Syllabus, ETC 328:   Multimedia authoring               spring 2009

3:30-6:20 Wednesday evening                                                             FA 204

Multimedia Authoring is an  advanced class which outlines the history, principles and theories of multimedia.   This course examines how elements of text, sound, video, animations and graphics work together to produce electronic products for the web, CD/DVD and other distribution formats.  Students learn appropriate multimedia software to create individual or small group multimedia projects.

 

Instructor

            Instructor: Bob Bergland

            email address:  bergland@missouriwestern.edu

            Homepage: staff.missouriwestern.edu/~bergland

            Office: EDER 221a       Phone:  271-4446

            Home phone: 279-1699 (between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.)

            Office Hours: 11-12 MWF; 1-3 MW

 

Required Materials

 

Flash drive, preferably 2 MB or above.  Mini-DV tape.

 

Course Goals           

 

The course is designed to help you

                              ¥ Learn about the history, present and possible future of multimedia, especially as it relates to journalism, public relations and technical communication

                              ¥ Understand the theories of multimedia design/authoring

                              ¥ Analyze professional examples of multimedia projects and learn how to employ those "best practices" in your own work

                              ¥ Increase your portfolio size, diversity and quality

                              ¥ Hone your rhetorical and technical skills in creating and manipulating and combining various individual media (photos, graphics, text, sound, video, animation, etc.)

                              ¥ Improve your computer skills in general and your knowledge of multimedia-related programs in particular

 

Groundrules           

            ¥           Attendance:  Regular attendance is required.  Much of the learning and work in a class such as this happens in the classroom, and whatever you miss cannot be made up or obtained from notes.  Consequently, missing more than five hours will lower your course grade by 50 points for each hour missed.  This is a night class, and each class period is the equivalent of one week of class time, so it is imperative you be in class as much as possible. Excessive tardiness or leaving early without prior notice may also be considered an absence of an hour.  If you miss more than five course hours, then to have an excused absence you must both call me beforehand and provide documentation for the excuse by the next class period. It is a good idea to inform me of planned absences; at the very least, be sure to talk to a classmate about what you missed.

                        ¥     Assignments.  Because of the nature of multimedia,  you will need to turn in your documents electronically, either through a CD, the web or USB drive

                        ¥     Plagiarism: An act of plagiarism or other academic dishonesty usually results in an F for the course.

                        ¥     Disabilities:  Students with a disability that may affect their performance in this class should contact me individually as soon as possible.

 

 

 

Assignments           

 

Short projects                                                                           100 points

These assignments are small in scope and designed to help you learn individual media components before venturing into larger-scale projects which combine the various media.  These are graded on a pass-fail basis, with a 25-pt deduction for each project not completed

--Creating a Flash animation

--Digitizing and editing video

--Digitizing and editing sound

--Photoshop manipulation/improvement of a photo

--Creating and altering graphics

--Reading essays

 

Print documentation on a multimedia application                                 200 points

Documentation (100), Presentation (50)

Proposal and analysis/revision memos (25 each)                                              

Video documentation project                                                   150

Motion Screen capture document project                                             150

Flash Explanatory project                                                        150

Presentation on multimedia use in industry                              100

Analysis of professional multimedia project                             50

Web portfolio of projects                                                         50

2 critiques @25 pts each                                                          50

 

 

Total:  1000 points.  Grading Scale:  90/80/70/60

 

Schedule

 

Class activity

due

Jan. 14

Intro to Multimedia

 

Jan. 21

Sound Editing, critique of MM project

 

Jan. 28

Photo shooting and editing, print documentation

 

Feb. 4

Print documention work

 

Feb. 11

Video shooting

 

Feb. 18

Video editing

Print documentation project

Feb. 25

Web page design and creation

 

March 4

Creating graphics

Video documentation project

March 18

Flash I-Animation

 

March 25

Flash II-Interactive

 

April 1

Interactive graphics, presentations

Motion screen capture

April 8

Conferences, work on final project

 

April 15

Presentations, Work on final project

Presentations

April 22

Show and tell

Flash project

April 25?