Get Ready for an Exciting Job in a Creative Field
The Digital Storytelling and Content Creation major at St. Edward’s prepares you to shape, design and produce compelling interactive stories in demand by employers across sectors — and it’s fun.
This degree program sits at the intersection of content creation, technology and innovation. Professionals in the field conceive, plan and produce projects in diverse digital media platforms using cutting-edge techniques and skills. By blending interactivity, story structure and visual expression, students in this major explore the opportunities and challenges raised by transmedia approaches to content design and creation.
What will you learn?
You’ll gain expertise in conceiving, planning and producing digital stories for an array of audiences, purposes and employers. And you’ll acquire the cutting-edge skills and the deep understanding needed to deploy digital interactive content in a wide range of workplaces, from media startups, arts organizations and nonprofits to corporate public relations and marketing teams.
This 30-hour degree brings together knowledge and methods from different academic disciplines, preparing you for the highly collaborative teamwork required in today’s workplaces. Embedded in this degree is an embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion as central to producing content that helps inform and empower diverse communities.
Why earn your Digital Storytelling and Content Creation degree at St. Edward’s?
The skills you acquire in this major can lead to jobs in any industry that benefits from well-crafted digital storytelling and content. Whatever your career path, one thing is certain:&nbsThe advantages of your St. Edward’s education will prepare you to succeed. You’ll find opportunities in and outside the classroom to learn, give back and achieve your goals. And your mentors will support you every step of the way.
Build relationships with your professors
Learn in small classes taught by award-winning professors with years of real-world expertise. They’ll get to know you, help you identify and focus on your goals, and provide guidance and insight during and after your college years. They’ll leverage their experience — and connections — to help you build your network.
Join a vibrant, like-minded community
Connect with peers who share your passion for digital storytelling and content development. Get involved with student organizations on campus that allow you to apply your skills in various digital mediums, such as videos, animation, podcasts, webpages and social media content.
Earn two degrees in five years
Gain an edge in the job market by completing your BA in Digital Storytelling and Content Creation, and MS in Digital Marketing and Analytics with our pathway to receive two degrees in five years. Success coaches and academic advisors guide you through undergraduate and graduate courses to maximize benefits.
Reap the Rewards of Austin
Austin is one of the fastest-growing technology and entrepreneurship hubs in the U.S., and home to nearly 100 Fortune 500 firms. Our Austin partnerships and connections open doors to a dynamic business environment that’s ideal for internships and jobs in the digital media economy. What’s more, Austin’s growing film and gaming industries are home to prominent studios, many of which hire students from St. Edward’s as interns.
Who are ideal candidates for this degree?
The degree is open to all students and targeted to transfer students for two-year completion. Digital Storytelling and Content Creation courses are taught in the classroom and some courses are taught online to allow for maximum schedule flexibility. St. Edward's accepts AAS degree courses in Visual Design, Graphic Media Production and Film and Emerging Media specializations for elective credit towards the Digital Storytelling and Content Creation degree.
Worried about cost? St. Edward's offers transfer students an average award of $29,066. Check out this financial aid and scholarship information for transfers and part-time students, and connect with a financial counselor to learn how we can help.
For questions about the program, contact Program Director Jena Heath, professor of Journalism and Digital Media, and associate dean, School of Arts and Humanities. The Digital Storytelling and Content Creation major is an interdisciplinary program housed in the Department of Visual Studies.
Explore More Details About the BA in Digital Storytelling and Content Creation
A Flexible Degree Program
The Digital Storytelling and Content Creation program is open to all students. Courses are taught through a blend of in-person and online formats to allow for maximum schedule flexibility
Traditional undergraduate students can easily major in Digital Storytelling and Content Creation with a double-major, minor or double-minor in a related or complementary field such as Animation, Communication, Computer Science, Graphic Design, Digital Media Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, User Experience Design, Video Game Development, or Writing and Rhetoric.
Transfer students who enter with an associate’s degree can graduate in two years. If you’ve taken the Texas Common Core, you’ll be able to finish in three. Some courses within the program are offered online to allow you greater flexibility in balancing academics, work and family responsibilities.
Degree Plan
Major Requirements:
The Digital Storytelling and Content Creation degree requires 30 hours of major coursework.
General Education Requirements:
All majors require 44 hours of general education that students complete over four years, in addition to their major courses.
View and download the full degree plan for the Digital Storytelling and Content Creation major (PDF). View the Transfer Advising Guides for Digital Storytelling and Content Creation.
Student Organizations and Campus Resources
Get involved with student organizations that give you the opportunity to apply your storytelling and content development skills in a cross section of digital mediums.
- Hilltop Views, the student news site, published both digitally and in print. Student journalists report news from the campus and greater Austin community. You can get involved as early as your freshman year as a writer, editor, photographer, videographer or designer.
- The Command G graphic design group furthers skills through studio tours, museum visits, lecture series, workshops, screen printing and risograph workshops.
- Topper Radio is the student-run radio station.
- Topper Studios is the digital media club. Members are involved in creating podcasts, YouTube channels, short films, music videos and comedy sketches, and helping their fellow students produce digital content. Students in Topper Studios also frequently make promotional videos for other clubs at St. Edward’s.
- The Digital Media Center in the Munday Library is a resource for creating your own content and learning new skills. Here, you can produce and edit videos, podcasts and visual design projects with the help of your fellow students. The lab is equipped with top-of-the-line computers running the latest software including the Adobe Creative Suite. It also has a group editing/podcasting studio, a green screen room and a “whisper room” used for voiceovers. If you are skilled at software, hardware repair, graphic design or video editing, you can apply to work in the lab as a digital media specialist.
Internships
Join the Arts and Humanities Digital Storytelling team as a paid intern and earn course credit, too.
You’ll work with faculty mentors to connect with internships at a range of off-campus workplaces. Tech start-ups, large companies, newsrooms and PR/Marketing firms, nonprofits and the Austin Film Festival all seek qualified digital storytellers and content creators.
Professionals in the film and news industry, among others, serve as guest speakers and instructors and help connect students with opportunities off campus.
Any student at St. Edward’s may minor in Digital Storytelling and Content Creation. The minor provides a broad-based introduction to the discipline of digital storytelling as well as an opportunity for students to explore — in more depth — a specific concentration.
Students who wish to earn a Digital Storytelling and Content Creation minor must take the following required coursework, totaling 18 hours, plus one 3-hour elective course.
Required Courses: (15 required hours + 1 elective = 18 hours)
- Introduction to Digital Storytelling and Content Creation – DSCC 1301
- Visual Studies 1 – VISU 1311
- Digital Media Production and Design – JOUR 3314
- Interactive Storytelling – VGAM 3328
- Collaboration in the Digital Workplace – DSCC 4331
Jena Heath, M.S. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Program Director, Professor of Journalism and Digital Media, and Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities
Courses are taught by faculty members in Visual Studies, Journalism and Digital Media, and Writing and Rhetoric, in addition to working professionals. For more information about the program, contact Professor Heath at jennah@jxyg88.com.