Course Syllabus

Fall 2024 | COM-1180-VO01 - Storytelling through Media

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Gaia Neftci
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Ashraf Alamatouri

General Education Requirements

CCV Communication

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course investigates the essence and power of storytelling, revealing how narrative can be effectively applied in a range of contexts and across multiple media platforms to achieve specific goals for various entities, including businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and political or social campaigns. Students explore the opportunities and perils of storytelling with regard to audience engagement, and apply their learning to demonstrate proficiency in developing their own stories and selecting appropriate media technology and delivery strategies to convey these.

Essential Objectives

1. Examine the significance of traditional storytelling in human experience and explain how people respond to and connect with spoken, visual, and written messages.
2. Define storytelling in the public sphere and discuss the role and significance of storytelling through media in the 21st century.
3. Discuss how storytelling can develop a message or image that expresses the essence of an entity, resonates emotionally with a targeted audience’s needs and wants, and achieves the goal of the message.
4. Analyze strategies and concepts applied to communication projects and delivered through various media channels and evaluate their effectiveness in eliciting the desired response from targeted audiences.
5. Create at least one succinct and cohesive story applying various elements, such as language, tone, style, pace, metaphor and images to efficiently convey desired messages to select audiences and platforms.
6. Discuss the social and ethical responsibilities of the storyteller in the contemporary context.
7. Utilize digital media in the creation process to determine the parameters of the story within available time and resources; to sketch out the various elements, such as video, still photos, audio, graphics, and text; and to ensure cohesiveness and interactivity.
8. Prepare a formal presentation that demonstrates proficiency using the CCV Oral Communication Rubric.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Prohibited: The use of generative AI is not allowed in this course, with the exception of spellcheck, grammar check and similar tools. This course rests in the value of students engaging in the learning process without relying on AI-generated content. Students will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently, owning their learning journey from start to finish. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically dishonest and a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Methods

• interactive projects and/or activities
• multimedia presentations and resources
• readings, writing, and inquiry-based research

Assignments and Discussion Boards
There will be one discussion board and one assignment each week. Initial posts for the discussion board are due by 11:59 PM on Thursday, and responses to your peers are due by 11:59 PM on Monday. Assignments are due by 11:59 PM on Monday.

Your active participation will be crucial and will include several engaging activities, such as: 1) contributing to discussion boards, 2) creating hands-on projects like storyboards, advertisements, memes, and animated GIFs, and 3) presenting your final digital story project through a video presentation.

Software
In this course you will need to use a type of design and a video software. You might choose to use Adobe Creative Cloud. This software can be purchased directly from Adobe for a student monthly price.For personal computers, this software can be purchased directly from Adobe for an annual plan of $19.99 per month (note that an annual commitment is required). To get student pricing, you will need to use your CCV email address.

Adobe Creative Cloud system requirements can be foundhere. Individual applications can be downloaded separately, and requirements may vary. Links to requirements for Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop are below.

Adobe IllustratorLinks to an external site.
Adobe InDesignLinks to an external site.
Adobe PhotoshopLinks to an external site.
Adobe XDLinks to an external site.

If you have difficulty in acquiring or accessing these resources for your course, please contact your advisor or financial aid counselor to see if there are assistance programs available to you.

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support pagehttps://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/Links to an external site.

If you choose to work with other design software that is available to you, that is also fine. Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Evaluation Criteria

• Weekly discussion boards (30% of final grade)
• Weekly assignments (30% of final grade)
• Digital Storytelling Project (40% of final grade)

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

To earn full participation points for the week, students should:

• Read the assigned material and demonstrate an understanding of those resources in your assignments and posts. Readings and resources should be cited using APA format.
• Post an original response to the weekly prompt(s) before Thursday at midnight (11:59 PM) and a minimum of two responses to peers before Monday at midnight (11:59 PM). You are welcome to post early and/or more frequently, as your schedule allows, but you will not receive full credit if you do not meet these minimum requirements and/or deadlines.
• Posts should be substantive and demonstrate college-level writing. A substantive post is well-developedand references the reading or another appropriate source. A substantive post is NOT one or two sentences of general statements or unsupported opinion.

Missing & Late Work Policy

• Late assignments can be submitted up to one week past the deadline. You will lose 10% each day that an assignment is late. After a week, it will no longer be accepted for credit.
• Late work is not accepted in the discussion forum. Interacting with classmates is an essential part of online discussions and cannot be made up after the fact.
• Extensions will be granted only in extenuating circumstances. If a lengthy medical problem or other emergent personal issue will result in missing weekly discussions and/or assignments, please contact your instructor as soon as possible.
• Students who know that they will not have course access for any given week should make arrangements with their instructor to complete assignments and participation requirements prior to the absence.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity