This course provides an opportunity for students to explore key technical, ethical, and experiential elements in contemporary digital and social media and integrate them into a project-based solution of the student?s choosing. Topics are drawn from immediate trends and are interrogated for their effects on individuals, communities, society, and the world. Students also select a topic of their own for further study.

In the past 25 years, electronic media, mobile devices, and algorithmically optimized information networks have intensified how humans have engaged with mediated information. This course examines the collateral effects of this phenomenon on our habits, norms, beliefs, and cognitive processing. Students will study the historical, political, and theoretical narrative that has led to questions about the construction of social worlds, the construct of reality, and the legitimacy of information. A special focus will be made in studying the implications of synthetic deepfake and AI-driven text generating systems in accelerating these effects.

The Capstone course for the Digital Communication Design major enables the student to apply what they have learned throughout their academic career within a project of their choosing. Students will propose, design, develop, and report on a project that touches upon each of the Programmatic Outcomes for their major and concentration to demonstrate their knowledge and proficiency. Students will work in partnership with faculty to create a project that meets the requirements, output, and format of Capstone-level research. Prior to capstone enrollment, students are expected to complete the majority of their required major courses. Students should consult with their advisor regarding specific major courses that may be completed with their capstone. NOTE: Students who were admitted to the college before Fall 2019 and have remained active in their original catalog year are not required to take IDIS 601.

This course introduces the learner to the field of criminology by reviewing the historical underpinnings of the modern-day study of crime and criminals, examining the theoretical causes of crime and criminality, and evaluating society's responses to crime. Learners are introduced to the sociological, biological, and psychological schools of criminological thought. Topics include crime statistics and social and legal mechanisms used to address criminal activity and the individual criminal.