School of Humanities
Department of Visual and Performing Arts

Curriculum Proposal

ART102- Introduction to Digital Arts: Tools and Techniques, 3 Credits

COURSE SYLLABUS

Class Schedule

Course Description

This course introduces students to basic tools, concepts and techniques of utilizing the computer as a creative tool in fine arts production. It will introduce the student to the basics of digital photography, image production and image management, including: downloading, manipulating, presenting and archiving images in a variety of formats. Students will be introduced to the Apple G4 computer and hardware peripherals including: color scanner, high-resolution printer, storage media, and the digital camera. Adobe© Photoshop 7 will be the digital imaging software introduced. The course will consist of lectures and demonstrations of the above-mentioned applications of the hardware and software components. The course will include practical application (hands-on) assignments that will assist the student to retain course material and to use course concepts in their own creative projects.

Prerequisites or Co-Requisite: ART100-Fundamentals of Design I

Course Objectives

• To introduce the student to digital art tools and techniques.
• To introduce the student to the basics of digital photography, photo downloading, and color printing.
• To expand the students vocabulary of digital art terms.
• To introduce the student to the Mac platform, hardware and Adobe© Photoshop 7.
• To instill an appreciation for the computer as an effective tool in the fine arts creative process.

Required Textbook: Chapman, Nigel and Jenny Digital Media Tools 2E. www.wiley.com, John, Wiley and Sons, Inc.

This text will be available in the bookstore.

Recommended Textbook: Wands, Bruce. Digital Creativity, Techniques for Digital Media and the Internet. www.onwordpress.com, OnWord Press/Thompson Learning, 2000

Students will be provided with a Lab library, which will be stocked with an assortment of technical, design, text manuals and reference items (both required and suggested).

Required Materials: Students will be required to purchase zip © disks for digital storage of assignments. Additional media may need to be purchased during course.

Course Requirements:

• Textbook purchase and reading of handouts and web pages.
• Completion of 2-3 writing assignments.
• Completion of 2-3 Quizzes.
• Completion of weekly Digital Art Exercises
• Completion of mid-term and final exam.
• Completion of Final Project

  
  Digital Art Exercises: The digital art exercises are intended to facilitate retention of the course material. The exercises will be given after the weekly lecture and/or demonstrations and will be due the following week.

  Final Project: The Final project is designed to encapsulate and assess all the skills and information presented in the course. Students should demonstrate a mastery of all the course material presented in the course. The Final Project will be an image presentation project where the student will document their images and photography work in three digital formats: Powerpoint© slideshow presentation, HTML archive, and CD-ROM archive. The Powerpoint© slideshow presentation will consist of a series of screen-resolution images organized in a logical fashion with the proper titling and/or narrative text. The HTML archive will consist of the student's images in both thumbnail and large image format linked together in HTML and suitable for posting on the Internet. CD-ROM archive will be comprised of both low-res and hi-res images and organized in a logical fashion following a standardized naming convention and file structure. The CD-ROM will also contain the other two projects.

Grading: Projects will be graded on the following factors:

• Knowledge of course material
• Maturity and originality of ideas
• Quality, organization and clarity of work

Midterm Grade
Quizzes 20%
Writing Assignment 25%
Digital Art Exercises 25%
Mid-term Exam 30%

Final Grade
Writing Assignment 20%
Mid-term Exam 25%
Digital Art Exercises 25%
Final Exam 30%

Studio/Lab time
The students will have access to the computer lab outside of class-time during scheduled hours. Students are strongly encouraged to utilize this time to gain access to the equipment and to complete homework assignments.

Late Work/Missed Quizzes and Exams
Students will be responsible for submitting assignments by the assigned due date. Without a valid written excuse (see attendance policy), missed digital art exercises, Mid-term and Final Projects may not be rescheduled. With a valid excuse, an equivalent assignment will be given. Late exercises, digital art assignments, Mid-term and Final Projects will be docked one letter grade for each day late. Students are responsible for receiving assignments given during their absence.

Studio/ Class Procedure
Students are expected to be in class ON TIME and READY TO BEGIN WORKING. I will usually begin class with a demonstration or a lecture, so it is very important the student arrive on time. You are expected to remain in class the entire class period. Exercises are to be completed outside of class unless class time has been designated by the instructor as studio time. Class time is generally reserved for critique, lecture and discussion. In-class assignments are due at the end of the class period.

Attendance Policy

Lincoln University uses the class method of teaching, which assumes that each student has something to contribute and something to gain by attending class. It further assumes that there is much more instruction absorbed in the classroom than can be tested on examinations. Therefore, students are expected to attend all regularly scheduled class meetings and should exhibit good faith in this regard.

