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.