Introduction
This concentration trains students to design and evaluate communication technologies and user experiences, while building critical thinking about their social and ethical implications. This specialization teaches students how to make data-driven decisions in fields such as technology policy, user experience (UX), privacy and ethics, and product management. Students gain knowledge about topics ranging from data privacy, misinformation, and human-AI interaction.
Courses teach a range of in-demand skills for the technology and related industries, including social media analytics, social network analysis, AI-enabled workflows, and interface design for video games, social media, robotics, VR/AR, and AI. With this Pathway, students will be ready for careers in digital communication, social and environmental advocacy, UX research and design, and applied technology.
Career Opportunities
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Digital Media & Communication
Social Media Manager, Digital Content Creator, Online Community Manager, Market Research Associate, Advocacy and Community Engagement Specialist
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UX & Emerging Technologies
UX Designer or Researcher, Program Management, Product Analyst, AI-Interaction Designer, Technology Policy Analyst, AR/VR Creator, Robotics Interface Designer, Usability Analyst
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Data, Privacy, AI & Technology
Digital Trust and Safety Specialist, Privacy Consultant, Data Visualization Specialist, Communications, Media and Technology Consultant, Digital Inclusion Coordinator, Digital Compliance or Risk Analyst
My communications degree at UIC built the foundation of everything my career relies on today. The program strengthened my writing, research, and strategic thinking, and those tools continue to shape how I approach high-stakes, impact-driven work. I am grateful for the professors and mentors at UIC who encouraged me to think critically and pursue work that makes a difference.
| Program Manager, UN & Microsoft
Potential Courses
Potential Courses
If you are interested in this Concentration, you may choose courses from the following list to meet all or part of your major requirements, and electives. Select courses that most interest you or that will help your career pathway. Students taking the Communication Technology & User Experience concentration are not expected to take all the listed courses.
Potential Courses
- COMM 200. Communication Technologies
- COMM 215. Technology and Well-Being
- COMM 250. Social Media and Society
- COMM 254. Future Television
- COMM 350. Friendship, Love, and Social Media
- COMM 425. Digital Advocacy
- COMM 433. Mobile Media and the City
- COMM 435. Data, Privacy and Ethics in the Digital Age
- COMM 440. Technology, Social Justice, and Sustainable Futures
- COMM 471. Communication and Sound
- COMM 493. Communication and Social Networks
Featured Student Experience
Conduct Social Media Analytics | COMM 350
In Friendship, Love, and Social Media, students learn to transform social media data, such as comments, replies, timing, and platform features, into actionable insights for organizations. Drawing on careers in social media management and UX research, the social media analytics projects emphasize critical thinking, interpretation, and insight into human behavior through digital trace data. COMM 350 students perform social media analytics on topics like self-presentation strategies of content creators, conversational patterns of AI chatbots, and online community management practices, preparing graduates to make data-informed decisions about communication in the workplace.
Grounded in interpersonal communication, I learned to listen deeply, influence across difference, and turn complexity into shared purpose skills that now guide my work designing global career development and workforce systems that are human-centered, adaptive, and future-ready.
| Harvard Ed.M
Hands‑On Research as a Communication Major
