As someone who doesn’t have any previous experience with digital media, I found this course a great introduction to the mad amount of creative and productive projects which can be produced from learning the skills the course teaches.
My favourite part of the lab class was the flash project. It was difficult at first because it was so different from anything I’d ever done before, but once I spent some time on it (okay A LOT of time and a lot of help from other people) it got to be really awesome to see the project advance. I had no idea I could learn to create something like that in such a short period of time. Again, it was a great introduction to what I could possibly create in the future if I kept working with the program.
My favourite part of the lecture class is the creativity of the slides. It’s a really great representation of how the use of digital media can improve any type of presentation. It’s great to learn about current uses of digital media, because it makes it more interesting and important to learn about.
As far as improvements go; I would suggest having more assistants in the media lab (229) during class times and times around project due dates because a lot of students have to wait hours to get questions answered because the one assistant is helping a list of people ahead of them. This is hard on the students and the assistant.
In regards to the lecture, I would suggest either slowing the slides down a bit or posting them all on Blackboard. I can sometimes keep up with taking notes, but then I have no time to answer questions.
Although I have decided to wait until I have had a taste of the video and other courses next semester before deciding what I want to focus on in the future, I know I won’t be spending most of my time in digital media classes. However, like Lauri has said, digital media is in everything we do, especially if I choose to focus on video. The reason I know I won’t be taking a lot of digital media focused courses in the next few years is because, although I enjoy working on computers, I don’t want to spend EVERY MOMENT while I’m at school/work working on one. Audio allows you to work on boards, create sounds, record sounds, work with other people etc. While it doesn’t always have to be this way, digital media can be completely done on the computer and without the help of anyone else. I like to work in groups, even if it is challenging and frustrating at times.
The most important skill I learnt from this course is probably flash, although web design will no doubt come in handy as well. With Flash I can do everything from animation to movie credits. Web design is handy because, no matter what you do, your company will have a website, and if you know how to make one, then it will save you from having to pay someone else to do it for you. I think Photoshop is essential, but I didn’t actually learn much about Photoshop in this course. The most important thing I learnt from the lectures was definitely the CRAP principals. I have never been very good at visual art, but now that I know to use the CRAP principals, I know I can create something that looks professional and attractive.
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