Clark University's School of Professional Studies - Online Master of Science in Communication

Clark University offers an online Master of Science (M.S.) in Communication through its School of Professional Studies. The program is entirely online, without any required visits to campus, and utilizes the Moodle learning management system to facilitate online course delivery. Through Moodle, students can access their class materials and syllabi, submit assignments, communicate with instructors, and participate in class discussions with other students.

The M.S. in Communication is a 10-course program designed to be completed in one and a half to two years. The curriculum is divided between six core courses and four electives, and emphasizes digital marketing and media relations, organizational leadership, multimedia and multichannel communication campaign development, and the use of strategic marketing tools to innovate and iterate on marketing and PR communication strategies. There are two optional concentrations that students can select in Digital Literacy and Public Relations.

The six core courses include three courses that all students take: Communicating Responsibly, Marketing and Communication Strategies, Multi-Channel Communications. From there, students choose either Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Communication or Cultural Competence as their fourth core course. For their fifth course, students take either PR in the Digital Age or The Art of Stakeholder Management. The six and final core course is the Capstone Practicum, which students take as their culminating experience in the program. Through these foundational courses, students learn about strategic communication principles and how to implement them across media platforms, the use of data gathering and analysis to inform communication initiatives, and effective management and leadership skills through competent and compelling communication.

Students who choose the Digital Literacy concentration choose three courses from the following: Digital Citizenship, Ethics in the Digital World, Socio-Digital Engineering, and The Information Society. The Public Relations concentration consists of students’ choice of three courses among the following five: Crisis Communication, Brand Journalism, Effective Communications, PR in the Digital Age, and The Art of Stakeholder Management (if students have taken either of the last two courses listed for their core coursework, they must select a different course from this list to fulfill the concentration).

Electives that students can take to craft their personalized program of study cover areas such as journalism in the social media age, global talent cultivation, social media marketing, advanced visual communication and multimedia design, global marketing, advertising theory and practice, political communication, sustainability and environmental communication, freelance writing and strategy, and brand journalism. Students are also required to complete a non-credit, communication-related internship that has received faculty approval.

The culminating experience for all students in the program is the Capstone Practicum course. The practicum brings together concepts and topics from throughout the master’s program, and applies them to the completion of a comprehensive project. Students work in groups with a supervising faculty instructor to tackle a real-world organizational problem or challenge, conducting research, reviewing industry patterns and trends, and finally, creating a written and oral presentation of their recommendations to solve the problem.

Clark University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).