Strategic Storytelling – COMS 526

Course Description

Investigative journalism in the digital age.

Prerequisites

None

Rationale

Great stories attract people—including employees, customers, members, and donors—so knowing how to spot, tell, and properly frame a story is a critical skill in the present day. Practitioners who are able to create an emotional connection between their publics and organization are well on their way to creating a brand identity. This course provides the student with a theoretical and practical understanding of strategic/directed storytelling and its role in branding for-profit, non-profit, and ministry organizations.

Course Assignment

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in Module/Week 1.

Reading Quizzes (7)

Students will complete each week’s reading and then take the quiz that is associated with the reading. The student may use the class text as an aid in taking these quizzes.

Short Papers (4)

In order to aid in the application of the reading, the student will complete four short papers. These papers will focus on a single brand the class will study over the term of the class.

Personal Brand Story

After studying the StoryBranding paradigm, students will create a 3 to 5 minute video that explains what they conceive their personal brand to be.

The Bible and Storybranding Paper

The Bible is full of stories, and these stories are not meant to merely pass along information. They are meant to connect at the heart and soul level. Students will select a story from the Bible that full connects to their heart and soul, and they will explain this connection using several of the principles of Storybranding.

Final Exam

The Final Exam will cover all the reading & study material for the course. The exam will be open book/open notes and contain 40 multiple-choice questions and 1 essay question. The time limit for the exam will be 1 hour and 30 minutes.