Storytelling is at the heart of human experience. In the Digital & Visual Storytelling Pathway, students will explore the powerful role that digital and visual media play in helping to tell stories and learn to use various tools to that end. Students will cultivate skills of digital and visual storytelling, examine theories and methods of creative and ethical digital storytelling, and explore career opportunities in digital and visual media.

Students in this Pathway will gain experience using digital tools and visual production methods while exploring different elements of digital and visual culture. Through thoughtful combination of coursework, experiential learning, and reflection, students will learn to be critical producers of visual and digital texts and understand theories and methodologies of media processes and contexts.

Students who choose this Pathway will develop knowledge and skills in these areas:

• Analysis & Interpretation of multiple sources of information
• Digital & Visual tools of production, communication, and reception
• Politics & Ethics of communicating with images and texts

Students on this Pathway might go into journalism, business, research, or the arts. They might become data analysts, web designers, writers, or reporters (for television, internet, or print media), and more. This Pathway is adaptable to a wide range of student interests and aspirations and is designed to help you gain confidence and feel empowered in your storytelling abilities.

PATH 11004: Initial Reflection – DIVI

This course asks you to complete three basic steps:

1. Spend time reflecting on several questions about why you’ve chosen this Pathway, noticing how your experiences and various aspects of your personal identity might play into your career direction.
2. Discuss your thoughts with other Digital & Visual Storytelling students, faculty, and staff.
3. Write about how your initial thoughts, the conversations you had with your Pathway community, and any new or different insights you have as a result.

PATH 22004: Career Planning – DIVI

For this course, you will explore career and internship resources supported by Career Planning in APEX, specifically Handshake and LinkedIn. You will also craft a career-ready resume. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the many resources offered by the Career Planning office to bring your resume to a truly professional level. Booking an appointment with a Career Planning staff member or peer advisor to go over your resume is strongly recommended.

PATH 33004: Experiential Learning – DIVI

This course asks you to complete an authentic, hands-on experience in one of the career areas you’re exploring. It is more than simply having an experience, however. In order to maximize the benefits and learning you gain, you will deliberately walk through goal setting, planning, and “preflection” (pre-reflection) before you complete the career experience. During and after your experience, you will spend time considering what you learned about yourself from the experience and how those lessons might impact your next career steps. Completing this thorough, guided process is what makes this “experiential learning” rather than just an experience.

**Note that this course will require you to complete some components BEFORE registering**

Steps to complete PATH 330:

Before Registering:

1. Explore a range of possible experiences that will help you further your career goals.
2. Plan your EL experience, taking advantage of resources and assistance offered by faculty or staff on the Pathway team, someone from APEX’s Experiential Learning & Community Engagement Office, Wooster alumni working in the career field, and/or your own connections in the field.
3. Complete the EL Approval Form & gain official approval from your Pathway faculty/staff team.

During the Course:

1. Complete your EL experience (can be done before or during PATH 330).
2. Upload your EL Verification Form.
3. Submit your post-EL reflection.

PATH 44004: Final Reflection – DIVI

When you’ve completed all the elements of the Pathway – PATH 110, 220, 330 and your chosen topical courses – you will reflect on your total Pathways experience with questions like: What did the topical courses teach you that are relevant to this career area? What are the career lessons from your experiential learning experience(s)? How did your perceptions of this career area and your place in it shift over time and where have they landed for now? When you step back and look at the bigger picture of your Pathways experience, in what ways are you stronger and more prepared to take your next career steps?

You will present your reflections publicly, which both encourages significant reflection and benefits those who are coming behind you on their own career journeys. Generally, students will do this by presenting a poster at a college event.

Other, smaller, components of the PATH 440 course include:

1. Update your resume to be career ready.
2. Create or update your LinkedIn profile.
3. Complete a few short end-of-Pathways surveys.

Students in the Digital & Visual Storytelling Pathway are required to complete one (1) EL opportunity.

Experiences that fulfill the EL requirement for this Pathway should give students guided opportunities to create and share stories or information through multiple forms and media in an authentically professional setting.* Students will complete one experience of at least 45 contact hours.** This experience should be through positions and research opportunities, on or off campus, that focus on creating, editing, and/or producing effective digital communications for use by companies or organizations. 

• On-campus examples: serving on the Voice’s editorial team, Digital Media Bar; social media positions for student organizations, Ebert Digital Lab; involvement with the Wooster Digital History Project  
• Off-campus examples: producing a marketing video for a company you work for, creating and managing social media accounts for an organization you have connections to.  

These professional experiences could be done through paid jobs or internships, including internships supported by APEX Fellowships or Micro Fellowships, as long as they meet the 45-hour requirement. 

Note: an experience might technically “count” as an EL for this Pathway but not be a good fit for you because it doesn’t help you explore and experience careers you’re interested in. It’s strongly recommended that you focus on experiences related to your specific career interests.

*Students may not fulfill this requirement with an EL-embedded class. 

**Contact hours include time spent under direction supervision as well as hours working independently to complete projects for the employer. 

None Currently