Dr. Dene Grigar
MW 11-2:20 p.m., VMMC 111
Office: VMMC 24; 546-9487
Email: dgrigar@vancouver.wsu.edu
Web: www.nouspace.net/dene
Office Hours: TTH: 1-2:30 pm, F: 2-3 pm, & by appointment
Class Website: http://van-dtc356.vancouver.wsu.edu/appcamp/dtc-336/schedule/
Introduction to the Course Content and Focus
The WSU catalog describes this courses as “design practices and process for composition for a multimedia environment including color, pattern, and shape.” This broad view lends itself well for the course to focus on a specific “multimedia environment.” For us in the summer 2011, it is the mobile phone. Thus, DTC 336 is part of the “Mobile Tech Research Initiative” (MTRI), the special cluster of courses that entails real-world experience and a project-based approach to the design and development of mobile apps. By the end of this course you will have produced a prototype for a mobile app that will be handed off to students in the summer II courses to code and ready for delivery.
Course Structure
We will focus on both theory and practice and so besides reading about concepts underlying design and composition for multimedia digital environments, we will also spend some time in workshops learning the technologies needed for each area, such as PhotoShop, Garage Band, Audacity, and iMovie, and preparing for the projects associated with each.
Course Objectives and Outcomes
Students are expected to meet the Course Objectives and Outcomes for the CMDC Program associated with this course. They are:
Objective 4. Understand the production and assessment of media objects
A. Understand basics of front end design as well as composition strategies for digital texts and environments
B. Demonstrate an overall understanding and utilization of appropriate textual content for various forms of interactive media
C. Produce and evaluate effective textual content that promotes interaction, functionality, and usability by different readers and needs.
Objective 7. Recognize various forms of language processing and their implications for media authoring
A. Use digital media terminology and concepts, such as medium, media, multimedia, mass media, remediation, repurposing, translation, text, textuality, language, and code, appropriately in presentations and projects
B. Employ various types of texts, such as visual, auditory, kinetic, and kinesthetic texts, for appropriate mediums
C. Illustrate the way artificial systems acquire language D. Demonstrate knowledge about the process by which is language is made via computers E. Study, create, and critique digital text and its central role in human-computer interactions F. Employ textual content in web pages and other digital interfaces or environments that respond to
specific audience needs
Assessment
To be successful in the course, students must 1) stay current with all of the required assignments that lead to completion of their two projects, 2) participate in class activities, 3) attend all classes, 4) turn in all assignments on time. Work will also be assessed for its professional quality. Other factors considered in
the assessment of work include being turned in on time, uniqueness, and, of course, content. Components that will be assessed are:
App Prototype: 50%
Design Report: 20%
Oral Presentation: 20%
Reflection Paper: 10%
Items turned in late will be penalized a letter grade per day (not class day but each day) late. Items not turned in cannot be made up by other work. If you miss the Oral Presentation of your project, you will not receive any points for the project. This means you lose 20% of your overall grade.
Absenteeism
More than 2 unexcused absences will result in a final grade being lowered by 1 letter grade. Excused absences are defined as absences due to documented illnesses or deaths of close family members. Vacations, scheduled doctor visits, family reunions, week-long getaways, forgetting the semester has already begun or that we are meeting for class, and other personal reasons do not count as excused absences. Students need to be in class on the days indicated in the Course Schedule. No exceptions. If students miss more than two weeks in a row, for any reason, he or she will be asked to drop the course and retake it when the student is better able to participate.
Inclement Weather
Because all of our materials are online, students are expected to stay up on all assignments even on days of inclement weather. Check Class Blog for additional directions or information.
Books & Resources
1. Design Fundamentals for New Media (DFFNM), by James Gordon Bennett
2. App Savvy, by Ken Yarmosh
3. Designing the Obvious, by Robert Hoekman
