Courses
The New Media faculty offer a range of courses, from introductory courses for majors as well as non majors across a broad array of topics. As part of our commitment to continual evaluation and improvement, courses are continually revised and new courses are frequently added. Courses in gray offered infrequently.
See also New Media Model Curriculum
NMD 100 – Introduction to New Media
NMD 104 – New Media Design
NMD 105 – Creative Coding I
NMD 106 – Time-Based Media
NMD 200 – Designing Humane Tech
NMD 211 – Creative Coding II
NMD 245 – Film Criticism and Theory
NMD 250 – Electronic Music Composition I: Item and Arrangement
NMD 251 – Electronic Music Composition II: Composing a Process
NMD 295 – Topics in New Media
NMD 306 – Community Collaboration and Development
NMD 324 – Year in Film I
NMD 340 – Creating Websites for Clients & Communities
NMD 341 – Documentary Photography and Storytelling
NMD 342 – Interaction Design and Physical Computing
NMD 343 – SL: Digital Narrative Workshop I
NMD 344 – Time-Based Art and Design I
NMD 345 – Web Applications
NMD 358 – Documentary Film Criticism and Theory
NMD 370 – 3D Modeling and Animation
NMD 398 – Topics in New Media
NMD 424 – Year in Film II
NMD 430 – Topics in New Media
NMD 441 – Documentary Photography and Audio
NMD 442 – User Experience Design
NMD 443 – Digital Narrative Workshop II
NMD 444 – Time-Based Art and Design II
NMD 445 – Mobile Applications
NMD 490 – Independent Study in New Media
NMD 498 – New Media Capstone I
NMD 499 – New Media Capstone II
NMD 100 – Introduction to New Media
NMD 100 explores the concepts that define new media, what new media are, how they are produced, who produces them, and why they challenge how we think, act, create, and relate to other people. We will explore the impact and disruptive effect emerging technologies have on society and institutions by studying both past and present technological developments. The course examines the benefits emerging technologies afford to individuals, organizations, and society; we will consider the challenges and consequences of society’s rapid embrace of these emerging technologies, including the need to raise user awareness of increasing privacy and security concerns. Lecture and Discussion format with hands-on laboratory.
General Education Requirements: Social Contexts and Institutions
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 104 – New Media Design
Essential tools for graphic design in the digital era. From simple techniques such as creating shapes and type of more advanced tasks such as masks, gradients, and special effects. Hands-on projects to produce common products of graphic design; from logos, infographics, and posters to designs for laser cutter and the Web. Exposure to history, aesthetics, and ethical questions of graphic design in the Internet era, from Bauhaus color theory to memes based Photoshopped images.
General Education Requirements: Artistic and Creative Expression
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 105 – Creative Coding I
Introduction to programming as a new media art and design practice. Use of creative processes in programming by writing code to generate images, sound, animations, text, and interactivity. Use of computing environments such as processing for creating and developing software “sketches” that allow visual expression. Understand and control how data is represented in computers (data types and structures), instruct computer how make decisions on the fly (conditionals), how and when to repeat instructions (loops), and structure and organize computer code (functions and objects).
Prerequisites: NMD 100 and NMD 104 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 106 – Time-Based Media
Introduction to principles and practice of video and audio production. Students learn how to publish media and other course projects online as part of their New Media Portfolio Application of the computer as a tool for the development of both expressive and professional time-based media and audiovisual storytelling and as a venue for publishing and distributing creative work online.
Prerequisites: NMD 100 and NMD 104 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 200 – Designing Humane Tech
Examines the goals and impacts of New Media technologies. Topics include how design choices respond to and influence our bodies, our communities, and our political, economic and ecological systems. Focus on how humane design choices enable us to create a healthier and more sustainable world. A writing intensive class with reading, discussion, writing assignments and conceptual design projects.
General Education Requirements: Writing Intensive
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 211 – Creative Coding II
Students are provided an introduction to and overview of new media and emerging technologies, interaction design, and software development. Topics covered include social networking, mobile computing, and physical computing. Students develop skills in research, group collaboration, brainstorming practices, concept development, and rapid project prototyping.
