Spring 2027

Special Topics in Advanced Concepts and Skills

Advanced exploration of varying concepts and skills in journalism or strategic communication, focusing on producing publishable work and critiquing media practices.

offering recorded1–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jacob KushnerSusan RobinsonThomas Beckman +1 more

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Debra Pierce

A past student reported that the instructor assigned ridiculous amounts of homework, creating a heavy workload that required substantial time commitment.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explore and critique journalism and/or strategic communication.

  • Produce publishable journalism and/or strategic communication.

  • Produce key messages that resonate with target audiences.

  • Critique traditional journalism and/or strategic communication with more sophisticated analysis techniques.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

JOURN 335, 345, or graduate/professional standing

JOURN 475

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.59 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=17 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=9 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.89 GPA, 90.9% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.84 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DEBRA PIERCE is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2019, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JACOB KUSHNER is recorded teaching in Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SUSAN ROBINSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS BECKMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 048Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LAB 056Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LAB 058Classroom Instruction0 / 160
LAB 054Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LAB 060Classroom Instruction0 / 160

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Debra Pierce

One student described the course as intense, noting that the instructor assigned significant amounts of homework and expected students to prioritize this class above others.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.88 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=34 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Debra Pierce

A past student reported that the instructor assigned ridiculous amounts of homework, creating a heavy workload that required substantial time commitment.

Past student reviews · Debra Pierce

The reviewer felt the instructor played favorites and was unable to accept student feedback that did not praise her, leading to a negative classroom experience.

Topics

  • Variable special topics in advanced concepts and skills.
  • Journalism and strategic communication theory and practice.

Skills

  • Critiquing journalism and strategic communication using sophisticated analysis techniques.
  • Producing publishable journalism or strategic communication materials.
  • Developing key messages for specific target audiences.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

Special Topics in Advanced Concepts and Skills

Recorded 2026-10-14
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

International Reporting

Recorded 2026-10-14
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

CBL - Odyssey Project

Recorded 2026-10-14
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

AI for Strat Comm

Recorded 2026-10-14
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

Open Source Investigations

Recorded 2026-10-14
JOURN 475 · Spring 2027

Covering Immigration

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Special Topics in Advanced Concepts and Skills",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437.48",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437.48",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "International Reporting",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437.54",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437.54",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "CBL - Odyssey Project",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437.56",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437.56",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "AI for Strat Comm",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437.58",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437.58",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Open Source Investigations",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:512:021437.60",
    "course_id": "JOURN 475",
    "course_uid": "course_06a6a3ddbe2f83f28f5f412f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021437.60",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Covering Immigration",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "07aa18ff3027ceb33dd9cb037ab07e0659c9368c1a7457f90a401cffa691860e",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}