Featured Class: Digital Core I

(Update September 2009. Digital Core is now taught by Professor Peter DePietro.)

Media is continuously evolving, as well as converging to a far superior and highly accessible format.  The capabilities for presenting content, delivering a message, or simply expressing oneself are tremendous.  Electronic Media students at UC learn early in their college careers about the available tools that will assist them in producing engaging media and communicating effectively.

Digital Core I is a class designed to provide a foundation of knowledge for new Electronic Media students focused around the Apple MacBook Pro and its accompanying software tools.  It is an interactive and hands-on experience which immerses the students into the world of new media and it’s capabilities.  All freshmen and E-Media transfer students are required to purchase the laptop for their first quarter as they will be put to use immediately in the Digital Core I class.

Professor Richard Cawood is the instructor of Digital Core I..  He offers a wealth of knowledge and experience in the new media field, effectively teaching with a trademark British flair.  His experience, coupled with the ability to interact with his students, provide a positive and engaging atmosphere for learning.

As a required course of the Electronic Media curriculum Digital Core I aims to satisfy specific objectives for the students.  Professor Cawood says, “What I try to accomplish with Digital Core is, one, to remove the fear factor from technology; two, level the playing field moving forward for students using technology.  Three, to try and have students think of their computer and the installed software as their creative tool.”

He likens E-Media students with their laptops to CCM performance majors spending much of their time working on their craft, or working with their specific instrument.  Professor Cawood emphasizes the importance of handling their computers on a daily basis to create fashionable content just as student musicians would work with their instruments on a regular basis.  “It is like playing the piano,” says Cawood.  “You have to be practicing on a daily basis, hands on.”

As most of the students are first time Mac users, they are slowly integrated into the basic functions and applications their computers have to offer.  They are introduced to the Apple iLife suite of software - entry level but effective applications - which provide a platform to express themselves through a variety of media such as text, photo, audio, and video content.  This content can then be organized, edited, and integrated through the iWeb application to be posted for online exposure.

Students are given freedom for creativity as they are guided through exercises and experiences to create a level of comfort with the technology.  The corresponding assignments require the students to revisit the material covered in class and become, as Professor Cawood refers to it, “digitally dirty” with the applications.

Digital Core is not your conventional “textbook, paper, and pen” sort of class.  As Freshman E-Media Student Aaron Hecker points out, “ Digital Core teaches me skills I need to know to get the most out of my computer.  Other classes teach me concepts.  This is the first hands-on class I have had in years.”  Professor Cawood adds, “No matter where you are going beyond your four year degree, to some degree technology is going to be an important part of your life.”

Digital Core is not simply about learning how to push buttons, or recognizing what an application can do.  It aims to provide the students with the understanding of the process of creating content, regardless of the medium, and the ability to post their material online for collaboration purposes with the use of technology.

According to Professor Cawood, “It is the thoughtful use of the application and the technology.  It is allowing them (the students) to be empowered by placing their own content online in a fairly easy fashion.  It brings together all of the different areas of what E-media is.”

Digital Core is an engaging and innovative learning environment which requires students to venture beyond the confines of a traditional classroom.  It enables students to thoroughly explore how a combined suite of software tools can operate seamlessly together.  With the continuous advancement of media technology, Digital Core provides the foundation of education that is necessary for future success in the new media world.

Written by Mark Hixenbaugh, November 2008