Prerequisites: NMD 105 and NMD 106
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 245 – Film Criticism and Theory
Students will develop skills in the analysis of form and content so that they will achieve proficiency in the use of film studies vocabulary. Participants will learn to think critically about the media industry and to evaluate film as an art form, individual psychological experience, technology, social text, and commodity. (CMJ 245 and NMD 245 are identical courses.)
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 250 – Electronic Music Composition I: Item and Arrangement
Designed to provide students with an opportunity to explore the ideas and techniques of audio composition with recorded media. Item and Arrangement refers to the style of composition that creatively places recorded sounds in a fixed timeline. Starting with Musique Concrete in the late 1940’s, this technique continues today as a foundation for many contemporary and popular forms, including acoustic ecology and hip-hop. Students can expect to learn how to work with sound in the digital environment including fundamentals in field recording technique, waveform editing, filtering and digital processing. Students will be expected to regularly produce and discuss work in relation to the theoretical history of Electronic Music.
General Education Requirements: Artistic and Creative Expression
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 251 – Electronic Music Composition II: Composing a Process
A companion of NMD 250. Offers an introduction to creating Electronic Music, and electronic art in general, in the form of a process rather than as a fixed object. From John Cage through Conceptualism, viewing art-making as “composing a process” is central to much contemporary art, particularly in New Media. Students will be introduced to compositional methods such as indeterminacy, algorithmic composition, systems analysis and interactivity as well as fundamentals of digital audio synthesis and composing in the Max/MSP environment. Students will be expected to regularly produce and discuss work in relation to the theoretical history of Electronic Music.
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 295 – Topics in New Media
Topics not regularly covered in other new media courses. Content varies to suit current needs. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: New Media Majors or permission.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 1-3
NMD 306 – Community Collaboration and Development
New Media project design, with emphasis on team-based research and development. Requires students to think across a variety of platforms, from analog tools to stand alone devices to online applications. Students will be challenged to think creatively and rigorously about the objective, structure, and form of a community client project; the work of each team will culminate in a new media proposal and/or prototype, preparing them for the New Media capstone sequence.
Prerequisites: NMD 200 and NMD 211 and NMD 341 or NMD 342 or NMD 343 or NMD 344 or NMD 345 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 324 – Year in Film I
The first part in a two-semester course in the process, theory, practice and problems of digital filmmaking. Through the examination of films, narrative fiction and the completion of out-of-class assignments, students will gain insight into the realm of digital filmmaking. Structured as both an academic and “hands-on” approach to the language, method and theory of digital filmmaking through applied concepts and process. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing and permission of instructor.
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 340 – Creating Websites for Clients & Communities
In this class you will work with real-world clients to create Web pages or apps with compelling designs and interactive features. You will review basic graphic design, HTML, CSS, simple PHP and web architecture tools like WordPress in order to meet the needs of community partners for web presence and potential social media support. Working with a client teaches critical skills for collaboration, negotiation and team work; you will apply these to tell a digital story that represents community or client values. In addition, you will apply the same skills of designing, coding and networking to produce a professional portfolio showcasing your own work, preparing you for future internships and jobs.
Prerequisites: New Media Majors or permission.
Course Typically Offered: Spring 2021
Credits: 3
NMD 341 – Photographic Reporting and Storytelling
An overview of photojournalism history, theory and ethics. Exercises teach skills and strategies used by newspaper, magazine and on-line photographers and editors and challenge students to deal responsibly with issues of invasion of privacy, subject representation, copyright and fair use and image manipulation. (This course is identical to CMJ 261.)
General Education Requirements: Artistic and Creative Expression
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 342 – Interaction Design and Physical Computing
Interaction Design and Physical Computing will explore opportunities for physical interaction with our environment. The course focuses on materials and methods used within interaction design to combine hardware, software and physical materials into working prototypes. Students will learn fundamentals of physical computing to design and build interactive objects and environments using sensors, actuators and microcontrollers.
Prerequisites: NMD 211
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 343 – SL: Digital Narrative Workshop I
Explores emerging forms of digital storytelling and how these new forms transform authorship, audience, interaction and publishing. Students produce their own original narratives using digital storytelling techniques, web based media, and non-linear game-like environments. Team projects and skill sharing encouraged. Field work outside the classroom and publication of a storytelling project for community partners. This course has been designated as a UMaine service-learning course.
General Education Requirements: Artistic and Creative Expressions.
