LSC offers a number of online summer courses that can be taken by undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline at UW-Madison. Courses can be taken individually or as part of LSC’s Undergraduate Major, Professional and Thesis M.S., Graduate Certificate in Science Communication, Ph.D. Minor in Science Communication, and Ph.D. in Mass Comm. Additionally, our summer courses are open to professionals seeking to improve their science communication skills. Enroll in our summer classes by following this link.
Information on how to enroll in a summer course at UW-Madison can be found through the Summer Term’s webpage. Summer Term enrollment began on April 2023 so check out LSC’s course options below and enroll now.
LSC Online Summer Course Offerings:
LSC 100: Science and Storytelling
Duration: 8 weeks
Credits: 3
Students in LSC 100 explore using storytelling to communicate about science. The course prepares students in best practices for achieving clarity and style in writing, research, and oral presentations. Students study the dynamics of storytelling in the sciences, health, and environment.
LSC 100 is an eight-week online synchronous course that runs from June 19 to August 13, 2023. This course fulfills UW-Madison’s Communications A requirement.
Enroll now by following this link.
LSC 212: Intro to Scientific Communication
Duration: 8 weeks
Credits: 3
Whether you’re majoring (or planning to major) in science, social science, communication, business, or another field, writing will be a key part of your academic and professional life. This course focuses on increasing your confidence and competency as a writer with an emphasis on science.
Throughout the summer, students in LSC 212 will expand their skills in refining ideas, developing an argument, composing, critiquing, revising, critical thinking, and library research. Building these skills will help students communicate more effectively in many genres, including academic papers, scientific research articles, journalistic and other forms of professional writing, multimedia pieces, and online communication including social media.
LSC 212 is an eight-week online synchronous course that runs from June 19 to August 13, 2023. This course fulfills UW-Madison’s Communications B requirement.
Counts toward the LSC major, undergraduate science communication certificate, and Global Health major.
Enroll now by following this link.
LSC 251: Science, Media and Society
Duration: 8 weeks
Credits: 3
This course explores how we all make personal and political decisions at the intersection of science, media, and society. How do we form opinions about emerging technologies we know little about? Why are societies sometimes so divided in their interpretations of scientific facts and phenomena? Why are there pronounced differences in how consumers and policy makers in Europe, the U.S. other parts of the world react to new technologies? How can we better communicate and debate science and health in a global marketplace? What role do rapidly changing online news environments play in changing how we communicate about science and technologies worldwide? And how can we correct misperceptions during pandemics like COVID-19 with science that is still emerging and changing over time?
LSC 251 is an eight-week online asynchronous course that runs from June 19 to August 13, 2023. This course fulfills UW-Madison’s humanities or social science requirement, the L&S credit requirement (intermediate), and the CALS International Studies requirement.
Counts toward the LSC major, undergraduate science communication certificate, Global Health major, and other certificates in Business Management in Ag & Life Sciences, and Health Policy.
Enroll now by following this link.
LSC 332: Print and Electronic Media Design
Duration: 5 weeks
Credits: 3
This course is designed to teach the fundamentals of digital design and visual communications combining an introduction to design theory with hands-on experience to strategically plan and execute digital design using Adobe software programs. Students will learn to research, plan, design and produce a variety of print and digital communication pieces that can be added to their portfolio.
LSC 332 is a five-week online asynchronous course that runs from June 12 to July 16, 2023.
Counts toward the LSC major, undergraduate science communication certificate, and Digital Studies certificate.
Enroll now by following this link.
LSC 350: Visualizing Science and Technology
Duration: 5 weeks
Credits: 3
This course introduces the theoretical and practical principles of visual communication pertaining to science, environment, and agriculture. Throughout the summer, students will (1) identify and analyze visual representations of interested topics, (2) understand and explain their effectiveness in terms of illustrating, informing, and persuading, (3) offer and justify recommendations for visual design practices. Students will also learn to discern unethical manipulations of visuals, such as deepfakes, distorted data graphs, and fake photos.
LSC 350 is a five-week online asynchronous course that runs from July 3 to Aug. 6, 2023. This course fulfills UW-Madison’s humanities or social science requirement and L&S credit requirement (intermediate) for undergraduates and has the 50% graduate attribute.
Counts toward the LSC major, undergraduate science communication certificate, graduate certificate, Ph.D. minor, and graduate programs. Also counts toward certificates in Digital Studies, Entrepreneurship, Technical Communication, and ISSuES.
Enroll now by following this link.
LSC 432: Social Media for the Life Sciences
Duration: 5 weeks
Credits: 3
Working in the social media field is challenging. The tools and technologies change at unprecedented speed. Because of this, I believe in emphasizing overarching principles versus specific tactics because tactics change but principles do not. It’s easy to learn specific tactics by doing simple web searches and following industry thought leaders. However, few courses or sites focus on core communication principles.
LSC 432 is a survey course exploring the communication and community impacts of social media, current social media tools, and the principles of how the different social media tools are used and how they work. We will explore social media from strategic, applied and tactical perspectives.
LSC 432 is a five-week online asynchronous course that runs from May 30 to July 2, 2023.
Counts toward the LSC major, undergraduate science communication certificate, graduate certificate, Ph.D. minor, and graduate programs. Also counts toward certificates in Business Management for Ag & Life Sciences, Digital Studies, Entrepreneurship, and the MS in Clinical Nutrition.
Enroll now by following this link.