Communication & Multimedia Design is an academic master education at the Media & Design Academy in Genk, Belgium. Key subjects in this education are Communication, Marketing, Graphic Design, ICT and Audiovisual Techniques. Alongside these subjects, students are able to choose from various optional modules. Following is a short overview of my personal trajectory in the past 4 years of Communication & Multimedia Design. (For more information about this education, have a look at our faculty’s webpage: http://cmd.khlim.be.)

Open Module: TV-Film

For the “Open Module”, all master students of the Media & Design Academy (in Genk) were allowed to follow a course in one department of personal choice. This initiative stimulates cross disciplinary projects between the departments (Photography, Tv-Film, Graphic Design, Animation, Product Design and Communication & Multimedia Design). For the Tv-Film module, the assignment was to create a video installation around the concept of “Borderline” in group. We were free to do as we pleased, as long as we worked with video.

Public Space

The module “Public Space” aimed at enhancing our knowledge of (new) media art and the way in which it interacts with technology, society and science. The students were stimulated to experiment with different technologies that might prove useful to create media projects in the public space. Experimentation and the exploration of new and existing frames of reference are crucial to realise a personal media project that interacts with a specific space and the people that inhabit it.

Social Media Experience

In this module we analyzed, investigated and ‘debunked’ various social media tools and ideology. Social media are a means by which the individual can identify himself and look for peers to start a conversation. In order to keep it interesting though, the level of participation is important and whether or not this participation leads to a meaningful experience for the individual. Our project for this module was to create a Social Media Experience for Kunstencentrum Vooruit (an arts centre in Ghent). For this project we used the design methodology “social interaction design”.

Stories

In this module we studied narrative structures of classic stories and the differences for interactive storytelling projects. After understanding what stories are and how to create them, we experimented with interactive storytelling ourselves. Our theoretical skills were implemented in a ‘hands on’ project: each student created a (digital) story that can be experienced interactively.

Change Management

As new media designers we will always have to bring change to existing organizations. In this course we learned how to initiate, steer and implement changes, using theoretical frameworks and management exercises. A change agent needs to be able to recognize the challenges and resistances, and create clear guidelines for change that will be monitored during the entire change process. This course resulted in the development of a change plan during our internship.

Entrepreneurship

In this module we learned a framework to test and sharpen our entrepreneurial behavior. It provided us with a stable entrepreneurial approach for any kind of challenge and we learned how to write an integrated business plan. The overall module program provided insights, knowledge, practice, behaviour, success factors, bottleneck insights, etc in the environment and existence of entrepreneurship. For the project of this module we conducted research to support our idea and wrote a business plan accordingly. Our concept was a sustainable fitness center that would be able to supply its own energy (by using the energy created by people working out).

Integrated Business Communication

This module gave an overview of the most important aspects of today’s business communication from an integrative perspective. First, we reviewed major models of integrated communication and the respective theories. Then we discussed topics such as business culture, internal and external communication, corporate identity, media and networking, sponsoring, business reengeneering, and change communication.

Multimedia Management

In this module we learned specific competencies for planning, producing and managing multimedia projects. Topics such as the audiovisual industry, developing an audiovisual project, financing strategies, business planning, commercialisation and marketing issues, and production were covered. This module resulted in the production of our own multimedia event.

The Digital Divide

This module taught us about the role and impact of technology on culture, society and organization. We were asked to form our own opinion about the impact of technology and new media on the cultural aspects of our society. What are the effects of the technological (r)evolution on our society? Is it ethical to deploy new technologies (in the field of multimedia) to manipulate desired developments? What is the impact of technology on society and culture? The module resulted in a paper and a creative project that attempted to question one of the module’s subjects.