With term 3 being finished tomorrow, here's my take on the 3rd term. In my opinion term 3 wasn't much of a surprise besides one particular course. I don't like to say every term the material and work gets harder, but it is in a different way; in terms of the actual work load it's very similar to term 2, but in a way it's a bit more difficult I found it, having to spend more time on assignments because of the difficulty jump and more efforts required if you want a good mark.
Due to a certain course I have to add a brand new difficulty level!
Difficulty level - - easy , - medium , - difficult , - super difficult
Let's begin shall we?
Project Management -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2082
Project management is of course a course about managing projects, different considerations to consider when doing big projects or freelancing work. In terms of lectures there's actually quite a lot to learn from this course; if you are considering work in new media, this course is a must.
In this course you will be creating a project for a real or made up client working in groups of 3-4 and you will be creating an website just as if it's an actual client, there's also a final but it was pretty easy, just the project was difficult.
Project management is actually harder than it seems, there are a lot of factors, deadlines and other information to consider, our group kind of underestimated the project and missed some important deadlines but in the end we pulled through somehow.
I believe this course will really help me in the future when I get a job even if it's not media related.
Visual Effects -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia3188
Visual effects is a course for Adobe After Effects, it's a introduction -> advance course and you will be learning a huge chunk of after effects in this 12 week course. Majority of the course is lectures and lessons on using different techniques in affect effects; there are also multiple projects to do but we had the freedom to create whatever we want, which was awesome.
*Important note about this course, you better name all your compositions and project files and keep them all ordered up or you will get confused real quick. We probably did close to 100 different things in after effects and if you don't know what you did because you didn't take the few seconds to rename something, you're screwed.
I feel that I learned a huge chunk of after effects effects in this short 12 weeks and I am very satisfied with this course.
Now you can create some awesome videos with final cut pro and after effects!
Web Design & Interaction -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia3292
This is more of a continuation of "web scripting 1" from term 2 than web scripting 2 in term 3 in my opinion. This course have you working with HTML/CSS again and you will be able to create some pretty neat stuff in your websites.
It's a very easy course with little work, but that doesn't mean you should neglect it, pay attention and ask questions from your instructors to further improve on your website, you can learn a lot from your instructors since they are professionals.
Law & New Media -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2200
Hardest course out of all the courses thus far by a large margin. Law & new media is as you can except, about the law. Besides the fact that it is the hardest course, it is also one of the most interesting course, did you know you can go to a mall and film up girl's skirts and sell the videos for profit without getting in trouble?
It's a very detailed course that covers a large sum about law in general and law regarding new media, I can list out all the different laws you will learn, but that is for the course of course. It's a very important course if you are going to be working in the field of new media.
One of the reason this is the hardest course is that there is just so much to learn, we had quizzes also but that may vary from instructors. Truthfully I didn't do too bad in this course, but looking at some of my scores, I thought I might actually fail this course (only course I thought I might fail).
I neglected studying for quizzes until the last moment and got barely passed them, and the class average for the quizzes was very low also. This course also has a final exam, at that point I thought about not wanting to take this course again so I had go over the material all over again, and to my surprise I learned a lot more than when I was bsing the quizzes.
So lesson is, freaking study for this course, or you might fail.
Also the answer is not the answer, but how you get the answer, you will know if you take this course.
Web Scripting 2 -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia3294
Hard courses left and right, web scripting 2 is a continuation of web scripting 1 but moves in a direction away from HTML/CSS. You will be learning a bunch new things like AJAX, JSON, PHP.
First off, the only thing I actually get from this course is PHP, and everything else is like what the heck is this suppose to do and how do I use it. I don't really have much to comment besides not understanding a lot of the material in this course.
I believe this is partly my fault and that the course seemed a bit too quick paced and didn't have enough time for the material to sink in. We had a lot of time working with HTML/CSS over and over again so maybe that's why it's easy, but this is something else.
So if you are interested in developing websites, do pay extra attention in this course and really get a well understanding of the materials. There were also some light assignments for this course.
Social Networking -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2045
Got facebook, twitter, linkedin, flickr, and a blog about yourself?
