Course Descriptions - Undergraduate Calendar 2023-2024

This course draws on multiple theoretical perspectives to introduce students to the fundamental principles of multi-modal communication design in its social context. Students will analyze, design, and produce digital media for use in a variety of platforms.

This course introduces students to the principles of designing time-based multi-modal communication in a social context. Students will analyze, design, and produce video for use in a variety of digital platforms.

In this course students will be introduced to sound production and analysis. Students will learn to record, edit, and implement sound in a variety of genres and formats, with possible areas of investigation including podcasting, documentary, digital games, music, and audio art.

This course explores the fundamentals of game design. It focuses on the essentials shared by all games that are fundamental for a game designer working in any medium, from sports to board games to computer and video games. Although the focus of the course is on designing, prototyping, and testing non-digital games, digital games will be discussed in class to provide students with a broad theoretical and conceptual understanding of the field of game design and development along with practical exercises to train for creating a game.

How does design help us think? This studio course introduces students to practice-based methods for generating knowledge. Topics may include prototyping, performance as research, material thinking, multi-modal representation, and experience design. Students will test and explore how we learn differently through creative practices.

In this course students will learn advanced digital design theory. They will participate in workshops with professional designers, develop specialized digital materials, and contribute signature work to their digital portfolio.

This course teaches students the principles and practices of telling stories using digital technologies to produce short narratives in audio and/or visual formats. Students will learn to develop and present story ideas, create storyboards, write short scripts, and then render their narratives using a variety of digital techniques and tools.

This course advances the skills developed in the foundational designing with digital sound course. Students will learn to analyze and produce sound within a particular tradition or cultural field, such as radio drama, documentary, digital games, or film.

This course introduces fundamental design skills for two-dimensional interactive video games and provides the theoretical knowledge of the emotional and cognitive effects of video game play. Students will understand the importance of user experience assessment for video games as part of iterative design and development. Students will learn to theorize, design, prototype, and test digital games with a special focus on exploring the impact that video games have on human experience.

This course focuses on the creative, technical, and artistic potential of screen-based media and projection art for both public and online digital spaces. In the course students will explore the design affordances of different types of screen and projection media. Students will create projects that produce dynamic, interactive content for public audiences.

This course explores cinematic representation from an audio-visual production perspective. Students will learn different approaches to analyzing cinematic technique in a variety of contexts and genres. As a production-oriented course students will create videographic essays or other formal film project in order to analyze, interrogate, and extend forms of cinematic representation.

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of user experience design as it applies to the design of interactive digital media. Topics will include user-centred design, personas, iterative testing, prototyping, information gathering interviews, and contextual inquiry.

In this course students will be introduced to design and production of digital presentations. They will develop specialized digital materials and contribute work to their digital portfolio.

Students work in small groups under the supervision of a faculty researcher on an ongoing, large-scale, digital design project.

This course teaches students to prepare for one of their most pressing challenges upon graduation: to choose and then enter the digital design profession that fits best with their goals. Design thinking strategies and tools provide the framework for this exploration, which may cover creativity, project conceptualization, the role of the artist, grant proposals and pitches, among other topics. Throughout the course students will create a variety of career preparatory materials as they engage in workshops, group discussions, interviews, and professional reflections.

In this course students will learn advanced digital design theory as it applies to communication studies. They will develop specialized digital materials and contribute work to their digital portfolio.