Freshmen classes design for digital media production.

As part of a vibrant and growing digital media program, we have faced many challenges, but one of the most important is helping students develop a wide breadth of knowledge while maintaining an in-depth focus in a single area of digital media.

Here we talk about creating a freshmen experience through the development of four principles classes taken in the student’s first year. This most recent iteration of the digital media curriculum attempts to introduce the incoming freshman class to the entire spectrum of topics covered in the four-year digital media program while also building a sense of community and peer support.

Starting with day-one exposure to our culture and core programs and removing all normal prerequisite classes allows the students to make more informed choices as they progress through the program and examine their academic and career options. This also decreases faculty burden by utilizing cross-pollination of topics that are fundamental to multiple areas of digital media. Keywords: digital media, freshmen experience, teaching, community building, retention.