Prior to the rise of the Internet, communication specialists were either traditionally employed as journalists or worked for public relations agencies. However, today’s digital world has opened up the scope of opportunities for communication experts. Communication skills are highly sought after and most businesses, large and small, employ dedicated people to handle every aspect of both internal and external communications for them. An online communication degree teaches students how to convey all kinds of information effectively. Internal communications help to educate all employees on company goals, policies, and core values. Effective external efforts are essential to market products and services and build strong relationships with the public, customers, and investors.
Maryville University Online BA in Communication Curriculum
The online Bachelor of Arts in Communication program at Maryville University is designed to prepare you to adapt as the media landscape changes and the program strives to prepare students for lifelong careers in the field of communication. You can specialize your degree with a concentration in Strategic Communication or Emerging Media Strategy and Social Media.
The 128-credit curriculum includes general education courses (42 credits), communication major core courses (27 credits), communication concentration courses (24 credits) and general electives (35 credits).
Learn more about Maryville’s Online BA in Communication course offerings here:
Core Communication Curriculum
Learn how communication is used in social, professional, and global applications.
| COMM 121 | Introduction to Contemporary Communication | 3 Credits |
This course is a survey of communication from interpersonal to mass media, with an emphasis on understanding the current environment created by communication and technology. Assignments help students understand the media influence in their own lives regardless of major as well as explore communication as a career. | ||
| COMM 141 | Introduction to Writing for Communication and Media | 3 Credits |
Students learn and practice the basics of writing for contemporary media and communication in print, electronic, and digital environments. This practical, hands-on course also emphasizes the real-world applicability of the different types of writing to media jobs and communication careers. | ||
| COMM 233 | Digital Media II | 3 Credits |
Students will gain advanced software skills building to produce illustrations, edit photographs, and create reports and documents. They will learn advanced elements about three programs: Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, as well as additional design theories and principles that extend learning from Intro to Digital Media. | ||
| COMM 223 | Professional and Organizational Communication | 3 Credits |
This course has two objectives: (1) to help students understand organizations’ cultures and structures as places of employment and work; and (2) to give students guidance in developing their resumes and portfolios, and mapping out their individual job searching and interviewing networks and strategies. Students will develop their own resumes and portfolios in the class. | ||
| COMM 231 | Introduction to Digital Media | 3 Credits |
Students are introduced to the computer as a tool for producing digital media and imagery. Students will gain basic software skills to produce illustrations, edit photographs, and create documents. They will learn the basics about three programs: Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator; as well as basic design principles. | ||
| COMM 232 | Introduction to New and Social Media | 3 Credits |
This class explores what is new about the new media landscape and why we should care about these changes in the media landscape. Starting with social implications of the new media, the course will delve into how the new media landscape influences aspects of public relations, advertising, and journalism. New and social media are transforming communication for individuals, organizations, and society and this course focuses on the way language, discourses, and meaning have been and continue to be created and altered within the interdisciplinary area of social media. Students will become familiar with many current social media tools during the course of the class and they will also learn to think critically about how individuals and organizations talk about and create meanings within the world of new and social media. | ||
| COMM 321 | Communication Research Methods | 3 Credits |
Students in this course will understand and evaluate basic quantitative and qualitative research approaches common to different kinds of communication practice, including research used in strategic communication, applied media projects, and contemporary journalism.Common topics include learning how to conduct and evaluate formal and informal research from surveys, focus groups, and content analysis. | ||
| COMM 345 | Critical Approaches to Communication | 3 Credits |
This class explores the foundational concepts in the field of communication, with a specific focus on the history, theories, and models that have and continue to guide the discipline. Additionally, this course focuses on broader philosophical concepts that communication students must be exposed to for a strong and solid education. | ||
| COMM 422 | Global Communication | 3 Credits |
This course focuses on communication systems in world cultures with an emphasis on understanding the social, cultural, political, and economic effects on different systems.Students will also explore intercultural communication and the challenges of communicating in a global environment. | ||
Option 1: Strategic Communication Concentration Curriculum
Gain the skills to translate communication into actionable strategy for organizations.
Required course include COMM 251, COMM 347, COMM 363, and COMM 499.
