Master of Arts in Digital Communications Management

Master of Arts in Digital Communications Management at Boise State University

Develop communications skills and launch into the next phase of your career as a content, client, project and team expert.

With this master’s degree, graduates should be prepared to:

Create action plans and make decisions about the use of digital communications based on analysis of media metrics.
Produce and publish professional-level communications content to achieve identified goals.
Engage clients and coordinate resources to achieve identified project goals.
Mentor team members to achieve identified project goals and develop team members.

Apply today

Digital Communications Management Course Rotation

You can make a copy of the DCM course rotation here.

The program is designed for students to begin at any point in the course rotation. So join us in fall, spring or summer—even mid-semester.

	Fall - 7WK1	Fall - 7WK2	Spring - 7WK1	Spring - 7WK2	Summer - 7WK1	Summer - 7WK 2
DCM 500: Projects	X
DCM 510: Content		X
DCM 520: Clients			X
DCM 530: Teams				X
DCM 599: Capstone					X
DCM 580: Practicum	X (full semester)	X (full semester)	X (full semester)	X (full semester)	X (full semester)	X (full semester)

Build Digital Communication Skills

DCM 500 Managing Projects

Learn traditional, agile, and hybrid project management processes
Become competent with scheduling concepts and processes
Create action plans about use of digital communications to meet project outcomes
Create a budget and budget narrative to align with project goals and present to clients

DCM 510 Creating Content

Learn advanced knowledge and skills associated with creating communications content
Learn written messaging, visual graphics, audio files, photographs and video content
Learn media and social media implementation of content to accomplish project goals for the client

DCM 520 Engaging Clients

Assist communication specialists in advancing their knowledge of client relationships
Develop skills to manage client relations and processes to meet project outcomes
Address how working with clients also defines project objectives or messaging through visual efforts

DCM 530 Mentoring Teams

Evaluate major ideas around mentoring teams
Identify communication problems in a variety of team contexts
Apply various perspectives to team settings and situations
Utilize state of the art practices to further our understanding of team management

DCM 570 Practicum

Earn credit through hands-on learning
Explore professional opportunities such as shadowing someone in a position or industry of interest to you
Incorporate experiential learning into your professional portfolio

DCM 599 Capstone

Assemble projects from your program into a cohesive portfolio
Assess your industry and articulate your expertise as relevant to your industry
Prepare materials to launch into the next phase of your career

Specialize your Skillset

Specialize your skillset with an emphasis or customize your own.

Conflict Management Emphasis
Complete the following:

CONFLICT 510: Conflict Management
CONFLICT 513: Mediation and Negotiation
CONFLICT 514: Conflict Coaching and Facilitation
CONFLICT 515: Culture and Conflict

Customize an Emphasis
Complete the following:

Take at least 12 credits of graduate-level courses from DCM
Coordinate with your Program Coordinator for approval

User Research Emphasis
Complete the following:

ANTH 540: Fundamentals of Design Anthropology
ANTH 541: Ethnography for User Experience Research
ANTH 542: Emerging Digital Cultures
DCM 570: Digital Communications Practicum

Develop your skills in the workplace.

One thing distinguishing our program from others is our commitment to experiential learning. Practicum integrates on the job training and professional development with faculty-guided reflection.

You find a professional opportunity such as shadowing or working with someone with expertise in an area you want to develop. For example: you might have a lot of content creation expertise but want to develop your team mentoring or client engagement expertise.

First, find an organization and a person with the expertise you want to develop.

Second, negotiate the specifics with your practicum mentor. Once you have those details, complete the practicum intake form. In fact, you may want to look at the form before discussing things with your potential mentor to give you so you know what information to discuss with them.

Third and once you complete the form, contact Todd Norton at DigitalCom@boisestate.edu to finalize things.

Last, sign up for DCM 570.

Todd Norton
Program Director and Professor
Teaches DCM 500: Managing Projects and DCM 570

Other teaching interests include project management and professionally-focused communications courses. His project experience focuses on multi-stakeholder processes.

Jefferson Spurlock
Lecturer of Media
Teaches DCM 510 Creating Content and DCM 520

Other teaching interests include media writing, media production, sport marketing, public relations and social media.

Lee Emmert
Media Production Clinical Faculty
Teaches DCM 520: Engaging Clients

Other teaching interests include multimedia storytelling, media production and podcasting.

Christine Moore
Strategic Communications Faculty
Teaches DCM 599 Capstone

Other teaching interests include public relations courses that have a professional focus and include hands-on experiences and service-learning.

Matt Isbell
Professor of Communication
Teaches DCM 530: Mentoring Teams

Other project and teaching interests include change management, community collaboration, nonprofit organizations and organizational identity.

Master of Arts in Digital Communications Management