JMC:2425 (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 incorporates photography, video, audio, emerging media, and data visualizations–culminating in a final screening of student work. 

This course is offered during the summer session only.

What's it like?

Watch and listen to reflections from students who participated in the 2025 ISLE workshop that 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 workshop

The 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 at FilmScene in Iowa City on Sept. 13, 2025 in partnership with the African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Where the River Bends

2026 workshop

We explored the multigenerational stories that connect past and present, showing how today's residents maintain and reinvent Muscatine's history as living legacies. The completed project will premiere at FilmScene in Iowa City on April 3, 2027.

2025 Awards

Creating ISLE 2026

Where the River Bends

Through a striking and evocative combination of multimedia, including writing, photography, and videography, the project brought forth compelling stories regarding how the past of Muscatine, Iowa, continues to influence its present.

The particular stories highlighted included a look at Muscatine’s history and impact as the Pearl Button Capital, its agricultural produce legacy, its cross-cultural connections with its sister state through the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the generational impact of boxing in the community.

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