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Digital Media Practice, Production and Literacy

Become a Summer Trojan and earn college credit.

In the 21st century, anyone with an internet connection can contribute to online discourse, creating a flood of content that can be inspiring and informative, but also overwhelming and riddled with misinformation. Democracies depend on media literate, engaged citizens who can critically analyze this news and information, navigating the digital space with thought and purpose. This course equips students — from future political journalists to aspiring sports podcasters — to produce responsible, compelling content for the digital age.

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Program Overview

In this interdisciplinary course, students will learn to produce and analyze digital content in our age of unprecedented information. They’ll also examine the effects of online democratization, which has elevated previously marginalized voices while also amplifying misinformation.

The course guides students as they apply critical thinking skills to various forms of media, including prestige journalism, big-budget movies and short-form videos.

You will also produce your own high-quality content, participating in hands-on workshops that emphasize insights from analytics as well as creativity.

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Key Information

Topics of Study

Digital media literacy
Media studies and aesthetics
Visual journalism
News and documentary production
Video production
Audio storytelling
Digital photography
Open-source techniques to combat misinformation online

Learning Highlights

Develop critical thinking skills for evaluating media in the digital age
Learn to identify markers of misinformation and disinformation, including the use of AI
Assess how different groups are represented in the media
Produce multiple media projects using various software tools, taking into consideration how different groups are represented and how audiences will critically engage with the work

Requirements

Students must bring their own laptops.

Week	Focus	Key Topics	Assignments and Activities
1	Media Literacy	How bias — and algorithms — influence our perception of the world	Learn open-source techniques for fact-checking social media stories.
2	Content Creation: Photos and Video	Best practices for photo and video production	Shoot and edit short-form videos for TikTok and Instagram.
3	Content Creation: Audio	Best practices for audio production	Record and edit a podcast episode.
4	Final Project	How different forms of media work together	Present final projects.

[Our professor] gave us many insights and stories into the TV/film industry which were helpful and eye-opening. We also watched lots of forms of media, including documentaries, TV shows, and music. Our projects were very fun and creative…

— USC Summer Programs student participant