Overview

Storytelling is at the heart of human experience. In the Digital & Visual Storytelling Pathway, students will explore the powerful role that digital and visual media play in helping to tell stories and learn to use various tools to that end. Students will cultivate skills of digital and visual storytelling, examine theories and methods of creative and ethical digital storytelling, and explore career opportunities in digital and visual media.

Students in this pathway will gain experience using digital tools and visual production methods while exploring different elements of digital and visual culture. Through thoughtful combination of coursework, experiential learning, and reflection, students will learn to be critical producers of visual and digital texts and understand theories and methodologies of media processes and contexts.

Students who choose this pathway will develop knowledge and skills in these areas:

  • Analysis & Interpretation of multiple sources of information
  • Digital & Visual tools of production, communication, and reception
  • Politics & Ethics of communicating with images and texts

Students on this pathway might go into journalism, business, research, or the arts. They might become data analysts, web designers, writers, or reporters (for television, internet, or print media), and more. This pathway is adaptable to a wide range of student interests and aspirations and is designed to help you gain confidence and feel empowered in your storytelling abilities.


Faculty & Staff

Ahmet Atay

Ahmet Atay

Professor of Communication Studies; Program Chair of Global Media & Digital Studies; Liaison to Digital Visual Storytelling Pathway

aatay@wooster.edu

gray silhouette outline of a person

Matt Dilyard

Director of Photography

mdilyard@wooster.edu

Jennifer Hayward portrait

Jennifer Hayward

Virginia Myers Professor of English; Global Media & Digital Studies; Digital and Visual Storytelling Pathway (on leave Spring 2024).

jhayward@wooster.edu

Katie Holt History Professor

Katherine Holt

Aileen Dunham Professorship in History; Latin American Studies Department Chair; Global and International Studies; Co-Liaison to Digital and Visual Storytelling Pathway

kholt@wooster.edu

Marina Mangubi

Marina Mangubi

Professor, Art and Art History

mmangubi@wooster.edu

Nii Nikoi

Nii Nikoi

Assistant Professor Global Media & Digital Studies; Communication Studies

nnikoi@wooster.edu

Greg Shaya

Greg Shaya

Henry J. and Laura H. Copeland Professor of European History; Global Media & Digital Studies; (On leave for AY 2023-24)

gshaya@wooster.edu

Becky Webb

Pathways Program Coordinator, Global Engagement Office Administrative Coordinator

rwebb@wooster.edu


Latest Digital and Visual Storytelling News

Ahmet Atay, professor of communication studies and chair of global media and digital studies at The College of Wooster

Professor Atay publishes new book about generational media and culture

Ahmet Atay, professor of communication studies and program chair of global media & digital studies at The College of Wooster, recently published Millennials and […]

Tyler Rak '24

Wooster student explores social media management at local theater during APEX Fellowship

Tyler Rak ’24 spent his summer working as an intern for Lyric Theater of Wooster researching small theater operations, managing social media accounts, and […]

Hamed Goharipour

Urban studies professor contributes article for Encyclopedia Iranica

Hamed Goharipour, assistant professor of urban studies at The College of Wooster, recently published an essay on “Tehran in Iranian Post-Revolutionary Films” in the […]

Microaffirmation

Collaborative community project raises awareness about unintentional messages found in everyday communications and their impact

Michael Miyawaki, assistant professor of sociology at The College of Wooster, is leading a Microaggressions and Microaffirmations (M&M) Project on campus to raise awareness […]

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Requirements

Experiential Learning Opportunities (One Experiences)

Experiences that fulfill the EL requirement for this Pathway should give students guided opportunities to create and share stories or information through multiple forms and media in an authentically professional setting.

** Students will complete one experience of at least 45 contact hours.*

This experience should be through positions and research opportunities, on or off campus, that focus on creating, editing, and/or producing effective digital communications for use by companies or organizations.

  • On-campus examples: serving on the Voice’s editorial team, Digital Media Bar; social media positions for student organizations, Ebert Digital Lab; involvement with the Wooster Digital History Project
  • Off-campus examples: producing a marketing video for a specific company that requests it, creating and managing actual social media accounts for an organization.

These professional experiences could be done through paid jobs or internships, including internships supported by APEX Fellowships or Micro Fellowships, as long as they meet the 45-hour requirement.

*Contact hours include time spent under direction supervision as well as hours working independently to complete projects for the employer.

