New Education for New Media

[stevejones]

What should a degree in "New Media" look like? What would the curriculum be? What kinds of topics should be covered? What is the best preparation for a career in new media? Similarly, what is the best preparation for working and living with new media in the workplace and world? Who should offer such a degree, what kind of institution (university, community college, for-profit university, or...)? Maybe there are already existing degree programs that would suffice, maybe not. Maybe it would be useful to think about what we might do if we could start from scratch.

[Kevin Burrell]

I agree I think this should be addressed earlier in K-12 education. As new media invades our homes more and more skill to manipulate and critically access the media should become as basic as knowing how to work with your hands in the 60's.

I would like to revisit those days as well and have kids and adults be self sufficient in the way they create things both in the real and digital worlds.

What I want to add is that educational institutions should not be afraid to put K-12 with College and Grad all in one spot and have them work together. It would be interesting for the old toy learn from the young and vice verse in regards to creating new approaches to utilizing media.

[stevejones]

In partnership with a charter school this is somewhat along the lines of what UIC is starting on a small scale: http://uiccollegeprep.org/. UIUC has been successful with Uni High. I expect there are other successful examples elsewhere.

My main concern is that we not specialize too much at too early an age. Now, just what constitutes "too early," I don't know, and I suspect it varies from child to child. That said, if we can keep options open at the K-12 level and encourage creativity and growth, while making media literacy and creativity part of education, I would be for it. However, I don't teach K-12, and I expect there would be some fairly big hurdles to jump, such as figuring out how to add more to an already crowded curriculum, how to recruit teachers suited to the task, how to pay for equipment, and probably dozens of other things I haven't thought of. Which, again, doesn't mean it's not worth a try.

[Exal Iraheta]

I fear that I have entered this conversation a little to late for it has gone beyond the point of easy entry, but I will do so anyhow.

I'm currently a fourth year student at The School of the Art Institute, and am a very involved member of our FVNm Department, that is Film/Video New Media, I am also the Station Manager for our school's Student run Media Station (EXTV exhibits student 4d work), and also am a student manager at our Media Center (equipment cage). So I have been both a participant and an observer of the growth of New Media technology and students that are taking on these new exciting career choices, and have to say that it has become really difficult keeping up with Media expectations that are set forth by those in the "Industry".

We have become subject to a strange experiment where art/design and commercialism has molded into a singular beast, where we students are expected to learn by example but are encouraged to find our own aesthetic. And a lot of what I've seen, both from fellow students and my own methods of approach, become nothing more than a regurgitation of something that has already been done before, leaving us with a formula, a mold that works.

This of course is assuming that the students want a career, and assuming also that having a career means that we will be making money.

Other wise, approaching it from a conceptual eye, originality is limitless but because of New Media's very technological based approach many times concept seems to be set aside in accordance to sleekness and the basic question "does it work?"

The process of learning how to do 'it' in early grades, might solve the problem of how familiar we are with the ever changing media, but if it's taught without the support of concept, we would just simply see similar if not more extreme results of what I've seen being produced by my peers, who want to be in the business. Because honestly, learning how to work a very complex system and attempting to keep personal aesthetic, concept, and still having it be acceptable has become extremely difficult.

So, taking that into consideration, I'd say I agree there should be a different approach, but we can't forget the artistry that correlates with any new Media.

That is again, assuming that the students want a career, and assuming also that having a career means that we will be making money.

[stevejones]

That's a remarkable post, Exal, and it basically wants me to ask you to tell us more, but it is probably best told in a different medium, such as face-to-face. I think we could all have a fascinating conversation about this. You bring up so many issues, the main one being about art and commerce, an age-old matter but one that I think is truly too infrequently brought up in the context of new media. I shall hope you will be at the summit and that I can meet you there and discuss this further.

[Ryan Leyesa]

From my experience, when it comes to art and money that's not yours, your personal vision usually takes a backseat to what the money holder wants. I've seen a concept artist who couldn't make it here with his distinct drawing style, but made it big (well successful) in San Francisco where a company have made use of his talents without molding his personal style into something alien. The greatest lesson is finding a way to make money without changing your vision. How do you teach people in front of the camera, writers behind the camera, or any other artists to retain their (artistic) individuality and still make money? If you teach that to someone, you break the cycle and the formula is no more. It's all about learning to become a leader instead of a follower. Or maybe it's about pretending to be a follower just to become a leader. :)

[Anknee]

As a recent graduate who developed an interest in new media in my junior year, I feel like I need a school that will allow me to learn the methods of how to realize a project more than the theory. However, I do come from a theory intense school and find reading books about media to be one of my favorite pasttimes. The problem that I find with most programs currently labeled as 'New Media' is that they consider the internet THE new media and leave physical computing out of the picture entirely.
What I am looking for in a program is a guided team environment where we would pool together our knowledge about different forms of media and create personal and collaborative projects from there. Then take a few singular classes on our personal areas of weakness. (Not sure this would work, but it is my utopia)
In my research I have really only found MIT and NYU to offer programs of this type, but I realize that I am no genius and my chances of going are slim. Does anyone recommend others?
If this were in the mission statement of the program, I would instantly get excited about the school...

"Make the learning process inconvenient for students so they have to actually find and
produce the answers to their own questions. Taking the time to force students to make
mistakes and run into dead ends teaches students how to find their interests and hone their
talents."
My search continues...

[stevejones]

This is somewhat what we do at EVL (http://www.evl.uic.edu). I expect there are other programs along these lines, too.

[Brian Montana]

It seems as though the younger ones just grab new technology and we just teach ourselves and the education for any of it seems out of reach from teachers at the high school level. The high school I attended did not have any digital art classes and the only photoshop they had was for the mac... I had to take an AutoCAD class and got the teacher to allow me to do my own digital art work.