Pre-College communications and arts courses come in a variety of topics, ranging from photojournalism to public policy.
GW draws on its creative, intellectual and technological resources to provide arts, English, communications and writing courses in a variety of formats.
On-campus and online courses are available for credit, while our noncredit offerings focus on experiential learning environments, connecting students with relevant institutions and experts in their respective fields.
All course offerings are subject to cancellation. College Intensive Listings are from Summer 2020. Summer 2021 listings will be updated in the coming months.
Noncredit
Two-week program
Public policy is the way in which public issues are addressed by modifying existing laws and regulations or creating new ones altogether. In this course, students will think strategically, creatively and critically about current issues shaping the public debate, and learn to analyze and evaluate policies and programs in pursuit of public interest.
Noncredit
Two-week program
Washington, D.C. is the heart of the legislative processes and social movements that influence structural, cultural and ideological change. This course introduces students to questions, opportunities, and roadblocks faced by civic and global leaders while aiming to expand their leadership capacity teaching them to translate their values and ideas into action. Students explore topics such as grassroots organization activism by looking at how activism has shaped social change.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
History and criticism of American films. The course enables the student to recognize and evaluate cinema techniques, to express the evaluation clearly in writing, and to understand the role of films in the context of American Culture.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Comparison and analysis of how cultures use language to communicate. The relationship of language to issues of human nature, gender, race, class, artistic expression, and power. Laboratory fee.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
An exploration of genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, and/or playwriting). Basic problems and techniques; examples of modern approaches; weekly writing assignments; workshop and/or conference discussion of student writing.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
A rotating set of classes; topics may include: American music, a composer, the opera, and musical life in Washington, DC.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Philosophical problems and theories of perception, meaning, personal identity, and moral agency and their illustration in the context of cinema. Cinema and its derivatives (TV, video) as prime routes to experience of the natural and social worlds in an age of communication. Readings in classical and contemporary philosophy and in film theory; screening of a series of films.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
An exploration of genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, and/or playwriting). Basic problems and techniques; examples of modern approaches; weekly writing assignments; workshop and/or conference discussion of student writing.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
A rotating set of classes; topics may include: American music, a composer, the opera, and musical life in Washington, DC. An introduction to music in the film industry.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
Key aspects of the literature on public opinion, with emphasis on the role of media in opinion formation and change. Topics include the meaning of public opinion in a democratic society, a review of methods used to measure opinions, and media effects on opinion.