If no, then you better get started !!!.
Social networking is about social medias as you might expect, it is a requirement to have a facebook, twitter, linkedin, flickr, and a blog for this course. The lesson in this course is how you utilize these tools on the internet to generate website views either for your portfolio or other websites you may have.
You will be creating a project in a group and putting your social media skills to the test. Each of the social media accounts you have to create have requirements, such as 15 followers for twitter; 50 linkedin connections related to new media wasn't new to us, we knew since term 1, but I don't believe we knew the connections had to be new media related. Honestly finding previous graduates and adding them as a connection is difficult.
I realized how I sucked at social medias because I don't know what to tweet about or think of interesting things to blog, it's actually like a competition and a game at the same time.
In the end I like this course a lot because now I actually created a bunch of social media that I would've never done so in the first place, seems like they will be useful sometime in the future.
Advance Photoshop / Illustrator -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia3155
When I think of an advanced course, I expect really advanced things to be taught, but seems that I overestimated this course tad lot. I can't say this for all of us but do leave a comment on what you think. In terms of difficulty it's literally on par with the previous intro to photoshop / illustrator courses, which shouldn't be a good thing right?
I would say about around 30-40% of the material overlaps with the respective introduction courses and the rest felt like it was randomly chosen and thrown together. I understand that it can take countless years to learn all about photoshop and illustrator, but I honestly feel like a bunch of random tutorials was found and let's put them together and call it advance photoshop / illustrator.
I haven't felt this way since Scanning & color correction because the material overlapped with introduction to photoshop, that it's just random. I am by far an expert photoshop user, I would consider myself a newbie that knows the basics, even though I did not know... let say about 60% techniques learned, I don't feel astonished of the material learned. I think this course can go a lot further as it stands, compared to other advance courses and even intro courses, this course felt lacking.
Assignments were also pretty dull, you learned this and this today, so use this and this for the assignment, I believe we had 10-11 assignments pretty much one a week.
Portfolio I -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2005
The mighty portfolio course where you create a portfolio website showcasing all the work you've done up until now to find a practicum in term 4 and future jobs.
What I love most about this course is that I finally have a fully functional website for myself.
www.divulgedavid.com I still have a lot of work to do on it and it has tons of room for improving, but it feels pretty good to have your own website up and fully functional.
This course has a lot a work for your portfolio to do but it's in fact a pretty light course; we had a couple hours of lectures in the 10 weeks, or 11 weeks of this course and the rest is free time for you to work.
It's alright to spend a large amount of your time to creating a awesome portfolio website that just stuns everybody, but there's still Portfolio II course next term, in which you will have more time for your portfolio.
One of the course I enjoyed the most because I get to create my own website fully functional and that if you are done, it's basically a free block.
Finally that's it for term 3, never-mind I lied, still one more day to go, can't get any worse right?
The worst thing about term 3 is that we actually had law class from 5 pm - 8 pm, I of course was super tired like every class, something that I should improve on. BCIT doesn't exactly have the best things to eat if you are at school at night so you should bring your own food.
At this point I am about to get worried about finding a practicum for term 4, so I should stop procrastinating... zzzzzz
The courses I enjoyed the most this term are portfolio and visual effects, I would've loved law a lot more if only it wasn't so late, and to think we have a class that ends at 9pm ... oh god.
* I forgot to mention in term 1 or 2 review, but there is a requirement to have your own web hosting all the way in term 1, but it's not actually needed until term 3, I bought web hosting at the start of term 2 because I thought we needed it, so kind of wasted a month having no websites up.
My Portfolio : www.divulgedavid.com
Project Management Project : http://playvancouver.ca/
Social Media Project : http://2getit.blogspot.ca/
Friday 18 January 2013
Thursday 10 January 2013
New Media Design & Web Development [Term 2 Review]
Before you know it, term 1 is over, I was rather surprised how quick 1/4th I've already been through 1/4th of the program.
Term 1 for the most part was mostly introductions, term 2 is when things finally kick off. I have to point out that there is a much steeper workload than term 1 , prepare yourself.
