The certificate program's non-credit worskhops address ITP concepts through practical experience with interactive technology tools. They are an integral part of the program curriculum and each student must take three workshops to complete the requirements of rhte certificate. Workshops are taught either as a single two-hour class or as a two part four hour class, and are placed into four categories, Web Design, Creative Applications, Non-Linear Video, and Individual Workshops. For Web Design, Creative Applications, and Non-Linear Video, students must take the entry level workshop before moving on to the more advanced workshops in the groupings. (Students who have prior experience and are able to exhibit proficiency may skip the entry-level workshop.) The final group of Individual Workshops consists of sessions that are help to inform the areas of knowledge in interactive design that are not covered in the three main groups.
Web Design | Creative Apps | Non-Linear Video | Individual Workshops
Web Design
This set of workshops provides students with the tools and skills to design websites. The Web Design series starts with HTML, the basic language of web design, and Dreamweaver, a program used to design and manage websites, and continues with Advanced Web Design and workshops that cover Flash, a multimedia animation program. Students are expected to take the HTML/Dreamweaver workshop before moving on to the more advanced workshops.
- Dreamweaver I: This workshop begins with an introduction to web design by explaining how HTML works, how web sites are managed, and how browsers read sites. Students will then put these concepts to work by practicing building sites using Dreamweaver, a power graphical web design program, to create two sites.
- Dreamweaver II: This workshop addresses the aesthetics and finer points of web design. The goal is to go beyond the practical questions of HTML code and talk about screen real estate, the use of color, text size and style, and other important aspects that not only make sites functional but also creative and visually pleasing.
- Flash I: This workshop introduces the basic functionality of Macromedia Flash for the creation of animated movies and web sites. We will cover creating symbols, organizing scenes and layers, tweening, and other basic Flash tools.
- Flash II: This workshop explores the more complex animating and deisgn capabilities of Flash. Students will be introdcued to ActionScript, embedded movies and sound, the use of Flash in interactive web sites and how to further apply the tools learned in Intro to Flash.
Creative Apps
This set of workshops provides students with the tools and skills to create, scan, edit, and publish digital images. The series starts with an introduction to scanning images and digital image editing using Photoshop. Later courses include advance instruction in Photoshop, a specialized course on how to best use Photoshop in the creation of imagery for the Web, and a workshop on Illustrator, software used to creating digital images from scratch.
- Photoshop and Scanning: This workshop begins by familiarizing students with how to use a scanner to capture digital images from photos and print media. Students then take the images they have captured and practice editing them in Adobe Photoshop. Among the editing tools students use are cropping, brightness/contrast, color balance, and adding text.
- Advanced Photoshop: This workshop covers the more sophisticated tools of Adobe Photoshop that are not covered in the introductory workshop. Students will work with methods of detailed text texturing, touch-up and image alteration, collage and layering, and color shifting.
- Illustrator: This workshop introduces students to Illustrator, software that contains a large range of digital image creation tools, including creation of scalable vector graphics. The workshop covers concepts such as text manipulation, symbol design, polygons, and illustrative techniques.
- Photoshop for the Web: This workshop focuses on Photoshop as a tool to create web graphics. Students will learn about slices, rollovers, menu-creation, and optimization and export.
Non-Linear Video
Taking advantage of the variety of equipment, computers, and software that the program has for the recording and editing of digital video, this set of workshops provides students with the tools and skills to create movies using non-linear digital technology. The series begins with Apple's iMovie and iDVD programs, user-friendly consumer-level software that will introduce students to the concepts and tools of digital video editing and DVD production. Later workshops will expand on these concepts using Apple's pro-level software, Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro. There will also be a workshop that focuses audio editing with regard to video.
- Apple iMovie & iDVD: This workshop is an introduction to digital video editing on the Macintosh platform. iMovie and iDVD are entry level products and the workshop will take advantage of the ease of their interfaces, tools, and techniques. The workshop will be two two-hour sessions with three hours on importing and editing and an hour on DVD production
- Final Cut Pro: The Final Cut Pro workshop takes what students have learned in the iMovie & iDVD workshop and expands the concepts and techniques of digital video editing by using the more powerful and advanced toolset of Final Cut Pro to create movies.
- DVD Studio Pro: Much like the Final Cut Pro workshop expands on iMovie, the DVD Studio Pro workshop introduces students to the wide array of DVD production tools available in Apple's professional software. The workshop covers menus, buttons, chapters, etc.
- Sound Editing for Video: This workshop addresses the particular challenges of editing sound for video production. Students work with questions of volume and amplitude, synchronization, diegetic sound and background music, and working with compression and streaming.
Individual Workshops
In addition to the three sequences of wokshops, the program also offers a number of workshops on individual tools and topics pertinent to Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. These workshops address online tools—such as Blackboard, Blogging & Wikis, commercial software that is often used in academic software—such as Microsoft Powerpoing and Access, and introduce students to editing and managing different forms of digital audio.
- Blackboard: This workshop introduces students to Blackboard, the commercial content management system used by CUNY. Students will learn about discussion boards, uploading and downloading, and customization of the Blackboard interface.
- Blogging and Wikis: This workshop addresses the features and uses of blogs and wikis on the internet. Using software such as Wordpress, Blogger.com, and MediaWiki, students will look at how blogs and wikis are used as well as how to set up and maintain their own sites.
- Powerpoint: Often belittled for its very corporate nature, Powerpoint remains a very important tool for educators due to its ease of use and ability to quickly create a presentation. This workshop will explore the various strengths and weaknesses of this popular software.
- Micosoft Access: This two-session four hour workshop covers the theories and practices of database creation and management through instruction on Microsoft Access. Database's are a critical part of the digital age and this workshop will address how information is inputted, stored, and accessed using Microsoft's powerful application.
- Digital Audio: This workshop introduces students to editing digital audio. The workshop will cover different audio formats digital audio comes in and some software used to edit it.
