Curriculum

The Introduction to Multimedia course serves to provide basic knowledge of the field to mass communication students at San Joaquin Delta College. The course incorporates the use of Adobe Creative Suite products including Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Premiere.

Students work as individuals or in groups of up to three – based on their personal preference – to brainstorm, conceptualize, report, edit and publish a multimedia project on a “slice of life” topic in Stockton and San Joaquin County.

Course description

This course is designed to provide basic skills in the art of multimedia storytelling and project building with a journalism emphasis. Techniques that will be explored include use of video, photos, animation, graphic design, and text to convey interactive news and feature stories through the Internet and other electronic media. In addition, students will use critical thinking skills to develop the best way to build media content into a central project. Ethical considerations, including the use of contributed content, will also be examined. (CSU, C-ID JOUR 120)

Course objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Determine the best use of media in an online setting to best tell a story.
  2. Shoot and edit a 1-2 minute video news story for use on the web or in a larger project.
  3. Capture audio and then use a sound editing program to edit a 1-2 minute news audio segment.
  4. Compose a photo with basic technique understanding that can be used in an online or print publication.
  5. Demonstrate design principals, including typography, to build a well-designed web-based project.
  6. Code basic HTML and be able to understand beginning CSS to alter the appearance of a website.
  7. Construct news stories through blog and social media posts.
  8. Interpret and apply legal issues to works created, specifically copyright law.
  9. Assess digital storytelling strategies to know which medium is the best to tell a specific story.
  10. Develop digital research strategies.

Course outcomes

  • Students will successfully produce more than two 1-2 minute video and audio packages for a web-based project.
  • Students will successfully demonstrate knowledge of basic principles in photography and graphic design.
  • The course will serve as an introduction of the convergence of all multimedia areas, with the outcome of exposing students to multimedia while providing a comprehensive project to do so.