Fall 2023 Courses
Fall 2023 DMD Student Advising Guidelines
DMD students - Below is the list of the following:
- Variable topics and new courses to be offered in Fall 2023.
- Courses that are available to students on both campuses, either via distance learning or by being taught in our Telepresence Classrooms cross-campus (136 Bishop / 3.12 Stamford). Just be aware of the policies regarding home campus and student fees (the majority of your credits must be taken on your home campus).
- Courses that require a PERMISSION NUMBER.
The descriptions of all DMD courses can be found in the UConn Course Catalog.
To request permission numbers, please use the form for your HOME CAMPUS. It is best to complete this WITH YOUR ADVISOR during your advising session.
ADVISING NOTES:
ALL SENIORS: You must take DMD 4040 Agency sometime in your senior year. It is offered both semesters, although more seats/projects are available in the fall semester than spring.
ALL SENIOR BFA STUDENTS: You are required to take two capstone courses: DMD 4075 Senior Project and DMD 4025 Putting It All Together. You will need 4075 twice in order to graduate.
ALL SOPHOMORE BFA FILM STUDENTS: You MUST enroll in TWO Fall Sophomore courses in your 3rd semester (after you have completed DMD 1001, 1002, 1101, 1102):
- DMD 2210 Film & Video Editing 1
- DMD 3230 Cinematic Storytelling
**NOTE: there are three sections of 2210 offered in Storrs this fall. Section 2210.003 T/Th 9:30am-12pm is reserved for FILM MAJORS ONLY - they must complete the permission # request form for that section.
SOPHOMORE BFA MDA STUDENTS: You MUST enroll in TWO Fall Sophomore courses in your 3rd semester (after you have completed DMD 1001, 1002, 1101, 1102):
- DMD 2200 Motion Design & Animation 1
- DMD 2210 Film & Video Editing 1* (as seats are available)
BFA STORRS STUDENTS: Please complete THIS FORM to request Studio Art required course options.
BFA STAMFORD STUDENTS: Use the same DMD course request form to select Studio Art required course options.
ALL B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) STUDENTS: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: Due to the accreditation requirements of NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art & Design), as a liberal arts degree the B.A. has a limitation of 30-45% of credits in art and design of the total curriculum. Therefore the B.A. in Digital Media Design is capped at 45 credits (38%). Students earning the Bachelor of Arts are limited in the quantity of DMD courses that they can take. Please speak with your faculty advisor about possible minors and/or double majors that could fill the remainder of your 120 credits.
NEW: DIGITAL PUBLIC HISTORY MINOR! - RISING SOPHOMORES & JUNIORS: Fascinated by the diverse stories, people, and places of the past? Interested in applying your digital media talent to projects that engage, educate, and empower communities? Consider our new Digital Public History minor! Combining DMD and History courses, this minor provides experiential learning opportunities in the classroom as well as external internships with museums, archives, and other cultural organizations. Visit our website and email any questions you have to Professor Ceglio (Clarissa.Ceglio@uconn.edu)
https://digitalpublichistory.programs.uconn.edu/ and https://digitalpublichistory.programs.uconn.edu/who-we-are-2/
Interested in doing an internship?
DMD Internship Coordinator, professor Phil Dwire, will be holding two, 30-minute, online information sessions for DMD students looking to potentially enroll in Fall 2023 internships on Monday, March 27th at 6pm and Thursday, March 30th at Noon. If students have not completed a DMD 4081 internship for credit in the past, they must register and attend one of these two sessions in order to pursue an internship. Please share the registration links below with interested students.
REGISTER for Mon, March 27th @ 6pm Info Session (via Teams)
REGISTER for Thurs, March 30th @ 12pm Info Session (via Teams)
Variable Topics / New courses:
For all majors:
DMD 3610 / 5998.010 / HIST 3103 Collaborating with Cultural Organizations I: Methods**
STORRS In Person, (M/W 3:35 - 4:50pm), taught by Dr. Ceglio
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
Museums, archives, and other nonprofit cultural organizations are mission-driven institutions with complex, sometimes fraught, histories. Today, many such organizations seek to explore new ways to communicate ideas, make collections accessible, inspire learning, connect people, and build community. In addition to learning about the histories, structures, and functions of mission-driven cultural organizations, we will explore methods of collaborating meaningfully and effectively with them and their communities. This will include consideration of the ways in which digital media, from apps to virtual reality (VR) to hashtags, are being used to critically engage publics in questions about the past, present, and future. We will explore, too, the place of digital public history within contemporary debates about cultural organizations’ histories and responsibilities with regard to social justice, activism, and inclusivity.
