Multimedia Arts & Technologies, MAT __Santa Barbara City College

Course Duration: 8/29/23 to 12/16/23
Online Section #30075
Online Section #34718

The class will work on Canvas.
You can access Canvas by first logging into Pipeline, then look for the Canvas link on the TOP_RIGHT of the homepage in Pipeline. It is a red circular logo.
Once you get to Canvas you should see the name and section number of your class (among all other classes that you might be taking, each one as a little square block). You should be able to click on our class and get to the homepage, where you will see the list of Modules with dates and activities, organized by weeks.

Class in Canvas: Please locate the homepage for your class. You will see the structure in weeks, with dates. Every week has at least one Discussion, where you have to make a post responding, commenting or showing the result of some research. They are called with the week number, followed by the work "Post", and then the subject of the post. Like: "1.Post about yourself".

We don't have assignments every week, but when we have one, you should look at it in advance and calculate how many hours to reserve for that.
Do not work on assignments or presentations right before the due date.They need a bit of thinking and preparation.

Every week has a Content page in canvas assigned to it. If there is a reading that week, it will tell you about it, it will also show resources, links and explanations. At the bottom of each content page, I have added the link to the lecture for that week on YouTube, recorded during class during the last 2 semesters. Please check it out.
We will meet one day a week in Zoom this semester. It will be Monday afternoon like at 3 PM and it will last less than 2 hours. The meeting will be recorded, uploaded to Youtube and the link will appear at the bottom of each content page later on the day.
I might create surprise quizzes or questions about the content of the lecture, for every body or only the students tht could not assist that day.

Class Description: Introduction to multimedia, including production processes, tools, techniques, trends and opportunities. Includes industry overview, societal issues, cultural implications, visual literacy and career opportunities.
(TR: CSU/UC)
*SKILLS ADVISORY: Eligibility for English 100, 103.

To take this class you should be able to read articles and essays and be able to construct your own thoughts around them, after we have talked about them in class. DSPS students will work with accommodations for those readings.
Instead of writing papers, we will develop basic multimedia presentations, that use images and short pieces of text to present concepts and ideas. There are no exams (there are some very simple Quizzes, just for you to remain active on the content).

This is not a hands-on class working with specific software. It is more of a "theory class", since we will work with ideas and information. For different assignments, we will use diverse software (of your choice, since we are not specifically teaching software here).

We will use a graphic editor to crop/resize and compress images in a couple of assignments. Adobe Photoshop preferred.
We are waiting for our new Adobe school license to work. It will allow you to use the school license in your computer at home.
If you want a more permanent solution, independent of classesCollegeBuys has a cheaper subscription to the Adobe Cloud, that paying Adobe directly($40 for 6 months or $80 for a year of complete access to all Adobe Software). It is sponsored by the Foundation of California Community colleges.
http://store.collegebuys.org/student/

We will use a text editor to preview the text in your posts and write text content of your presentations. You can write directly on Canvas, (Copy your post before you submit, so you can save the text in case there is a problem after you click to submit in Canvas). You could work with Google pages.

We will use a presentation software to put together our Midterm and Final presentations. Microsoft PowerPoint, any document saved as a PDF file (included Google slides), or a Prezi file (free Cloud software that you work with over the Internet) will work as a software for presentations. All presentations have an important image component. You can find images over the web, or edit/ create them if you have some Photoshop skills.

Upon Successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

1. Define multimedia and be able to use multimedia terminology.

2. Identify occupations/career paths in multimedia.

3. Identify hardware and software technologies used to create multimedia products.

4. Identify and describe steps involved in designing and producing a multimedia project,
---from story-boarding to formative evaluation.

5. Articulate the aesthetics and principles of multimedia, related to its functionality.

6. Use a functional file-management system in your projects.

Course
SLOs

SLO 1 - MEDIA PRESENTAT - Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to Make short media-presentations combining visuals and text that shows a basic understanding of the theme, basic graphic composition and visual display, referred to a chosen topic in Electronic Media theory.

SLO 2 - MEDIA TERMINOLOGY. Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to use media terminology, basic technical, visual and project-development concepts to comment and dialog on current media production and its social implications.

This course has a theory component. We will complete seven readings covering different aspects of multimedia.

