CU offering “Digital Media Bootcamp”

This Maymester, students will have the opportunity to go to bootcamp – the Digital Media Bootcamp, that is.

The Technology, Arts & Media Program will be offering a three-week intensive certificate program during Maymester (May 9th through 27th) for students to learn basic digital media skills.

Digital Media Bootcamp will be offered through the ATLAS Institute and Continuing Education. It is available for all majors as well as recent graduates, campus faculty and staff and the Boulder community.

The need for this media certificate program was evident to those helping to create it, as explained by Dave Kalahar, a faculty member of ATLAS, who helped to get the program rolling.

“Enrollment in our nine hour certificate in digital media and our twenty-one-hour minor in Technology, Arts, & Media Programs have almost tripled since 2004,” Kalahar said.

This spring, there is an even greater student demand to get into the programs offered by Technology, Arts, & Media. Kalahar and his associates wanted to make the Digital Media Bootcamp convenient and accessible for these students.

“There is now a two-semester waitlist for some students to get started in our certificate and minor programs,” Kalahar said. “We wanted to create an avenue for the students that wanted the knowledge and skills of the digital media world, but didn’t have the time to complete either of our programs.”

DMBC requires no prior experience, according to the DMBC website. For six hours a day, Monday through Friday, the program brings students up-to-speed on digital media skills with real-world applications.

There is a separate fee for this program that is open to about 28 students this Maymester. The fee which can be found on the DMBC website covers instruction, lab access and course materials as well and textbooks.

The media skills taught include digital imaging, basic web design and development, digital audio and digital presentations, according to the DMBC website.

The instructors for the program are Joel Swanson and David Schaal, both with experience in teaching digital media for over a decade.

Swanson, the director of Technology, Arts and Media Program, said he sees the need for a program like DMBC to be available for students and campus affiliates who may need these skills in their current or future fields of work.

“We are confident that the practical skill-set developed within DMBC will be useful for any career path,” Swanson said.

The skills taught in the DMBC, as Swanson said, will be applicable for many career paths as the work industry and its requirements are changing.

“I hear many anecdotes from my peers within the corporate sector that due to the recent recession, traditional roles within industry are being expanded,” Swanson said. “For example, a human resources manager is now being asked to build a website, or someone working in public relations needs to create weekly podcasts or videos. It is this need for a diverse digital media skill-set that our program will address.”

Kendall Gruye, a 20-year-old sociology major, said that although her field may not require much work in computer technology, a resume with media skills could give college graduates an edge over competitors when applying for jobs.

“Our society is getting more and more technologically advanced, so the more you know about [digital media skills], the better off you are trying to get a job,” Gruye said.

Swanson and his colleagues at Technology, Arts & Media Program said they wanted to make this program available for those looking to get the edge they need in the job force.

“Digital Media is now the de facto form of communication for industry, and yet higher education as a whole has not kept pace with these rapid changes,” Swanson said. “DMBC and similar programs seek to address this by equipping students with a technical, creative, and critical skill-set that will make them stand out from their peers.”

<iframe scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”502″ height=”102″ src=”http://www.prediculous.com/CUIndStoryFull.jsp?qid=2605“></iframe>

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Nora Keating at [email protected]