Learning Objectives
- Gain understanding of cultural institutions as mission-driven service institutions
- Explore principles and methods of community-focused collaboration
- Build competency in Omeka, an open-source software for building online collections and exhibits
- Conduct research on the past, present, and future prospects of a topic relevant to the concerns of contemporary cultural organizations and express that research as an online exhibition
- Acquire familiarity with basic approaches to background research, project planning, and strategic foresight methods
NOTE: Upper-level BA students who have hit (or who are approaching) the maximum allowed number of 45 total DMD course credits may register for this class using HIST 3103.
NOTE: Required for all Digital Culture majors and Digital Public History minors (https://digitalpublichistory.programs.uconn.edu/ ) and serves as recommended preparation for Spring 24 DMD 3620 Collaborating with Cultural Organizations II: Practice
DMD 3640 / 5998.006 / HRTS 3640 Human Rights Archives I: Documenting & Curating Community Memory
STORRS In Person, (Fri 12:20 - 2:50pm), taught by Professor Masud
Prerequisites: Open to Digital Media Design majors and Human Rights majors or minors only; open to juniors or higher; instructor consent required. Recommended preparation: DMD 2200, 2210, or HRTS 3149W.
This is the first part of a two-semester practice-based unit. Designed to introduce students to the use of human rights archival materials in documentary storytelling, Human Rights Archives Part I will focus on methods and best practices of collecting and managing digital image and audio-visual archival assets. Students will engage with existing human rights-related archival collections, both private and institutional, to develop an appreciation of the “living” archive and its importance both as a repository of witnessing and memory and as a vehicle for the continuous retelling of history in the present moment. A series of relevant readings, films, and response assignments will help to provide context and connections. Later in the semester, students will apply what they’ve learned about human rights archives, digital asset management, and storytelling by documenting and digitizing the family stories and artifacts of an immigrant community that bears the multi-generational scars of genocide and displacement. The assets collected through this collaborative community-centered project will form the basis of an important new collection that students will be involved in processing, organizing, and cataloging. This collection will be a primary resource for the visual storytelling work in the second course of the unit. Part I, however, is not considered a prerequisite for Part II.
DMD 3998.006 / NRE 3640 Environmental Storytelling**
STORRS In Person, (Fri 9:05-12:05pm), taught by Professor Lindemann
(Co-taught with Professor Laura Cisneros from Natural Resources & the Environment)
Prerequisites: 2nd-year student or higher and instructor consent.
Recommended Preparation: At least one of the following courses: DMD 2200 Motion Design & Animation 1, DMD 2210 Film & Video Editing 1, DMD 1070 Intro to Web Design
**Fulfills concentration elective credit for Motion Design & Animation, Digital Film/Video Production, Digital Media Generalist, and other concentrations with advisor approval.
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
Students in this course will experience a unique approach to environmental action! Framed in culturally-sustaining strategies and focusing on environmental issues relevant to Connecticut communities, the Environmental Storytelling course introduces students to participatory research and environmental storytelling using digital media and geospatial technology. Throughout the semester, students will develop skills in research and data collection, effective visual storytelling, video, animation, and online mapping. Students will contribute to workshops for high school student-teacher teams in the Eco-Digital Storytellers (EDS) program and collaborate on a team project that assesses environmental assets and concerns, explores possible solutions, and uses multimedia storytelling to envision an environmental future. Students enrolled in this course are eligible to apply for 5-month paid environmental education internship positions as EDS mentors during the Spring ‘24 semester. EDS is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
For more information and to see a preliminary syllabus: https://nrca.uconn.edu/eds/#course
If you are interested in enrolling email Professor Lindemann: anna.lindemann@uconn.edu
