Digital Media Minor

This introductory course focuses on the aesthetic and practical elements of image making in photography. Basic principles of camera work, framing, light and lenses are covered. This course provides a foundation for further study in photography.

Full course description for Introduction to Photography

This course explores computer based image-making and printing technologies. Through the investigation of various printing materials, students will have the opportunity to produce two and three-dimensional projects using contemporary methods. Students will gain hands-on experience with digital drawing tools, photographic and graphic designs using image based software while learning about the formal elements and principles of design. Art theory and practice will be presented in conversation with lectures and peer review. Professional artists and designers using these processes in their work will be highlighted in the course.

Full course description for Introduction to Digital Arts

Intermediate photographic techniques and approaches to image making using digital cameras, editing, software, printers, and lighting equipment. Class projects and discussions include image manipulation, composition, lighting, and film/analog photography, as well as artist movements of the past and contemporary trends in photography. Students explore photography as a creative form.

Full course description for Intermediate Photography

This course offers intermediate level digital image making in a studio arts curriculum. The image-making techniques introduced in Introduction to Digital Arts will be developed significantly in two and three-dimensional projects focusing on theory, technology and studio practice. Students will develop research skills and practices needed to work independently and to create theme-based projects suitable for peer and instructor critique. Professional artists with a diverse range of backgrounds using these methods will be highlighted in the course.

Full course description for Intermediate Digital Arts

Digital storytelling is a growing area of multimodal communication that is part of a larger movement to empower communities and voices through the use of digital tools and platforms. Digital stories are short videos that combine narration, images (still and moving), sound effects, and music to tell a compelling story. Students will create two digital stories: a personal story and a story that promotes a cause or organization (e.g., a Kickstarter-style video). The process will include multiple rough cuts and a final version of each video, as well as extensive instructor and peer feedback.

Full course description for Digital Storytelling

This course explores radio/audio and you learn about podcast creation, international radio programs for development and digital storytelling. Students learn the craft of writing for the ear which can be translated to professional work in broadcast media, advertising, speechwriting or work as an independent artist. Through work as writers, directors and voice talent, students produce projects that range from short dialogue pieces and storytelling to news documentaries, podcast and radio plays.

Full course description for Podcasting: Writing and Producing for Audio/Radio

The process of writing narrative screenplays will be introduced through writing exercises, screenplay readings, film viewings and discussion. Writing exercises will explore creativity, individual voice and practical skills. Writing in screenplay format will also be covered. Students will finish with at least one complete short screenplay ready for production. This course provides a foundation for further study in screenwriting.

Full course description for Beginning Screenwriting

The course introduces the principles and practices of electronic filmmaking as a personal and creative art form. Students will engage in exercises and projects to explore and understand editing, camera work, light, composition, and sound. A variety of cinematic forms will be examined. Student screenplays may be produced. Students will film and edit individual creative projects.

Full course description for Film Production and Editing I

Through a hands on, learn by doing experience, students will select a project, plan the production, audition actors, work as crew filming on location, and direct a short digital film. Each student will edit their own individual project. This course offers a complete package overview of writing and directing low budget, short narrative digital films. This course may be taken twice for credit.

Full course description for Film Production and Editing II

This course is an introduction to the vast and interdisciplinary field of game studies and game design. Students in this course will explore how games can be art, math, story, identity, political systems, ethical systems and more. Topics covered may include the history of video and tabletop games; the current landscape of the video game industry; future projections for game industry; an introduction to Game and Narrative Design; toxicity in the games community; race, gender, and identity in games; game design schemas, and an intro to theories of interaction design. Students will demonstrate this knowledge through creating a paper prototype of a tabletop game as part of a development team. No programming knowledge assumed.

Full course description for Introduction to Game Design

In this course, students will learn strategies for analyzing and creating game worlds, levels, and characters that are consistent, compelling, and fluent. Students will focus on what makes compelling and engaging video game dialogue, settings, backstories, and more. This theory- and writing-focused course will let students create and/or expand on all the writing that goes into a good video game story as well as explore games as a humanistic field. There will be a particular focus on creating characters, stories, and scenes with an anti-racist perspective in response to the industry¿s history representing marginalized characters, stories, and lore. No programming knowledge is assumed.

Full course description for Game, Level, and Character Design

In this course, students will learn the unique style of writing and storytelling used in an interactive environment. In this production-focused course, students will produce a video game (or slice of a video game), interactive story, or interactive website prototype by the end of the course. Students will focus on creating a continuity of experience across a system, writing compelling prompts, writing and thinking in decision trees, and anticipating audience input. Students will conduct usability testing/playtesting and revision of their constructed environments. No programming knowledge is assumed.