Difficulty level - - easy , - medium , - difficult
Mobile Web -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia1472
Easy course right off the bat, what?
Things are just getting started, mobile web is a html/css (making websites) focused solely for mobile environment, this includes smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. That's pretty much the gist of it, the course was really quick paced and easy to follow along, there was also mild assignments but you will be able to create your own mobile and responsive websites, overall a cool course.
I thought this course might be pointless because not all developers are interested in developing for the mobile scene but it's interesting to know just how important is a mobile website is and a lot of companies have mobile websites.
Design Esthetics -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia1193
Design esthetics is a pretty intensive course that's about designs and theory behind it. If you are creative, you will love this course, if you are not, you will learn a lot about how to be more creative. Don't forget to bring pencils and erasers, you will need it, being a digital program and all, you will still need to draw with your hands. Honestly I'm a terrible drawer and I know it, but designing is not about how great your drawing skills are, it's about your ideas, even if it's a bunch of scribble, that works fine.
There are heavy notes and assignments and a final so prepare yourself, this is one those course that helps contribute to term 2's workload.
Despite hating to draw, I found this course enjoyable because of all the design theories, I look at visuals differently now, magazines don't just splat on pictures to look good, there's all these interesting theories about it that helps intrigue readers.
Web Animation -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2292
Learning flash and more html, the joy of learning more languages to code with, not so great in my opinion. Unlike html, when you code actionscript (language used to code animations) is really difficult. It's one of the things you have to practice on your own from time to time again until you become good at. I didn't particularly struggle in flash, but I had to think about it and put in some effort to get everything working correctly. I am not into animations because I'm not good at drawing, but if you love drawing then you just might love flash.
I disliked this course however I still learned a lot from it, from what you learn, it's possible to create your own flash games if you put in the effort. The work and assignments are not bad in this course, but do prepare to put in some effort and ask your classmates for help if needed.
Human Factors -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2530
Human factors is a continuation of Graphics and Color for The Web in term 1, this course teaches you how average everyday people using the internet would react to visiting a website, there's a lot of good information here if you are into the web development side or graphic design.
Fairly easy course with little amount of work.
Interface Design -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2534
Interface design is the next step after human factors, I can say it's a continuation again but it's getting redundant.
This course teaches you how to design good interfaces for the people that's going to be visiting the website.
There's some theory here and there but is a really easy course, I like the course because it doesn't require you to be a master art student to draw some decent interfaces. Not a lot of work for this course also.
Video Shooting & Editing -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2560
*The course requirement are high end video cameras like DSLR, but it is not mandatory, almost our entire class got an DSLR because that's what the instructors and past graduates told us. You will be working in groups of
2-3 people so you can share one camera between your group, can also possibly rent cameras if nobody have or want to purchase one.
Video shooting & editing is straight forward, you will have 3 projects, one project you will edit with footage given to you, the remaining 2 projects are your group's decision. This is a course where it requires you to work together with one or two individuals, so be prepared to spend a lot of time in this course.
I would say the hardest thing in this course is getting together and filming , editing , and producing your projects, splitting the work isn't exactly easy but it's what you want to do if you want to get it done quick.
I really enjoyed this course because I honestly can say I learned a lot from it after completing it, even though i'm not pursuing a video career right now, I know it will help in the future. Aside from learning the software, there's also interesting lectures on how you should product quality movies and videos.
Audio -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2196
Video and audio are one of the same, just one is for video and other is for audio, both classes are incorporated so you have time and help to work on your projects from video class in audio, let's just pretend they are one complete large course.
In audio you will be taught how to create music from using existing sounds and audio and a lot of information here can be used in video class and vice versa.
There's little work in this class because your main focus will be your projects in video class but you will be doing some audio related work that might require you to rent a microphone to record.
I hate how in this course you have to rent audio equipment if you or your group does not have any, it's the same with video class, I believe the school should provide required equipment for assignments. Prepare for spending some cash on renting audio equipment.