DMD 3998.z81 Decolonizing Design: a Black and Indigenous Perspective**
STAMFORD In Person / STORRS Remote, (Fri 9:05-11:35am), taught by Cheryl Miller
**Fulfills Art/Design/Film History/Theory requirement!
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
This course presents Miller’s own BIPOC heritage of the West African origins and transatlantic slave trade influences to North American Black Graphic Design history. The history of the slave artisan fills in the gaps of Black Graphic Design History erasure through the broad history of the Graphic Designer and the traditional canon of The History of Graphic Design. From slavery through the eras of Abolition, Emancipation and Modernism through to Post- Modernist design history, the content decolonizes the Academy historical versions. It concludes with a discussion of today’s history of “Where are the Black Graphic Designers?”—a 50-year journey originating from the modernist era to today. The Black Graphic Designer is no longer missing in Miller’s history. The Euro Anglo graphic design history is broadened to further include these missing histories. This course is composed of lecture and discussion as a primary mode of delivery with written projects submitted digitally. Suggested for advanced Design students or other students with interest.
About the instructor: Cheryl D. Miller is the leading industry recognized voice for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Graphic Design industry. Miller is an American BIPOC communications designer, writer/author, artist activist, and theologian. Miller is best known as a Design Justice advocate and Decolonizing Historian. https://cdholmesmiller.com/about-the-designer
DMD 4045 Digital Content Design, Creation, and Distribution Studio - AgencyX
STORRS In Person / STAMFORD Remote, (Fri 12:20 - 4:20pm), taught by Professor Dwire
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
Open to senior DMD students in Storrs and Stamford. Do you LOVE DMD? Want to help share your passion for DMD with the world? Then join AgencyX, DMD’s student marketing team. Work with a cross-disciplinary team to develop, design, and execute an integrated marketing campaign for the Digital Media and Design Department’s Fall 2023 undergraduate recruitment efforts. Learn how to build and manage digital advertising campaigns using Facebook for Business, Google Ads, Blip Billboards (Digital Outside-of-Home, OOH) and other digital ad solutions. If you are interested, email Professor Dwire at phil.dwire@uconn.edu.
Animation courses:
DMD 3998.004 / 5998.004 Storyboarding & Character Development
STORRS In Person, (T/TH 2:00 - 4:30pm), taught by Professor Recchia
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
Visual development, storyboards, and sequential imaging are the primary methods to communicate in animation, film, gaming, industrial design, and advertising. Drawing is the foundation of visual development. The ability to draw, as an artist/designer, enables you to rapidly visualize, communicate, and contribute to a narrative and is the fastest and most economical way to do so. Many directors rely on storyboard artists and look for them to contribute to the narrative. In fact, animation storyboard artists are integral members of the story department and are expected to provide valuable insight to the rest of the team.
Character Development & Storyboarding is designed to teach and encourage our DMD students to: 1) perform research, drawing upon the knowledge and skills gained as a DMD artist; 2) interpret a story, using any number of methods, traditional, digital or practical, in order to contribute their artistic sensibilities to enhance the creative vision of the writer, director or production designer.
By providing these experience and tasks enables students to develop their presentation skill sets such as developing a visual and verbal concept, aided by verbal direction, all built on research and collaboration
Web/Interactive Media Design courses:
DMD 3998.003/5998.003 Emerging Topics in Interactive Media - Worldmaking with Unity
STORRS, (T/Th 9:30am-12pm), taught by Professor Zhenzhen Qi
Prerequisites: DMD 3035. Recommended prep: DMD 3475. Prior coding experience is helpful, but not required.
Human collectivism is set to look dramatically different in the coming decades. In a world where the lines between physical and digital become increasingly blurred, every asset, process, or person within or related to a collective will be replicated virtually—connected, traced, and analyzed. As a result, concepts like Play, Agency, and Worldmaking are being rapidly redefined by control-oriented, computationally simulated virtual environments.
