Digital Media Program promises hands-on experience

Gene Yllanes / Contributing writer

“If students plan on creating their own blog, they have to learn WordPress. If they want a custom header in that blog, then they have to learn Photoshop, and if they want something fancy happening on their site, they have to learn CSS,” she said.

Balean’s words match the inspiration behind the new digital media studies undergraduate program, part of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, which gears education from classroom study into practical application.

The seed, planted by faculty from public relations, journalism and advertising, is led in part by Allan Richards, associate dean and associate professor of SJMC.

The idea of the major was born and nurtured in a Digital Rap Session organized by Richards in September 2010 with all faculty invited to attend via email. During those sessions, they discussed the necessities of having a more practical course where students would have more contact with the multimedia tools needed today.

The first 15 credits are SJMC requirements and are already being offered. Two classes created specifically for the major, namely Social Media and Globalization, taught by SJMC professor David Park, and Introduction to Digital Media, taught by Moses Shumow, assistant professor in SJMC, are being offered in the fall.

“We are matriculating students into the classes slowly,” said Shumow. “There are two classes offered in the spring along with two more in the fall.”

Raul Reis, dean and professor at SJMC, mirrors the same view.

“When you have a new major, you offer the classes gradually because [students] won’t be taking all the classes at once, so you kind of build up slowly,” he said. “And also it’s a matter of resources. We don’t have the resources to offer everything at once.”

Reis explains that as students progress through the major, they will be able to take the other courses that have more pre-requisites.

In order to aid the SJMC and the new digital media program, two new junior faculty were recently hired. Robert Gutsche, assistant professor, whose research uses Geographic Information Systems to analyze news patterns, and Yu Liu, assistant professor, who has researched the use of social media in China and in the U.S. Both are recent graduates from the University of Iowa and the University of Miami, respectively.

Reis acknowledges that multimedia and digital skills are now needed in almost all careers, and they expect to attract students from other majors who can either double-major, get a minor or a certificate in digital media.

“People see the needs of having those skills,” Reis said. “Things like social media,  web design…or basic and advanced multimedia production.”

What sets this major apart is that students in the lower division gain hands-on experience in courses which are reserved mostly for master’s programs. Reis explained that because SJMC needs to follow the national accreditation standards, students already pursuing a degree within SJMC cannot double-major or minor in digital media. However, he explains that the school has been incorporating those skills into the traditional courses as well.

According to Reis, they want the program to be a balance between theory and practice.

“We want them to have the digital skills, and improve if they have already the digital skills like video, or editing, or WordPress, or social media, but we also want them to understand what is behind it.”