For control of absences, the following regulations apply:

1. Four absences may result in automatic failure in the course.
2. Two tardy arrivals may be counted as one absence. A student is considered absent once his/her name has been called and they where not present to answer. The student is considered late if they arrive within 5 minutes after attendance has been taken.
3. In case of illness, death in the family, or other extenuating circumstances, the student must present documented evidence of inability to attend classes to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. However, in such cases the student is responsible for all the work missed during those absences.
4. Departments offering courses with less than full-course credit will develop and submit to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management a class attendance policy in keeping with the above.
5. Students representing the University in athletic events or other University sanctioned activities will be excused from class(es) with the responsibility of making up all work and examinations. The Registrar will issue the excused format to the faculty member in charge of the off-or on-campus activity for delivery by the student (s) to their instructors.

See "Regulations on Absences from Class" (p.29) in Student Handbook. Located on Lincoln's homepage as an Adobe© PDF file. http://www.lincoln.edu

Statement on Academic Integrity: (Lincoln University Policy)

Students are responsible for proper conduct and integrity in all of their scholastic (and creative) work. They must follow a professor's instructions when completing tests, homework, (projects), and laboratory reports, and must ask for clarification if the instructions are not clear. In general, students should not give or receive aid when taking exams, or exceed the time limitations specified by the professor. In seeking the truth, in learning to think critically, and in preparing for a life of constructive service, honesty is imperative. Honesty in the classroom and in the preparation of papers is therefore expected of all students. Each student has the responsibility to submit work that is uniquely her or his own. All of this work must be done in accordance with established principles of academic integrity.

Acts of Academic Dishonesty (cheating)
Specific violations of this responsibility include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Copying, offering and/or receiving unauthorized assistance or information in examinations, tests, quizzes; in the writing of reports, assigned papers, or special assignments, as in computer programming; and in the preparation of creative works (i.e., music, studio work, art).
• The fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
• The use of unauthorized materials and/or persons during testing.
• The unauthorized possession of tests or examination.
• The physical theft, duplication, unauthorized distribution, use or sale of tests, examinations, papers, or computer programs.
• Any action, which destroys or alters the work of another student.
• Tampering with grades, grade books or otherwise attempting to alter grades assigned by the instructor.
• The multiple submission of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without the prior written permission of each instructor.

Plagiarism
If a student represents "another person's ideas or scholarship as his/her own," that student is committing an act of plagiarism. The most common form of plagiarism among college students is the unintentional use of others' published ideas in their own work, and representing these ideas as their own by neglecting to acknowledge the sources of such materials. Students are expected to cite all sources used in the preparation of written work, including examinations.

It is each student's responsibility to find out exactly what each of his/her professor's expects in terms of acknowledging sources of information on papers, exams, and assignments. It is the responsibility of each faculty person to state clearly in the syllabus for the course all expectations pertaining to academic integrity and plagiarism. Sanctions peculiar to the course should also be explained in the syllabus.

See the Lincoln University (PA) Bulletin 2000-2003 on Lincoln's webpage for information on sanctions. http://www.lincoln.edu/registrar/catalog/ Click on "Academic Organization, Curriculum, and Regulations"

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ART102-Introduction to Digital Arts: Tools and Techniques Department of Visual & Performing Arts 15-Week Schedule
Week 1	Syllabus Lecture: Introduction to Digital Arts
Week 2	Lecture: Analogue vs digital: What is the difference? Survey of digital tools. Digital cameras, scanners, computers platforms, software Writing Assignment 1
Week 3	Continue Survey Writing Assignment 1 Due
Week 4	Quiz 1 Introduction to Mac OS 9: Features and Highlights Mac Tutorials: Desktop skills and Mac basics
Week 5	Multi-tasking: File formats and jumping between applications Internet Explorer, Pictureviewer Drag and drop, cut and paste, downloading and copying Digital Art Exercise 1
Week 6	Continue Multi-tasking/ Quiz 2
Week 7	Review OS 9, Desktop skills, Mac Basics, Mac Applications
Week 8	Mid-term Exam
Week 9	Lecture: Digital Photography: The basics of taking good photos, Image Composition and downloading images. Digital Art Exercise 2
Week 10	Lecture: Image Scanning and Photo CD: Scanning basics, scanning for print vs web, scanning for various applications and projects. Importing images from royalty free stock image CD's. Digital Art Exercise 3
Week 11	Lecture: Image Management: Cropping, resizing, presentation, and archiving Photoshop… User Guide Overview of Photoshop. P.9-14 / Adobe.com Photoshop tutorials Photoshop (UG) Chapter 1: Looking at the Work Area Photoshop (UG) Chapter 2: Getting images into Photoshop Digital Art Exercise 4 Writing Assignment 2: Image Presentation Project proposals
Week 12	Continue Image Management
Week 13	Writing Assignment 2: Image Presentation Project proposals due Lecture: Color Printing In-Class work on Image Presentation Project
Week 14	Continue In-Class work on Image Presentation Project
Week 15	Image Presentation Project due. Group critique of image presentation projects.
Week 16	No Class - Finals Week/Individual Critiques