Adobe Illustrator -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2165
Our instructor loved street fighter so maybe that's why we get crazy 4 button hotkeys to learn to perform a task in illustrator. This is a introduction course to illustrator and creating vector based visuals. I was a complete illustrator newbie when I started this class but wasn't especially surprised since it was just easy but repetitive. This is of the things where it may differentiate from instructor to instructor, but we literally did 3 assignments that's almost identical with minor differences within the 12 weeks, then there's some final assignments where you have more freedom as to what to do.
Oh my god the frigging street fighter combos we had to learn, I do not remember 1/10th of the 30-50 hotkeys we had on our exam. This isn't just me, I can say for the whole class that everybody hated the amount of hotkeys we had to learn, which I'm sure majority of us already forgotten.
So if you'd ask me which course I hated the most in term 2, here's the winner, but I did learn quite a few things about illustrator, I feel confident in using the program now, not at all with the street fighter combos though.
Web Scripting 1 -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2294
Web scripting 1 continues where Overview of Web Technology left off, in other words this course further expands your knowledge on your web developing skills. The main focus will still be html/css, but it will start progressing to more advance techniques you can use.
I am somebody who had very little experience with web development, and I found that this is also one of the course you will feel you learn a lot by the end of it, and a lot of the things stay with you because you will be doing similar things each day.
This is the course for you web developers and graphic designers, there isn't a lot of work to do, so consider creating your own website at this point for experience, it will help greatly further in the terms.
Overall impression of term 2
Term 2 is definitely a step up from term 1 where you will actually be busy when you have all your assignments and projects assigned. Managing your time and schedule here will be key; I enjoyed term 2 a lot more than term 1 because it was more active, and it feels like the time when the program is finally starting and not just basic intro lectures.
Besides the street fighter combos we had to learn in adobe illustrator , I had a good time in term 2 and learned quite a lot, but I regret spending not enough time on a couple of courses and feel like I missed out on some opportunity, but that's all good now.
Extra Note
Don't delete or move around all your term 1 stuff, keep it organized, same with the other terms, you will need everything later.
Term 1 for the most part was mostly introductions, term 2 is when things finally kick off. I have to point out that there is a much steeper workload than term 1 , prepare yourself.
Difficulty level - - easy , - medium , - difficult
Mobile Web -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia1472
Easy course right off the bat, what?
Things are just getting started, mobile web is a html/css (making websites) focused solely for mobile environment, this includes smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. That's pretty much the gist of it, the course was really quick paced and easy to follow along, there was also mild assignments but you will be able to create your own mobile and responsive websites, overall a cool course.
I thought this course might be pointless because not all developers are interested in developing for the mobile scene but it's interesting to know just how important is a mobile website is and a lot of companies have mobile websites.
Design Esthetics -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia1193
Design esthetics is a pretty intensive course that's about designs and theory behind it. If you are creative, you will love this course, if you are not, you will learn a lot about how to be more creative. Don't forget to bring pencils and erasers, you will need it, being a digital program and all, you will still need to draw with your hands. Honestly I'm a terrible drawer and I know it, but designing is not about how great your drawing skills are, it's about your ideas, even if it's a bunch of scribble, that works fine.
There are heavy notes and assignments and a final so prepare yourself, this is one those course that helps contribute to term 2's workload.
Despite hating to draw, I found this course enjoyable because of all the design theories, I look at visuals differently now, magazines don't just splat on pictures to look good, there's all these interesting theories about it that helps intrigue readers.
Web Animation -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2292
Learning flash and more html, the joy of learning more languages to code with, not so great in my opinion. Unlike html, when you code actionscript (language used to code animations) is really difficult. It's one of the things you have to practice on your own from time to time again until you become good at. I didn't particularly struggle in flash, but I had to think about it and put in some effort to get everything working correctly. I am not into animations because I'm not good at drawing, but if you love drawing then you just might love flash.
I disliked this course however I still learned a lot from it, from what you learn, it's possible to create your own flash games if you put in the effort. The work and assignments are not bad in this course, but do prepare to put in some effort and ask your classmates for help if needed.
Human Factors -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2530
Human factors is a continuation of Graphics and Color for The Web in term 1, this course teaches you how average everyday people using the internet would react to visiting a website, there's a lot of good information here if you are into the web development side or graphic design.