Select one pair: COMM 471, COMM 494, COMM 472, or COMM 473.
| COMM 251 | Principles of Strategic Communication | 3 Credits |
This course concentrates on the principles, evolution, functions, and applied theories of public relations, including the social, ethical, and legal issues that impact the public relations function. The strategic practice of public relations in different contexts and environments, from corporate to non-profit, is discussed, as are careers in the profession. Prerequisite: COMM 121 | ||
| COMM 347 | Strategic Communication Writing | 3 Credits |
Students will learn the basics of developing and writing persuasive and creative messages as part of achieving an organization’s strategic communication goals and objectives. Emphasis is placed on using research to develop strategic platforms for message production, evaluating message writing and message effectiveness in achieving communication goals and objectives. | ||
| COMM 363 | Strategic Communication Research & Strategy | 3 Credits |
This course focuses on developing research-based strategy and tactics that form the basis of an organization’s internal and external communication to create new campaigns or solve organizational problems. Course topics include understanding the best practice models and case studies and how to manage communication situations. The course provides opportunities to develop strategy for a class client. | ||
| COMM 499 | Internship | 3 Credits |
Application to and approval by the Communication Internship Coordinator. | ||
| COMM 471 | Strategic Communication Campaigns | 3 Credits |
This capstone experience course gives students the opportunity to use all of their previous coursework to develop, create, implement, and evaluate a communication campaign for a client/organization. Key elements of this course include the ability to apply theoretical concepts to a real-world situation, to negotiate and advise the client on best courses of action, and to experience how the professional communication world works. | ||
| COMM 494 | Portfolio Defense | |
All students completing a communication major are required to complete a portfolio defense. For students taking courses on campus, COMM-494 satisfies this requirement in a student’s final Spring semester of enrollment. This portfolio defense will occur on an afternoon toward the end of the semester and students will be required to develop a physical portfolio and an online portfolio to display on the day of the portfolio defense. | ||
| COMM 472 | Strategic Communication Campaigns I | 3 Credits |
In this two-part capstone experience, you will be expected to act as if you are working in a strategic communication agency. This class serves as the first step in the capstone experience, in which you will bring together what you have learned throughout the program about the process of developing integrated campaigns. You will then develop a full campaign for a fictitious client. You will also begin work on your final Portfolio and receive feedback from working professionals | ||
| COMM 473 | Strategic Communication II | 3 Credits |
In this two-part capstone experience you will continue to act as if you are working in a strategic communication agency. This class serves as the second and final step in the capstone experience. In addition to mastering the process of developing integrated campaigns, you will develop a full campaign for an actual client. In this class, you will also complete your Portfolio along with receiving feedback from working professionals. Finally, you will gain skills in leveraging your Communication degree in the work world. | ||
Option 2: Emerging Media Strategy and Social Media Concentration Curriculum
Study the emerging trends that are shaping social media, its users, and our interconnected world.
Required courses include COMM 327, COMM 390, COMM 416, and COMM 499.
Select one pair: COMM 481, COMM 494, COMM 482, COMM 483
| COMM 327 | Social Media Campaigns | 3 Credits |
Designing and creating innovative social media campaigns is a powerful process in contemporary society and an essential tool for helping organizations craft a public narrative about their value in society. In this course, students will learn to evaluate organizational social media efforts, create and design social media campaigns for a variety of purposes, and provide recommendations to organizations about how to improve their social media efforts. Additionally, students in this course will be able to articulate, find, and digest the latest academic research that lies at the intersection of how technology is impacting organizations. | ||
| COMM 390 | Website Design | 3 Credits |
This course will help students develop websites that are functional and attractive. It will combine an artistic design approach with programming content to enhance students’ abilities to design, create, develop and publish websites. | ||
| COMM 416 | Issues and Crisis Management | 3 Credits |
Based in the scholarship of issues and crisis management, this course prepares students to fulfill the vigilant communication role important to dealing with issues in a timely fashion to prevent crises, as well as managing and/or mitigating a crisis in its various stages. | ||
| COMM 499 | Internship | 3 Credits |
Application to and approval by the Communication Internship Coordinator. | ||
| COMM 481 | E-Media & Digital Writing | 3 Credits |
This class is designed to move you from being a student to being a member of a group ready to put what you’ve learned in other classes to work in this capstone experiences. You will be expected to act as if you’re working in a digital communication agency. You will develop a full digital campaign for a real client. You will learn how to develop, create, write, and evaluate messages for online and digital channels and environments from traditional web sites to social media applications. You will also learn to determine the most effective mix of digital and media messages for different audiences and situations. | ||
