Course Title: Interactive Studio

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Interactive Studio

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
OART1016	City Campus	Undergraduate	345H Media and Communication	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 1 2007, Sem 1 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 1 2012, Sem 1 2013

Course Coordinator: Helen Dickson

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 99259816

Course Coordinator Email: helen.dickson@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 7, level 3, room 32

Course Coordinator Availability: By Appointment Only (please email me to arrange an appointment)

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Pre-requisites for this course from within the program:
• Interactive Media 2
• Design Studio 3

Other courses in the third year of the program building capabilities relevant to this course:
• Concept Development
• Professional Practice
• Major Project & Production
• Programming for Interactive Design

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Course Description

This course will build on skills and knowledge you have gained in Interactive Media 1 and Interactive Media 2 as well as other courses you have or are studying as part of this program.
It will enable you to further investigate the creative possibilities that authoring of and content production for interactive media projects offer, and provide an experimental environment in which you can explore the creative use of digital technologies and media.

You will develop an understanding of the creative possibilities of advanced multimedia programming techniques as applied to innovative and engaging presentation of interactive content. Key forms of interactive media project delivery dealt with in the course will be online delivery and one or more modes of disk-based delivery.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to Understand features that make interactive projects rich and engaging and these will be developed by:
• Instruction
• Analysis of practical examples
• Practical exercises

Your capability to apply this understanding to undertake a range of programming tasks relating to Interactive Design will be developed by:
• Creative response to project briefs
• Exploration of and experimentation with multiple possible outcomes
• Research into alternative solutions to problems
• Creation and delivery of rich interactive projects online
• Embedding a range of media in interactive projects

Your analytical capability in planning and assessing interactive projects will be developed by:
• Formulating creative conceptual responses to a brief
• Applying concepts to achieve successful design solutions
• Thinking creatively to solve programming issues associated with interactive design and development
• Managing resources and data for large scale projects
• Understanding and applying media streaming technologies
• Identifying and adapting to new industry trends

Your capabilities of self motivated learning and critical appraisal will be achieved by:
• Complete projects assigned, student motivated learning (out of class time if necessary)
• Involvement in peer & individual based critique
• Appreciation and articulation of constructive criticism

Your capability to synthesise the preceding will be developed through:
• Creating projects that are clear, elegant, robust and appealing;
• Producing prototypes, elicit feedback, and modify designs;
• Applying beta testing and evaluation methods;

You will be assessed on your development of the following graduate capabilities in this course:
• Utilise research methodologies, investigative problem identification & apply to innovative and creative solutions
• Apply, manipulate & combine media
• Develop & design storytelling & narrative structures, visual systems, navigation, structures and devices for communication outcomes
• Visualise, structure, develop and apply authoring systems for effective multimedia & time based media outcomes

On successful completion of this course you will be able to develop and design visual systems, navigation, structures and devices for communication outcomes:
•  Create complex visual interfaces and navigational structures
•  Use programming techniques to co-ordinate visual systems and devices

Utilise authoring systems to achieve effective multimedia outcomes:
•  Optimise interactive projects

Production, organisational, time and information management skills:
•  Meet deadlines
•  Achieve successful project outcomes
•  Organise programs and projects to facilitate modification
•  Manage resources and data for large projects

Apply, manipulate and combine media:
•  Prepare visual, audio & text based material
•  Collect, create, evaluate & edit content
•  Combine a variety of dynamic elements (animation, sound, image, text or video) in an interactive project

Develop skills of self-motivated learning and critical appraisal:
•  Complete projects assigned out of class time
•  Involvement in peer & individual based critique
•  Appreciation and articulation of constructive criticism
•  Practice independent research into technical issues
•  Develop a language for critiquing interactive works

Initiate, identify, define, evaluate & apply research methodologies:
•  Actively identify, record & incorporate visual and conceptual influences

Overview of Learning Activities

This course will be taught in weekly three-hour sessions. These sessions will include, variously, lectures, demonstrations, workshops and group discussions. The make-up of each session may vary but most will include a lecture presentation.

The teaching approach in this course will be student-centred and project-based. You will learn to think creatively, analytically and critically, through individual and group critiques, reviews and discussions.
The examination of examples of interactive media work and the exploration of theories and new developments relating to interactive media will enable you to develop your knowledge of creative and practical possibilities.

Lectures will provide an introduction to:
• technical and conceptual aspects of design for interactive media; websites, kiosks & mobile devices
• aesthetic & usability aspects of rich interactive media and their content
• interface, information & user experience design

Practical projects, set as assignments, will engage you in:
• developing conceptual and creative capabilities
• learning relevant production skills
• developing professional practice capabilities such as working to time constraints
• producing high quality work

All sessions will include a supervised workshop in a computer laboratory/studio. During the workshop you will be able to experiment with and apply techniques presented in lectures and will have the opportunity to seek assistance from your lecturer in applying these techniques if needed. There will also be consultation between you and your lecturer individually and in groups regarding conceptual and creative aims you adopt in working on your assignment projects. You will occasionally be required to present your assignments or work-in-progress for peer review and sessions will regularly include group discussions in which both student and professional work will be analysed and critiqued. During these critiques you will be encouraged to push beyond the ordinary or obvious solutions when undertaking your own projects or considering those of others.

Overview of Learning Resources

Many of the resources you will be expected to use are computer-based or computer peripherals and these resources will be provided in the school’s computer studios/laboratories.

You may need to use digital content acquisition tools such as cameras and sound recording equipment: these will be available for student-loan; you will organise the loan of such equipment yourself from the school’s equipment store.

You should make use of wider university resources such as its libraries, their print and audio-visual collections and, if appropriate, the University’s Learning Skills Unit.

Some course components may be presented in lecture theatres. You will be advised of the time and lecture theatre location of such presentations.
 

Overview of Assessment

Details of assessment tasks will appear in the Course Guide Part B as well as being provided in class and on blackboard.