Description

JMC:2400 (3 credits)

Iowa Stories & Lived Experiences (ISLE) is an intensive multimedia workshop offered in the summer that gives students real-world experience in collaborative journalism. The immersive format of the workshop allows students to focus their energy on one project while producing portfolio-quality work. During the first half of the workshop, students are embedded in a select Iowa community to document its stories and explore its connection to a central theme. The second half of the workshop is spent in production and post-production as students edit, collect data and build upon their visual storytelling skills to create a multimedia project. The workshop and final project incorporates photography, video, audio, emerging media, and data visualizations, culminating in a final screening of student work. 

What's it like?

Listen to reflections from students who participated in the 2025 ISLE workshop. The project explored the cultural, economic, and political currents that shape the lives of African immigrants in Eastern Iowa.

Student Work

ISLE-poster

Found in Translation

2025 ISLE Documentary Workshop

This inaugural workshop focused on exploring the cultural, economic, and political currents that shape the lives of African immigrants in Eastern Iowa. The completed project premiered on September 13, 2025, at FilmScene in Iowa City in partnership with the African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Visual Storytelling

The judges of the Tobey Award highlighted Found in Translation for its design and storytelling.

Questions?

Alex Scott

Alex Scott

Assistant Professor

alex-scott@uiowa.edu
W339 Adler Journalism Building

Kevin Ripka

Kevin Ripka

Associate Professor of Instruction

kevin-ripka@uiowa.edu
W341 Adler Journalism Building