Approach 1 – IanD

Title: Our New Media

Abstract: A web platform for both students expressing what they want to get out of the New Media program at UMaine and instructors addressing those needs, allowing for better career preparation and communication as a whole.

Background:

New Media is a major that accommodates for a wide range of interests and abilities. Likewise, the students that come into the major may have many different imagined career paths and interests. Although we do have sequence classes, that support some of these paths, I feel that it would be beneficial to show students precisely what classes (both required and elective) they need to be prepared for a given career or interest. Likewise, I think professors would like to know what students want to focus on in their tenure here in order to better gear their classes towards them. Even though we’re in an age where we can look up tutorials for just about anything, it would be more effectively for experts (both professors and students) to teach us certain skills in person as well. There needs to be a platform for a conversation to start between those in the department who have valuable skills and those who are eager to attain them.

This is important for both students and instructors in New Media. It’s a platform that no one should be against. It provides students with the opportunity to speak out together and shape their education. Instructors get to know how to better their curricula, form a stronger dialogue with their students, and stay up to date with relevant demands of the professional fields their students want to enter.

Explanation:

UMaine NMD students create an “Our New Media” profile that outlines their interests and some future careers/fields that they may be considering. Once these careers are chosen, students are able to view what skills they will need to get that job or help them pursue those certain interests. You are able to search for New Media classes that fit these certain skills. Under each class, any registered student can make a post about the course’s content and how effective it was at teaching those skills. Instructors (registered under a different type of account) can respond to these students. Instructors can see the goals of the students currently in their class and can shape their course to the needs of the students. If students need help with a certain skill or want to collaborate with other students in person, there is an option under each posts to create an event via Google Calendar to meet up.

Although the project has a clear benefit for students who have a currently defined job in mind, it also helps those who want to explore interests that may flourish into hobbies and art pieces. For example, my friend and 206 peer Ian Haddow doesn’t want to be an animator after college, but he does love animation. He’s in his 2nd year here in New Media and when I brought up my Animation II project, he said “Wait, they teach animation here? It must be just Flash right?” I told him that we have a great After Effects animation classes that teach you how to create fully fleshed out animations by the end of the semester. He was appalled! Sure, he could have asked someone about animation in our major sooner, but what if he filled out a questionnaire when he first entered the major that consequently told him “Hey, if you like animation, check out these classes! And here are some reviews that show students really like them.” This project would get students excited not only about the major, but the projects and careers they might explore after.

This project aligns with the “many-to-many” principle in New Media. When a student wants to learn something that isn’t being offered in a class, it’s not likely they’ll request it on their own. In this way, our education in New Media becomes a one way conversation. It’s impossible for professors to know how to adapt their curricula if they don’t know what the students want to learn. For this reason, curricula may lose relevance without the professor even knowing it. With “Our New Media,” a dialogue would be opened between students and educators, giving both parties a chance to know each other on a deeper level. Due to the “many-to-many” principle, once this project is in place, it will hopefully be sustained by a burgeoning community.

Credits:

I think this idea stemmed from talking to Ashley Duggan about her capstone concept for a job placement app for New Media majors. I can see this being implemented as a precursor to that project; students get the skills they need to be aptly prepared for jobs shown on that platform.

Materials: 

Bluehost Domain: $99/3 years

(May be able to acquire domain from department)

Time Required: 

Estimated 50 hours

Other Requirements: 

WordPress, MySQL, My Laptop