Full course description for Writing in Interactive Environments

This course is an introduction to Unity, one of the most important tools in the Game Industry. Students in this course will learn to create a game through visual scripting, the visual representation of programming logic that allows the game designer to create playable games without deep programming knowledge. Students will create games with the usability, disability, and varying ability levels of the user in mind. Some topics covered include flow and state graphs, live editing, debugging and analysis, nesting, reusability, and variables. This course assumes no prior programming knowledge.

Full course description for Game Design in Unity

Social media has changed the ways in which people from around the world interact and relate to one another. This course explores the ways in which social media influence these interactions and change our ideas of what it means to belong to a community. The course also addresses the potential of social media to create opportunities to interact within communities to create social change (revolution) through the use of participatory platforms, such as blogs, wikis, and other open source or low cost online tools. Students will finish the course with an understanding of the ways in which they may use social media to become activists in the glocal environment in which we now find ourselves, and how they influence and are influenced by social media, including tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and technology in general. Students will also begin to explore the theoretical basis for the development of online communities.

Full course description for Introduction to Social Media and Online Community

This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to effectively promote and advocate for events, organizations, or issues using a variety of social media and multi-media. Students will combine online writing (or blogging) with other forms of social networking and media (wikis, YouTube, Facebook, and/or Twitter) to build a comprehensive online initiative promoting a timely and relevant issue or event either of their choosing or provided by the instructor. Students will increase their knowledge of online rhetoric, audience research, planning for media events, script or treatment writing, and evaluation of communication programs.

Full course description for Communicating with New Media

Content strategy encompasses the creation, management, testing, and governance of content, whether that be a website, printed document, social media, or other forms of information. In this class students will gain a comprehensive understanding of content for contemporary information-intensive organizations as well as hands-on skills to create effective, user-friendly, and culturally sensitive content.

Full course description for Content Strategy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in workplace writing and communication practices. This course offers a basic understanding of core concepts relevant to AI writing tools. Students will be prepared to use AI writing tools in responsible, ethical, and productive ways for technical and non-technical audiences. Students are introduced to generative AI tools and learn to design effective prompts to help with the writing process.

Full course description for Workplace Writing with Generative Artificial Intelligence

In this course, students analyze principles and methods of news gathering and reporting for web, broadcast and print news media. They then prepare a weekly schedule of reporting assignments, similar to those that might be completed by a newsroom intern. Students also complete several major assignments employing various news writing styles for digital, broadcast and print media.

Full course description for Writing the News in a Digital World

Methods and techniques of document and information design, including principles of graphic design, audience analysis, portfolio development, and use of professional software tools.

Full course description for Document and Information Design I

This course introduces students to the principles, processes, and techniques of front-end Web development. Students gain solid knowledge and practical skills in HTML, CSS, website genres, design patterns, Web writing, and usability. Students will analyze and build websites. Students must already possess basic satisfactory digital literacy, such as managing files and folders, and adding and removing programs.

Full course description for Writing and Designing for the Web I

User Experience writing enables learners to design human-centered content for user interfaces and to create compelling user experiences. Learners will analyze user needs and rhetorical contexts, develop appropriate tone and voice, produce inclusive and accessible text, write for user interface components, create content prototypes, and assess the effectiveness of user experience content.

Full course description for User Experience Writing

This course is designed to provide an introduction to Learner Experience Design, which brings together principles of design and learning to create effective interactive training and learning experiences. The course draws on fields such as instructional design, user experience design (UXD), and learning and development. Students learn concepts and techniques to prepare them to analyze learners and learning situations and to choose appropriate strategies in order to create interactive, engaging, and effective learning experiences

Full course description for Foundations of Learner Experience Design

Internships offer students opportunities to gain deeper knowledge and skills in their chosen field. Students are responsible for locating their own internship. Metro faculty members serve as liaisons to the internship sites¿ supervisors and as evaluators to monitor student work and give academic credit for learning. Students are eligible to earn 1 credit for every 40 hours of work completed at their internship site.

Full course description for Technical Communication and Interaction Design Individual Internship

Internships offer students opportunities to gain deeper knowledge and skills in their chosen field. Students are responsible for locating their own internship. Metro faculty members serve as liaisons to the internship sites¿ supervisors and as evaluators to monitor student work and give academic credit for learning. Students are eligible to earn 1 credit for every 40 hours of work completed at their internship site.

Full course description for Media Studies Individual Internship

Internships offer students opportunities to gain deeper knowledge and skills in their chosen field. Students are responsible for locating their own internship. Metro faculty members serve as liaisons to the internship sites¿ supervisors and as evaluators to monitor student work and give academic credit for learning. Students are eligible to earn 1 credit for every 40 hours of work completed at their internship site.

Full course description for Arts Individualized Internship