Fairly easy course with little amount of work.
Interface Design -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2534
Interface design is the next step after human factors, I can say it's a continuation again but it's getting redundant.
This course teaches you how to design good interfaces for the people that's going to be visiting the website.
There's some theory here and there but is a really easy course, I like the course because it doesn't require you to be a master art student to draw some decent interfaces. Not a lot of work for this course also.
Video Shooting & Editing -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2560
*The course requirement are high end video cameras like DSLR, but it is not mandatory, almost our entire class got an DSLR because that's what the instructors and past graduates told us. You will be working in groups of
2-3 people so you can share one camera between your group, can also possibly rent cameras if nobody have or want to purchase one.
Video shooting & editing is straight forward, you will have 3 projects, one project you will edit with footage given to you, the remaining 2 projects are your group's decision. This is a course where it requires you to work together with one or two individuals, so be prepared to spend a lot of time in this course.
I would say the hardest thing in this course is getting together and filming , editing , and producing your projects, splitting the work isn't exactly easy but it's what you want to do if you want to get it done quick.
I really enjoyed this course because I honestly can say I learned a lot from it after completing it, even though i'm not pursuing a video career right now, I know it will help in the future. Aside from learning the software, there's also interesting lectures on how you should product quality movies and videos.
Audio -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2196
Video and audio are one of the same, just one is for video and other is for audio, both classes are incorporated so you have time and help to work on your projects from video class in audio, let's just pretend they are one complete large course.
In audio you will be taught how to create music from using existing sounds and audio and a lot of information here can be used in video class and vice versa.
There's little work in this class because your main focus will be your projects in video class but you will be doing some audio related work that might require you to rent a microphone to record.
I hate how in this course you have to rent audio equipment if you or your group does not have any, it's the same with video class, I believe the school should provide required equipment for assignments. Prepare for spending some cash on renting audio equipment.
Adobe Illustrator -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2165
Our instructor loved street fighter so maybe that's why we get crazy 4 button hotkeys to learn to perform a task in illustrator. This is a introduction course to illustrator and creating vector based visuals. I was a complete illustrator newbie when I started this class but wasn't especially surprised since it was just easy but repetitive. This is of the things where it may differentiate from instructor to instructor, but we literally did 3 assignments that's almost identical with minor differences within the 12 weeks, then there's some final assignments where you have more freedom as to what to do.
Oh my god the frigging street fighter combos we had to learn, I do not remember 1/10th of the 30-50 hotkeys we had on our exam. This isn't just me, I can say for the whole class that everybody hated the amount of hotkeys we had to learn, which I'm sure majority of us already forgotten.
So if you'd ask me which course I hated the most in term 2, here's the winner, but I did learn quite a few things about illustrator, I feel confident in using the program now, not at all with the street fighter combos though.
Web Scripting 1 -
course detail: http://www.bcit.ca/study/outlines/mdia2294
Web scripting 1 continues where Overview of Web Technology left off, in other words this course further expands your knowledge on your web developing skills. The main focus will still be html/css, but it will start progressing to more advance techniques you can use.
I am somebody who had very little experience with web development, and I found that this is also one of the course you will feel you learn a lot by the end of it, and a lot of the things stay with you because you will be doing similar things each day.
This is the course for you web developers and graphic designers, there isn't a lot of work to do, so consider creating your own website at this point for experience, it will help greatly further in the terms.
Overall impression of term 2
Term 2 is definitely a step up from term 1 where you will actually be busy when you have all your assignments and projects assigned. Managing your time and schedule here will be key; I enjoyed term 2 a lot more than term 1 because it was more active, and it feels like the time when the program is finally starting and not just basic intro lectures.
Besides the street fighter combos we had to learn in adobe illustrator , I had a good time in term 2 and learned quite a lot, but I regret spending not enough time on a couple of courses and feel like I missed out on some opportunity, but that's all good now.
Extra Note
Don't delete or move around all your term 1 stuff, keep it organized, same with the other terms, you will need everything later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)