction storytelling—the secret sauce, that elusive ride, present-tense storytelling: Come along on a journey. Tell me a story. Make me lean in and listen. Make me care. Make us whisper the three most beautiful words in the English language: “What. Happens. Next?”
JCOM 639 Foundations of Explanatory Journalism 4 credits
By combining motion design, data visualization, and good old-fashioned reporting, the best explainer videos get to the heart of events and provide a new lens on the world. This course covers the basics of graphic design, typography, and writing for the screen as well as how to find the creative heart of a story. In this class, we take the adage “show, don’t tell” to the extreme.
JCOM 656 Storytelling Capstone 4 credits
This is the capstone project class for the Multimedia Storytelling Master’s program. Students work collaboratively to create a high-impact project that combines lessons from Thinking Story, Community Listening, and all previous production courses.
Terminal Project
JCOM 609 Terminal Project 6–9 credits
During your second year, you’ll begin producing a terminal project incorporating some combination of video, audio, photography, writing, and/or data visualization on a multimedia platform. You can spread the work out over two or more terms and rack up 4+ credits. It’s your chance to bring together all the skills, concepts, and craft you’ve mastered in a professional-quality project. For many students, the terminal project becomes the crown jewel of their portfolio.
Electives
Students can select electives to help them build focused skills in specific areas. Courses vary by term, and not all of these classes may be available every term or every year.
JCOM 510 Video I 2 credits
This is an introductory video production course that covers the basics of video production along with editing using Adobe Premiere Pro software. Students who are new to video production should take this class in preparation for the required Video II class offered later in the term.
JCOM 510 Audio Storytelling I 2 credits
Learn the technical aspects of audio field recording and editing using Adobe Audition software.
JCOM 510 Audio Storytelling II 2 credits
Explore narrative storytelling through audio. Gain introductory experience in field recording, interviewing, and editing a series of short stories for broadcast and other contemporary media platforms. Incorporates the use of interviews, actualities, voice-over narration, and sound effects into your stories. Special emphasis will be placed on writing for the ear and voicing scripts. Students can take this class more than once to work on longer-form projects.
JCOM 510 Motion Graphics 2 credits
Gain exposure to the fundamental principles of motion graphics. Learn the basics of Adobe After Effects software, including 3D camera tracking titles and “2-½ D” photo movement.
JCOM 510 Story in Stills I: Intro 2 credits
Learn to think with more clarity and sophistication about how still images can convey narrative. You’ll discuss the process of finding, researching, shooting, and editing. Learn how to find and tell stories effectively with pictures. Develop your ability to find, research, and report stories that explore and explain issues in communities.
JCOM 510 Drone Certification 2 credits
Explore the ethical, legal, and creative aspects of drone videography. In addition to learning the fundamentals of drone operation, students will prepare to pass the FAA's initial aeronautical knowledge exam in order to gain their Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
JCOM 510 360 Video 2 credits
Learn to use a variety of 360 video cameras to produce immersive 360 content as well as creative 2D video for social media. Postproduction workflow includes Mistaka VR, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Insta360 Studio.
JCOM 510 Community Voices: Harnessing Local Stories into a Podcast 4 credits
Students from diverse fields will engage with local communities to listen, co-produce, and share compelling stories through podcasts. Students will learn deep listening techniques, narrative construction, and digital storytelling, culminating in the production of a podcast episode that reflects community voices and narratives.
JCOM 624 Photogrammetry for Immersive Media* 2 credits
Get an introduction to photogrammetry, a technique that stitches together dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of photos to create a virtual model of a room, object, or environment.
JCOM 624 Introduction to Social Virtual Reality* 2 credits
Get insight into the history and evolution of social virtual reality, from its early stages in the game space to the emerging social platforms designed for immersion with VR headsets. Explore and experience several platforms and critically analyze current and potential use of immersive VR in community building, storytelling, marketing, design, education, and more. Consider the ethical implications of this technology and its potential impacts on equity and inclusion.
JCOM 624 User Experience and Design* 4 credits
This course is designed to teach fundamental principles of user experience (UX) and human-centered design (HCD) in the context of strategic communication. This course is heavily interdisciplinary, relying on various theoretical and applied approaches drawn from fields of human-computer interaction (HCI), media psychology, and many others. UX is also context-specific, and we will be highlighting UX design in various domains, including mobile apps, traditional web, service and customer experience, gaming, and product design.
JCOM 624 Creating for Immersive Platforms* 2 credits
An introduction to designing and building tools for virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, including Unity, Maya, WebXR, and other character-generating tools used to create immersive VR experiences. Students work with industry-standard software to create their first interactive VR environment and explore the foundations for AR-driven applications. Students will become familiar with off-the-shelf resources to get started quickly and gain an understanding of the overall production pipeline used in generating content for immersive platforms. No prior experience required.
JCOM 624 Introduction to Building Real-Time-Ready Assets for Immersive Media* 4 credits
Students will get an introduction to the production pipeline used in creating custom assets for immersive and interactive media. They will gain hands-on experience using cross-platform workflows to bring their original ideas to life. This course focuses on 3D modeling, texturing, and lighting for real-time rendering environments.
JCOM 624 Comparative Software for Immersive Media Development* 2 credits
Students will work with comparable production applications like Unreal Engine to develop VR scenes used for storytelling and visualization. The technical focuses of the course are setting up user functionality, basic interaction and UI, prototyping using Blueprints, high-dynamic lighting, and working with material graphs to generate visually compelling environments. This course also examines factors that contribute to a successful user experience and how to develop with those elements in mind. (Prereq: Creating for Immersive Platforms and Building Real-Time-Ready Assets for Immersive Media)
* Offered in the Oregon Reality Lab
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.