STUDENT PROFESSIONALISM
WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?
We have completed an extensive program assessment. This is a routine process that we undertake periodically, as a means to ensure that we are preparing our students to succeed in the professional, digital media marketplace and meet the NASAD and NCAHIC requirements for accreditation. Our school is due for its 10 year review coming April.
Over 50 individual companies, many of our alumni and all of the faculty (to varying degrees) were surveyed and interviewed.
This in no way means that our curriculum or facilities are frozen until the next assessment. We will remain nimble and moldable and continue to strive to reflect our industry as much as possible.
HOW TO USE THIS SITE
Document Downloads
These are the full text of the documentation that we will be submitting to the accrediting agencies.
Action Items
This is what we can do as faculty to address the issues that have been outlined in the assessment.
Course Revision Summary
A general list of significant course changes.
Advising Website
This contains the full detail of our new curriculum and should be used when advising students.
COMMENTS
Comments at the bottom of each Action Item page are welcome. This can be a center for ongoing dialogue and a place to share curriculum ideas and teaching techniques. In order to comment you will need to set up a Google account using the e-mail address that I have contacted you with. Once you login to Google, you will see a comment box at the bottom of each page.
Addition of Independent Thesis work:
The addition of 2 senior level thesis courses that will allow students to customize their portfolios to meet the needs of the industries they will be entering.
Addition of Program Electives:
The addition of these 5 elective courses will allow flexibility in the degree to which students can specialize or generalize and will make it far easier for a student to change their focus in their Sophomore or Junior year.
Elimination of Separate Program Plans:
Every student will be on the same program plan. You can still focus in a particular field, by choosing courses in that field for your 5 Program Electives and you can concentrate your thesis course work there as well. However, with this change you can also take a more generalist approach. And, it will give you the ability to change your focus at any time. To see how to focus using your Program Electives, click on the main menu item called 'Program Electives by Focus'.
The Digital Illustration Focus is the Most Effected. There is a strong demand by the game, advertising, animation and film industries to hire and contract artists that can create within an all-digital work flow. The new 2010 plan focuses more heavily on digital tools.
Keep in mind Every course in Digital Media will be a Digital Imaging (Illustration) course for you. It will simply be applied to Animation, Games, Story-boarding, Comics, 3D Modeling, etc. To see examples of how this works, check out the 'Student Work' section of the Kendallweblab.comsite.
All of the course descriptions received some updating. These were driven by the data compiled from our industry surveys. Some consistent updates include; more collaboration between students, increased attention to project planning and creative problem solving as well as an emphasis on portfolio building.