There is a Reader containing those chapters, available in the bookstore for purchase. The text has been underlined and notated by your instructor.
If you don't want to buy the reader, you could check the "bibliography section" on this site and check out the required books in a local library. You will be responsible for getting a hold of the texts the week that they are needed.

http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/Multimedia_bibliography.htm

http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/Chapters_reader.htm

http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/Class_schedule.htm

You may find these texts very challenging. This is normal. You will need to read them several times and highlight them with at least three different colors.
An example of successful highlighting could be: terminology in yellow, concepts that you don't understand in blue, words that you need to look up in the dictionary in orange (then write down the definition on the side of the page).

The purpose of highlighting is that you differentiate different types of content in the text and make marks that will allow you to quickly come back to these points.
I highly recommend that you make clear side comment/diagrams on the page borders.

In the discussion groups in Canvas you will be asked about different points covered through the text. Those might not be obvious. You will have to find that piece of information, dissect and analyze it, to then make the post summarizing the ideas found during your search.

Very few of you have read essay books (those are not text books or novels). Depending on your background you will have to work from medium to hard on the readings. Present your challenges to the group (we might be able to give you ideas) and don't give up. We have visual resources available, if you have problems reading the essays. Please communicate with me.

We will work around the readings to assimilate fundamental concepts in multimedia.
Discussion groups and Quizzes will help you reflect on the text's content and give you points towards your final grade.

You will also put together several assignments throughout the course. These will prepare you with the necessary skills to put together your 2 research/presentation projects: a Mid-Term and a Final project.

Your research projects will be delivered as multimedia presentations, combining images and text.
A multimedia presentation is very different from a paper with pictures.

Your text in the presentation should be clear, short and specific; something that you can quickly read on a screen.
As for the images, you can create your own images in Photoshop, or appropriate images from the internet if you don't know how to process or compress digital images.
Your images should be around 800x600 pixels to 1920X1080 pixels for an image that covers the whole screen.
They should always be compressed as .jpg or .gif so your file size doesn't get out of hand.

You can see links to examples of successful previous research projects on the help website for this class.
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/introMultimedia_links.htm

Make sure that you keep a copy of all your work in your local computer. You can use the GOOGLE DRIVE associated to your school Gmail account (something@pipeline.sbcc.edu) to organize and store your files.
Files stored in your google-drive can be reached by you from any device where you can run a web browser.
You can also use a USB thumb drive to store a safe copy of your files. Please make sure you have copies of your work. Save different versions of a project if necessary

You need to keep track of your work, organizing files within folders of similar media types, inside project folders.
You need to use clear, short names. Always begin your assignment file-name with your name. Get used to use underscores instead of spaces in your file-names (ex. alejandra_picture1.jpg, alenjandra_picture2.jpg). File extensions (.jpg in the previoius case) are very important when  you upload files to a server.
File Management will be graded and it is a requisite to pass this class.
Please ask me about those issues if you dont completely understand them.

School Calendar
Last day to add or drop, and receive a refund: September 9.
Last day to withdraw from classes without a letter grade: October 27, 2023
Last day to switch to Pass/ No pass (you will not get a letter grade): December 8.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Disability Services and Programs for Students (DSPS) coordinates all academic accommodations for students with documented disabilities at Santa Barbara City College. If you have or think you might have a disability that impacts your educational experience in this class, contact DSPS to determine your eligibility for accommodations. DSPS can be reached by phone or email. The phone number is 805-730-4164 or send email to dsps@sbcc.edu.
If you have already registered with DSPS, please submit your accommodation requests via the ‘DSPS Online Services Student Portal’ as soon as possible. This needs to be done each semester. If you have any questions or concerns about your accommodations, make an appointment with a DSPS Counselor. Complete this process in a timely manner to allow adequate time to provide accommodations.

Health services:
Student Health Services offers Medical, Mental Health, and Wellness Services to for-credit students. “The Clinic” provides Medical and Mental Health Counseling Services which are free and confidential. “The WELL” provides a calming environment and offers a diverse range of health and wellness workshops.
For more information or to make an appointment: Call us at: (805) 730-4098, or Visit us at: The Clinic- Student Services 170 or The WELL- ECC 21, across from the Basic Needs Center.

Student Health Services ofrece servicios médicos, de salud mental y de bienestar a estudiantes que reciben créditos. “La Clínica” brinda servicios de asesoramiento médico y de salud mental que son gratuitos y confidenciales. “The WELL” brinda un ambiente relajante y ofrece una amplia gama de talleres de salud y bienestar.
Para obtener más información o programar una cita: Llámenos al: (805) 730-4098, o visítenos en: “The Clinic”- Servicios Estudiantiles 170 o “The WELL”-ECC 21, frente al Centro de Necesidades Básicas