his is a hands-on, skills-oriented class. You will be responsible for creating a good deal of work in this class. Specifically:
Projects
Most of your grade — three-quarters, in fact — will be determined by your creative work on our five projects. Each will require you to use the software and apply the principles we are studying at the time, and each will require a good amount of your own creativity. In some cases, you may choose your own topics and formats, and in others I will provide you with material to work with. With each project, you will post your work, along with an analysis/reflection, on the class’s website (www.j463tr.com/s21). We will go over how to do this early in the semester.
Participation
We will be engaging in a series of short exercises and tutorials that will help you develop your visual creativity and become proficient with the software. Tutorials will generally involve my providing you with step-by-step instructions — via a PDF handout as well as pre-recorded videos — to help you reproduce a design or illustration. Creative exercises will be a little more open-ended. Your completion of these materials will determine 15 percent of your grade — the “participation” score.
Quizzes
We will also have five short quizzes during the semester so you can demonstrate your understanding of the key concepts in each unit as well as how to use the software.
Here is the tentative schedule for our five quizzes:
- Quiz No. 1 (Introductory Unit): Jan. 28
- Quiz No. 2 (Newspage Layout Unit): Feb. 18
- Quiz No. 3 (Magazine Layout Unit): March 11
- Quiz No. 4 (Graphics/Illustration units): April 8
- Quiz No. 5 (Web Design Unit): April 29
Your grade
Grades are a fact of our lives, and even in a creative course we must have them. Here then, is breakdown of how your final grade will be determined:
Projects
- Front Page: Due Feb. 23
- Magazine: Due March 16
- Graphics Package: Due March 25
- Poster: Due April 13
- Website: Due May 3
Quizzes
- Five, to be given at the end of each unit
Participation
- Series of tutorials and creative exercises to build skills
Submitting work
All exercises, tutorials and projects will be submitted via Canvas. Be sure to check each assignment prompt (in Canvas) to make sure you are submitting in the correct format. We will go over procedures to turn in project folders before the first project is due. You will also post your project work, as PDFs, to the class website — www.j463tr.com/s21 — with a written reflection for each project. Unlike C226, where your reflections were just between yourself and your instructors, these reflections will be publicly viewable. Use the reflection to discuss your learning, your intentions and your design decisions for each project.
Learning for media careers
In J463, you should expect to make significant progress in mastering the following areas, based on the core values and competencies articulated by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications:
- Understanding concepts and applying theories in the use and presentation of images and information
- Demonstrating an understanding of professional ethical principles
- Thinking critically, creatively and independently
- Evaluating your own work and that of others critically
- Applying tools and technologies appropriate for the communications professions
For a full list of the ACEJMC’s accrediting standards, click here.