This certificate is a graduate level certificate, meaning you will be taking master's level classes.
When completed this certificate can be transferred into Gonzaga’ Online Master’s in Communication and Leadership program. You will be nearly halfway finished with a master’s when complete.
Program Details
- 12 Credits
- 4 Classes
- Fully Online
- Estimated Completion Time: 2 Semesters
- 5 Start Dates a Year
Classes
Available classes are offered based on meeting enrollment minimums.
Required Core | 6 Credits
COML 524: AI & Communication Leadership - 3 Credits
AI is changing how organizations communicate internally and externally. This course prepares you to lead that shift rather than react to it. You will learn how AI tools work in communication settings, how to evaluate them critically, and how to make decisions about when and how to use them ethically. Projects center on real leadership questions: How do we keep an authentic organizational voice when teams use AI to draft messages? How do we set guardrails that protect employees and stakeholders? How do we communicate clearly about AI to people who are skeptical and anxous about it? You will leave with the langhuage, frameworks and confidence to lead AI conversations and decisions in your workplace.
COML 540: Digital Media Analytics & Insight – 3 Credits
In this course you will learn how to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of digital communication, including website traffic and social media. You will gain specific tools for analysis and presentation of data in meaningful ways and develop media strategies based on data insights. This class will use case studies and practical exercises to help you understand analytic techniques.
Required AI Courses | 3 Credits | Choose 3
COML 575: Applied AI for Professional Communication - 1 credit
Pass/Fail
Knowing how to ask an AI tool the right way is now a professional skill, as real as writing a clean email or running an effective meeting. This short, focused course teaches you how to get high-quality output from AI tools across the writing tasks you actually do at work: strategic memos, stakeholder briefs, meeting summaries, reports and client communications. You will learn how to structure prompts, refine them when results miss the mark and edit AI generated drafts to meet professional standards. You will finish the course with a personal prompt library of 10-15 resuable prompts tailored to your role, something you can use the day you log off.
COML 576: AI for Strategic Communication Leadership - 1 credit
Pass/Fail
Strategic communication leaders are now expected to do more faster, analyze audiences in real time, test messages before launch, monitor how an organization is being talked about and respond to a crisis before it escalates. This course shows you how to use AI as a partner in that work without losing the authentic voice your organization depends on. You will work through realistic scenarios in audience analysis, message testing and crisis response and you'll finish with a Best Practices Framework you can bring to your team for handling multi-stakeholder, AI informed crisis communications.
COML 577: Leading Organizational AI Transformation- 1 credit
Pass/Fail
Most AI initiatives do not fail because the technology is wrong, they fail because the leadership around them is missing. this course gives you the tools to lead AI adoption inside an organization, whether you are a director, manger, consultant or someone being asked to "figure out the AI thing". You will learn how to assess your organizations readiness, identify the highest-value places to start, design a changes strategy that brings people along and build governance that protects employees, customers and the work itself. Every assignment builds toward a single deliverable: a professional 10-14 page AI Transformation Plan you can apply in your own organization.
COML 578: AI-Powered Data Storytelling & Visualization - 1 credit
Pass/Fail
Data only matters when people understand what it means and what to do about it. This course teaches you how to use AI tools to turn data into clear, compelling stories your audience can act on. You will work primarily with large language models for drawing out insights and business intelligence platforms like Tableau or Power BI for interactive dashboards with exposure to additional AI-assisted visualization tools as your work demands. You will build a small portfolio of professional artifacts you can show employers or use at work and you will learn how to evaluate AI-generated visuals critcally so accuracy and audience trust are never compromised.
Elective | 3 Credits | Choose 1
COML 505: Digital Storytelling – 3 Credits
The digital age has changed the way we tell stories. Current technology allows users access to a range of digital tools to not only create their own stories but share them widely through social media. But how do stories make an impact on audiences, given that there is so much more information available? This course teaches you different forms of storytelling using digital media tools. Readings will help you better understand different narrative and persuasive styles of storytelling as well as understand the major theoretical and policy-related issues. Through hands-on assignments, you will acquire technical skills that will help you become a more effective communicator in the digital age.
COML 509: Social Media Engagement and Analysis – 3 Credits
In this course, we look at the development and dynamics of social media platforms. Through course readings and assignments, we will not only better understand how these platforms can be used to communicate, but also how they can increase audience interactivity. Key to this course is an understanding of how social media has changed the way that audiences engage with organizations and networks. Google defines this new group of users as “Generation C,” a global group of consumers who thrive on content creation, curation, connection, and community. Generation C values authenticity and transparency, and they want both personalization and community. You also have the option of earning your Hootsuite Certification during this course.
COML 545: Digital Surveillance, Algorithms & Ethics - 3 credits
The internet plays a large role in our lives, but what really happens when you log into social media or search for a job, news, a political issue or even a restaurant online? In this course we will raise the curtain on what is really happening behind the scenes in these digital spaces. Who is collecting your data, how is it being used and stored, should it be used and stored, and how do algorithms really work? We will cover the issues surrounding privacy and surveillance and the ethical questions facing organizations and individuals. Some of the other topics we will study include, algorithmic bias, network neutrality, accessibility, content moderators, intellectual property and surveillance capitalism.
COML 550: Data Visualization & Visual Storytelling – 3 Credits
There is a vast quantity of data out there and it is not neutral, so how do you communicate important information gathered from data clearly and efficiently? In this course you will learn how to visualize information in a way that is easier for your audience to use and understand. You will strategize how to move beyond the written word and traditional presentations to create engaging graphic representations that are accessible and ethical and send a clear message. One of the best examples of how data is used today is the visual representations surrounding the COVD-19 pandemic. Part of your course work includes using data visualization, graphic and analytic tools.
Questions?
Contact:
Heather Schmitt
Call or Text: (509) 313-6240 or (866) 380-5323
Email: schmitth@gonzaga.edu
Schedule an Appointment