Free, open-source game design and development platforms offer thinkers and makers new ways to build conceptually meaningful worlds executed by computer algorithms and rendered by graphics engines. This fifteen-week computational studio course will provide students with tools to consider what the world of their design might be like and where to begin. This course is a practical introduction to basic modeling, object-oriented programming, video game development, VFX with Unity, and related production tools such as Blender. Projects may address agency, emergence, generative(parametric) design, artificial intelligence/learning, critical computing, and more.
Digital Media Business Strategies courses:
DMD 3998.001/5998.001 Digital Content Marketing**
STORRS/STAMFORD CROSS CAMPUS, (T/Th 2:00 - 3:15pm), taught by Professor Miao Guo
Prerequisites: DMD 2700 and DMD 2710
**PERMISSION # REQUIRED!!
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content (visuals, text, audios, and videos) to attract and retain a clearly defined audience - and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. This course will introduce the principles of digital content marketing and deploy a marketing strategy in a convergence media environment, which include content creation, distribution, marketing, and evaluation. Students are required to have completed DMD2700 and DMD2710 to register for this course.
List of courses available at BOTH CAMPUSES:
- DMD 2010.z81 History of Digital Culture - (ONLINE / Asynchronous)
- DMD 3440.001 Mobile Application Development - T/Th 5-6:15pm
- DMD 3720.001 Digital Media Analytics - T/Th 9:30-10:45am
- DMD 3998.z81 Decolonizing Design: a Black and Indigenous Perspective
- DMD 4045.001 AgencyX - Fri 12:20-4:20pm
List of courses that require permission numbers:
Storrs:
DMD 2010 – History of Digital Culture (Online, Async) – both campuses, but Stamford DMD Priority
DMD 2210.003 – Film & Video Editing I, (priority to film majors), T/Th 9:30am-12pm
DMD 3010W - Critical Persp Digital Media, M/W 10:10 - 11:25am
DMD 3230 - Cinematic Storytelling, (priority to film majors), Tu 2-4:30pm
DMD 3830 - Film Writing (priority to film majors, juniors or higher), M/W 9:05-11:35am
DMD 3440 - Intro to Mobile App Development, T/Th 5:00 - 6:15pm
DMD 3610 – Collaborating with Cultural Organizations I: Methods, M/W 3:35 - 4:50pm
DMD 3998.001 – Digital Content Marketing, T/Th 2:00 - 3:15pm - NEED PREREQs
DMD 3998.003 – Emerging Topics in Interactive Media, T/Th 9:30am-12pm - NEED PREREQ
DMD 3998.004 – Storyboarding & Character Development, T/Th 2:00 - 4:30 pm
DMD 3998.006 - Environmental Storytelling, Fri 9:05 - 12:05 pm
DMD 3998.z81 - Decolonizing Design: a Black and Indigenous Perspective, Fri 9:05 - 11:35 pm (Stamford Priority)
DMD 4040.001/002 – Agency (Open to seniors ONLY), M/W 9:05 - 11:05am
DMD 4045.001 – Digital Content Design Studio - AgencyX (Open to Seniors), Fri 12:20-4:20pm - SENIORS
DMD 4075 – Senior Project (Open to BFA Seniors ONLY), M/W 3:35 - 6:05pm
USE THIS FORM TO REQUEST PERMISSION NUMBERS FOR STORRS DMD COURSES.
Stamford:
DMD 2010 – History of Digital Culture (Online, Async) – both campuses, but Stamford DMD Priority
DMD 3440 - Intro to Mobile App Development, T/Th 5:00 - 6:25pm
DMD 3998.z81 - Decolonizing Design: a Black and Indigenous Perspective, Fri 9:05 - 11:35 am
DMD 4040.Z81 – Agency (Open to seniors ONLY), T/Th 2-4:30pm
DMD 4045.001 – Digital Content Design Studio - AgencyX, Fri 12:20-4:20pm - SENIORS
DMD 4075.001 – Senior Project (Open to BFA Seniors ONLY), M/W 3:35 - 6:05pm
USE THIS FORM TO REQUEST PERMISSION NUMBERS FOR STAMFORD DMD COURSES.