| COMM 494 | Portfolio Defense | |
All students completing a communication major are required to complete a portfolio defense. For students taking courses on campus, COMM-494 satisfies this requirement in a student’s final Spring semester of enrollment. This portfolio defense will occur on an afternoon toward the end of the semester and students will be required to develop a physical portfolio and an online portfolio to display on the day of the portfolio defense. | ||
| COMM 482 | E-Media & Digital Writing Campaigns 1 | 3 Credits |
Welcome to the World Wide Web environment. This class is designed to move you from being a student to being a member of a group ready to put what you’ve learned in other classes to work in this two-part capstone experiences. You will be expected to act as if you’re working in a digital communication agency. This class serves as the first step in the capstone experience, in which you’ll bring together how to write intelligently, clearly, creatively, and credibly for the web to develop a digital campaign. You will then develop a full campaign for a fictitious client. You will also begin work on your final Portfolio and receive feedback from real professionals in your area. | ||
| COMM 483 | E-Media & Digital Writing Campaigns 2 | 3 Credits |
Welcome to the World Wide Web environment. This class is designed to move you from being a student to being a member of a group ready to put what you’ve learned in other classes to work in this two-part capstone experiences. You will be expected to act as if you’re working in a digital communication agency. This class serves as the second and final step in the capstone experience, in which you’ll bring together how to write intelligently, clearly, creatively, and credibly for the web to develop a digital campaign. You will develop a full digital campaign for a real client. In this class, you will also complete your Portfolio along with receiving feedback from real professionals in your area. Finally, you will gain skills in leveraging your Communication degree in the work world. | ||
To ensure the best possible educational experience for our students, we may update our curriculum to reflect emerging and changing employer and industry trends. Undergraduate programs and certificates are designed to be taken at a part-time pace. Please speak to your advisor for more details.
Ready for your next step?
Skills Gained with a BA in Communication Degree
A typical curriculum consists of courses that can give students in-depth knowledge and skills in several critical aspects of communication:
- Effective writing. Written content is essential for communicating a company’s message, whether internally to the workforce, or externally to customers, investors and the public. Students may learn to master a wide array of writing styles, from AP to Chicago, while honing their writing skills.
- Branding. A company’s brand is the ideal representation of its public image in the marketplace. Companies strive to maintain consistency through all their messaging, including advertisements, web content and social media communications, to ensure all content aligns with the brand. Students learn how to identify and craft brands for companies while developing the skills to ensure consistent branding through all communications.
- Digital marketing. Digital platforms and social media have largely replaced print media for advertising and marketing. Students learn the ins and outs of digital marketing to cultivate a company’s brand. Digital communication courses provide students with invaluable training in this field to enable them to craft high-quality web content and drive advertising and marketing campaigns on social media to achieve maximum impact.
- Media intelligence. It is critical that communication experts learn how to identify competitor strengths and weaknesses, and analyze market sectors for new marketing opportunities. Communication students learn how to use media intelligence and competitive analysis tools to develop effective marketing strategies.
- Data analysis. Analysis of website performance, advertising and marketing campaigns enables companies to evaluate their return on investment and make changes where necessary. Students learn to use data analytics to determine where a company should direct its marketing efforts.
Common Courses for BA in Communication Students
These are some of the common courses offered for this degree. Though actual course titles may vary depending on the university, many communication programs offer courses that touch on the following concepts:
Writing as a Strategic Communication Tool. Students learn the basics of developing and writing persuasive and creative messages to achieve an organization’s strategic communication goals and objectives. Emphasis is placed on using research to develop strategic platforms for message production, evaluate writing and message effectiveness.
Research and Strategy Development. This type of course often focuses on developing research-based strategy and tactics for an organization’s internal and external communications to create new campaigns or solve organizational problems. Course topics include understanding the best practice models and case studies, and how to manage communication situations.
Social Media Campaigns. Designing and creating innovative social media campaigns is an essential tool for helping companies to craft a public narrative about their value in society. Students can learn to evaluate organizational social media efforts, create and design social media campaigns for various purposes, and provide recommendations about how to improve a company’s social media efforts.