Are you curious about what collaboration with nonprofits looks like? Or how to generate written content for organizations in the fast-paced digital age? We have just the course for you! WRD 327/532 is designed to teach students how to write for today’s online environment. Taught by Dr. Lisa Dush, students will learn the ins and outs of content writing and strategy. Check out additional information on this course from Dr. Dush below.
What is the course about?
“It’s about what content is, how to create it, and how to use the professional insights of content strategy to align content with your rhetorical goals,” says Dr. Dush. The goal of the course is to give students an understanding of the core concepts of content writing and content strategy, as well as opportunities to apply these concepts in real-world writing projects.”
What kind of projects will students work on?
In WRD 327/532, students first work on an independent content-writing project focused on a topic of their choice. They’ll generate an online article for a general audience, then for a more specific audience, shift its modality, and ‘optimize’ the content with some basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) techniques. The second half of the course involves content-writing and content-strategy work for a nonprofit partner organization. Dr. Dush plans to focus this work on a manageable deliverable, such as an online newsletter.
This year, graduate-level WRD 532: Content Strategy and undergraduate-level WRD 327: Content Writing are cross-listed, offering a blend of insight from both undergraduate and graduate students as they work together. Dr. Dush notes that while content strategy and content writing are connected in practice, “the undergrads will focus more on the writing, and the grad students will do more strategy,” especially for the nonprofit partner project.
If you’re looking to write to explore your own interests, or if you want hands-on experience working with nonprofit partners, this course may be for you.
What do you think is going to make students really excited about this course?
“I’m encouraging students to bring their curiosities to the course. It’ll be fun for the class to learn from each other during the content-writing project. And the real context provided by a nonprofit partner is also going to be interesting.”
Want something to add to your professional portfolio? This course has you covered for that, too!
“Students tend to produce good job-search deliverables in the course. I’ve seen students’ nonprofit partner work, in particular, make it into MA in WRD final portfolio presentations—they’re good evidence of your ability to write for a client,” says Dr. Dush.
What’s a key takeaway you’re hoping students will retain from this course?
“One is that writers today are writing for both human and machine readers. When we create and circulate content, we have to keep both audiences in mind. And I also think that working with nonprofits is a great way to learn about feasible content practices.” When you begin applying content strategy principles in real organizational contexts, you learn all that goes into creating, measuring, and maintaining it.”
What’s the modality for this course?
WRD 327/532 will be offered both in-person or synchronously on Zoom. Once you enroll in either modality, you will be committed to it for the quarter. Dr. Dush values the predictability in this approach: “you always know you’re going to have people in the room, and you can plan for work that connects online students with in-person students.”
If you want to join this engaged classroom community and learn the tools of the trade for content strategy and content writing, be sure to add WRD 327/532 to your winter quarter schedule!
Have any questions about the course, its modality, or its learning goals? Email Dr. Lisa Dush at ldush@depaul.edu for more information.