| Digital
Media Curriculum Development Project
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation
under Grant No. DUE-0127280 and DUE-0340969.
PI: Dr.
Yue-Ling Wong
Co-PI: Dr. Jennifer Burg
Assessment Expert: Dr. Leah McCoy
1. Goals
This project is to develop course materials
for the new digital media curriculum. The primary goal of our project
is to combine the arts and science of the digital media discipline to
develop material aimed at students who wish to study digital media from
the perspective of a computer scientist, those who wish to study it from
the perspective of an artist, and those who wish to study it from both
perspectives.
2. Motivation
Our project responds to four perceived needs:
- the high interest
that today’s college students are showing in digital media development
- the growing demand
for digital media professionals in the workforce
- the need for a
digital media curriculum that addresses both the technical and the aesthetic
elements of multimedia creation
- the need for a
curriculum that balances hands-on experience with fundamental concepts
that remain constant beyond fast-changing multimedia development tools.
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3. Description
In order to approach digital media from both a computer science and an
art perspective, we will divide our curriculum material into three modules.
The first module will be a “primer” that provides fundamental
knowledge required of all digital media students. The primer will contain
the common body of information upon which the two more advanced, discipline-specific
modules are based. One advanced module (the CS Module) will provide the
scientific, technical, and mathematical foundation for the students’
understanding of digital media. The second (the Art Module) will treat
the aesthetics and graphic design issues of digital media and emphasize
the application of the knowledge. The advanced modules will provide two
directions for students to pursue, each related to appropriate courses
in the computer science or art departments (or in a combined interdisciplinary
department, depending on a university’s structure). Students with
interdisciplinary interests could pursue both tracks.
Three basic areas
of digital media – image processing, digital audio, and digital
video – are planned for this proof-of-concept project. Full development
that will cover additional areas such as multimedia authoring and web
programming is our ultimate goal.
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4. Technology
The material will be delivered in an electronic format – via the
Web, CD-ROM, and e-books. The electronic delivery format will make it
possible to supplement the material with multimedia enhancements such
as interactive examples, hyperlinks to advanced explanations, manipulable
charts and graphs, simulations, 3-D images, and audio clips. An additional
goal of the project is to investigate new electronic delivery formats
– in particular the e-book.
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5. Assessment
For the proof-of-concept project, the first year of the grant program
entailed gathering baseline information using existing traditional
curriculum
material.
Baseline
data was
gathered
through questionnaires measuring the students’ incoming knowledge
and periodic tests in the digital media/digital art course measuring
their
mastery of concepts and skills. In the spring of 2003, the new course
material will be used. Computer science students in the digital media
course and art students in digital art will be required to read and master
the material in the Primer. From the Primer, all students will have
access
to the advanced modules. The CS module will be required for students
in the computer science digital media course, but they will also be
able
to consult the advanced Art Module, and vice versa for the art students.
The course material will be available on the Web.
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