Full Sail
Creative Writing and Media Communications Launch Shared Content Creation Courses
The two Media & Communications concentrations merge select courses to best prepare students for diverse future careers.
At Full Sail University, Media & Communications studies allow students to learn new and engaging ways to share their ideas for a variety of media industries. From social media assets and short-form content to screenplays and branching-dialogue for video games, students in this halo focus on how their message is being communicated to an audience. That’s why students studying media communications and creative writing are now collaborating, sharing courses that will best prepare students in both curriculums for content-creation careers in a rapidly evolving media landscape.
We recently sat down with Program Directors Noelani Cornell (Creative Writing) and Kathy Craven (Media Communications) to discuss this new approach and how it will best prepare students in both areas of study for future careers in content creation, marketing, and more.
What inspired Creative Writing and Media Communications to collaborate?
Noelani: In this world, it's hard to support yourself just as a writer. You have to be able to hustle, you have to have different hard skills, and be able to wear a lot of hats. And so that's why working with media communications is such a beautiful thing because we're going to have writers who will be equipped with a plethora of multimedia skills. Instead of having only the medium of writing, they will have writing with other skills so that they can broadcast the message or the story.
Kathy: For media communications students, they’re learning a variety of skills while understanding how to create an impactful message. Really honing in on that message is going to be even more effective for them now because of the creative writing courses.
What new opportunities does this provide for students?
Noelani: The chances of actually acquiring a job in entertainment as a writer is so slim. We still cover all of the entertainment mediums, but by incorporating the classes and the skills from the media communications studies, I’m able to tell students, "Okay, if you want to be an entertainment writer, please look at that as a long-term goal. In the short term, we want you to find a job, and with the skills that you are acquiring through this blend with media communications, you're going to be poised to enter into the job market very soon after graduation and do that while you're continuing to work on your screenplay."
What benefits does this have for students looking to become content creators?
Noelani: The stereotype is that most creative writing students just want to write vampire novels in the dark by themselves, and because of that romanticized ideal, I think some students have hung on to that thinking that, "Okay, I can support myself being a novelist or only a storyteller."
So, by exposure to these classes and these students who are working on these projects, I think it's a real eye-opener for them. And so it's making them aware of other things that they can do with these skills.
Kathy: For media communications, we often think about creating videos, creating logos, and creating these visual and audio assets. And so now I think that for students to also understand that text – the words themselves, either on a website or on a social media post or a blog or a script – is also very important … I think that's going to really enhance their understanding of content creation.
How does this collaboration support a student who can’t choose between curriculums?
Kathy: It really doesn't need to be a divide. It's communications and we communicate in so many different ways now. So both groups of students can have a broader spectrum of that. Sometimes we have students coming in and boy, they're really into design, but they learn video and they learn to be like, "Wow, okay. I feel really well-rounded now." I think that's going to be the case for both creative writing and media communications in terms of their broader skill sets.
Learn more about shared courses by checking out course catalogs for media communications and creative writing.
Whether you’re ready to apply or just want to learn more about Full Sail University, our Admissions Representatives are here to help. Call us or request more information.