**Students may not fulfill this requirement with an EL-embedded class.

Reflection

Reflections guide students to articulate meaningful connections between the skills and knowledge they are gaining and the experiences in their coursework, experiential learning opportunities and career goals. Reflections take place along five points in the pathway:

First Reflection Touchpoint: At the Start of the Pathway

The first opportunity to reflect is when the student declares their Pathway.  Responses to prompts asked at this moment establish a baseline from which student moves forward.

Second Reflection Touchpoint: An Opportunity to Investigate

At this point in the process, students will explore career and internship resources offered through Career Planning in APEX. They will also craft a career-ready resume.

Third Reflection Touchpoint: Before Experiential Learning Opportunity

This reflection offers students the opportunity to connect with professionals who will guide them as they plan their experiential learning for maximum growth and impact.

Fourth Reflection Touchpoint: After Experiential Learning Opportunity

This reflection takes place after the student has completed an experiential learning opportunity and asks them to consider how the work they have done connects with their pathway.

Fifth Reflection Touchpoint: At the End of This Pathway – and the Start of New Ones

At this touchpoint, students engage with questions that help them build connections between theory and practice, their career goals, and how they plan to extend their Pathway beyond Wooster.

Coursework (Three Courses)

Students will complete three courses that meet the following descriptions:  

Theory & Method (one course)

Courses in this requirement will give introductions to forms of visual literacy, examine approaches to media and digital studies, and/or consider the role of cultural identities in visual creation and viewership.

  • GMDS-11000 Intro to Global Media & Digital Studies
  • GMDS-12000 Intro to Media & Cultural Studies
  • GMDS-13000 Intro to Film Studies
  • GMDS-14000 Intro to Digital Studies
  • GMDS-25000: Transnational Approaches on Media & Film
  • GMDS-30000: Research Methods in Global Media & Digital Studies*
  • COMM-33200: Visual Communication*
  • GMDS-35201: Social Media & Everyday Lives
  • COMM-35100 Critical/Cultural Methods*

 

Production & Storytelling (two courses)

Digital Production: Students opting to complete approved coursework in digital production should expect to develop technical skills in visualizing and communicating information. Emphasis may be placed on the role of technology in shaping human experiences and expression.

  • ARTS-17100: Introduction to Digital Imaging*
  • ENGL-24037: Is a Pic Worth 1000 Words? Introduction to Image-Text Studies
  • GMDS-23100: Visualizing Information
  • HIST-20104: Latin America & the United States*
  • HIST-20210: Digital Storytelling w/Scalar (0.5 credits)
  • HIST-20215: Digital Storytelling with ArcGIS

Film/Media Production 

  • HIST-20209: Documentary Filmmaking (0.5 credits)
  • HIST-20201: Historical Documentary Filmmaking Workshop (0.25 credits)
  • HIST-21500: Colonial Latin America
  • HIST-21800: Documentary Film & History Buenos Aires (fulfills Film/Media requirement or Experiential Learning)

Visual Storytelling: These are courses that introduce students to a range of visual languages with which to explore ways of narration, expression, and representation. Students completing coursework in visual storytelling will practice skills in production, composition, and communication.

  • ARTS-15100: Introduction to Drawing
  • ARTS-15300: Introduction to Painting
  • ARTS-15500: Introduction to Printmaking
  • ARTS-15900: Introduction to Photography
  • ARTS-25900/35900: Intermediate/Advanced Photography*
  • COMM-23700: Visual Rhetoric*
  • COMM-26400: Communication & Technology*
  • COMM-33200: Visual Communication*
  • THTD-10200: Foundations of Theatrical Design
  • THTD-30201: Scenic Design
  • THTD-30306: Choreography*
  • THTD-30307: Directing*
  • THTD-310: Digital Media Design for the Performing Arts

Journalism and Storytelling: Approved courses in journalism & storytelling have students consider how narratives shape social and cultural identities, impact public life and perceptions of social and political realities, and rely on language and symbols to inspire action or change.

  • SPAN-31100: Adaptations in the Hispanic Creative Industries
  • COMM-23500: Media, Culture & Society*
  • COMM-25000: Principles of Rhetoric*
  • COMM-25400: Political Rhetoric*
  • COMM-25900: Communicating Public Policy*
  • ENGL-23049: Procedurals
  • ENGL-26100: Advanced Poetry & Fiction*
  • HIST-20101: History of the News*

*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register