05. Learning Objectives and Alignment

1.Course Title and Description:

Introduction to Digital Arts (3 credits, one semester course)

This course is an introductory course that provides students with the basic knowledge, vocabulary, and skills needed to enter into the studies of design, photography, videography, illustration, animation and web design. Students will explore many facets of creating art using computer software and the art creation process using Adobe software. Topics include digital painting, 2D design, photo manipulation, image compositing, animation, 3D design, and human computer interface design.

2. Design Approach:

This course design employs the Backward Design strategy we studied in class. I used the three step procedure to guide my design. First, establish the course learning goals. Second, decide what evidence I can use to prove that students have made progress toward reaching the course goals. Third, develop proper course materials and learning activities which can show that students have reached the learning objectives. Below is how I aligned the course, unit, activity objectives.

Course/training name:
Introduction to Digital Arts

Course-level objectives:
________________________________

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Explain what visual language is and how the digital art world employs it.
Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process and development techniques for art making and problem solving.
Employ visual language and design concepts to the creation of art and design.
Utilize graphic software for visual communication and expression.
Create original artwork using Adobe Photoshop.
Critique art projects using professional language and online etiquette.

Unit name:
Unit 1: Digital Photography

Unit-level objectives:
________________________________

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Elaborate what digital photography is.
Discuss its power and artistic style.
Apply the compositional principles of the Rule of the Thirds and Golden Ratio to photography artwork.
Polish and finish digital photos using Adobe Photoshop tools.
Provide constructive feedback to peers’ projects using professional language and online etiquette.

Activity name(s): In Class Project: Framing and Photo Correction

Activity-level objectives:
________________________________

After complete this in class project, students will be able to:

Describe what DPI is and why a digital photo resolution should be at least 300 dpi for the press.
Framing design project and placing the focal point of your photo at the prominent intersection based on the compositional principle of the Rule of the Thirds and Golden Ratio.
Crop, straighten and adjust the color and tones of a photo using Photoshop.
Use Photoshop’s Spot Healing, Content Aware Patch and Clone Stamp tools to correct and polish your photo image.
Save your completed exercise image as a jpg file and upload it to Blackboard for evaluation.

3. Design Concept:

Well-aligned course, unit, and activity objectives make the process of achieving the course goals clearer for both instructors and students. It also makes it easier for instructors to develop assessments. Aligned objectives place the course materials and learning activities into a larger framework. For instance, students in this course will be able to understand that digital photography is a form of visual language. Alignments help promote higher-order thinking, both critical and creative. When a student knows how to draw connections between different materials, he/she tends to be a more creative thinker. Ultimately, one of the key objectives of any art course is to train students to think creatively and create original artwork.

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