Prerequisites: NMD 200 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 344 – Time-Based Art and Design I
An introduction in the concepts, process, methods, principles and theories posed by digital video, animation, and audio. Students investigate unique problems in design and production presented by time-based media as well as apply the aesthetic and design principles in the creation of artistic, expressive and/or conceptual structures in time-based media.
Prerequisites: NMD 104 and NMD 106 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Variable
Credits: 3
NMD 345 – Web Applications
This class trains students in creating compelling Web designs and interactive Web pages using advanced HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Although the focus will be designing and scripting for the Web, the class will apply these easy-to-learn techniques to other contexts, such as bookmarklets and browser extensions. In addition to this practical know-how, students in this class learn today’s legal and cultural context for sharing, and prototype a creative application of their own choosing.
Prerequisites: NMD 200 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 358 – Documentary Film Criticism and Theory
Centered around the Camden International Film Festival, this course engages students in critically assessing documentary films through an understanding of the genre’s history, theoretical foundations, and means of production, aspects particularly relevant in this age of rapidly evolving media. Students will be exposed to various new technologies during the festival on the development, production and distribution of contemporary non-fiction film. Besides periodic class meetings across the semester and four days attendance at the Festival, students will have opportunities to discuss documentaries in public forums and meetings with documentary professionals in seminar conferences. Students will develop in-depth research projects, either developing their own documentaries or writing analytic papers on issues core to the field. If this course was taken under as a topics course in NMD 398, it cannot be repeated for credit.
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 370 – 3D Modeling and Animation
An introduction to the concepts and tools of 3D modeling and animation on the computer. Includes techniques to create narratives and provides hands-on experience with appropriate hardware and software.
General Education Requirements: Artistic and Creative Expression
Course Typically Offered: Fall & Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 398 – Topics in New Media
Topics not regularly covered in other new media courses. Content varies to suit current needs. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: Department consent.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 1-3
NMD 424 – Year in Film II
The second part in a two-semester course in the process, theory, practice and problems of digital filmmaking. Concentrates on practical experience. Students will learn the cinematic process through direct development and production of short subject digital films. Structured as both an academic and “hands-on” approach to the language, method and theory of digital filmmaking. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: NMD 324 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Variable
Credits: 3
NMD 430 – Topics in New Media
An exploration of intermediate and advanced topics in multimedia production and design, including, among others, digital video production, software and hardware design or, electronic publishing. Designed to provide students with a deeper and more sophisticated experience with a multimedia issue, tool, or skill–or combination of all three.
Prerequisites: Department consent.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 1-3
NMD 441 – Documentary Photography and Audio
Provides the essential skills, concepts and processes used by documentary still photographers and audio producers to create professional quality digital mixed media products for the Internet and other interactive media. (This course is identical to CMJ 361.)
Prerequisites: NMD 341
Course Typically Offered: Variable
Credits: 3
NMD 442 – User Experience Design
This is a course that explores major concepts in designing the User Experience (UX). UX Design plays a critical role in the successes and effectiveness of any product, application and service. It’s just not enough to have technologically advanced and aesthetically appealing products, applications and services – it is critical that they deliver a good user experience to their end users.In order to understand the foundations of UX Design, this course will provide a comprehensive overview of the user experience design process and is intended to familiarize students with the methods, concepts, and techniques necessary to make user experience design an integral part of developing effective interactions. The course provides students with an opportunity to acquire the resources, skills, and hands-on experience they need to design, develop, and evaluate information interfaces from a user-centered design perspective.
Prerequisites: NMD 211 or permission
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 443 – Digital Narrative Workshop II
Students explore interactive authorship, seek audience participation, develop interactive environments, and publish final pieces in an online magazine. Exploration and reflection on larger cultural metanarratives, many of which are in the process of transition. Students may continue community partnerships begun in Digital Narrative I, and further develop their projects in reach or in depth. They may also seek alternative ways of either crafting or publishing and sharing community stories, such as through Virtual Museums, Community Archives, Social Media campaigns, or Storytelling peer-to-peer workshops. Final projects will culminate in online publication and/or a community/public audience engagement.
Prerequisites: NMD 343
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 444 – Time-Based Art and Design II
Advanced level exploration of the principles of design and the creative process relative to time-based media. Focus is on the design of imaginative, and/or metaphorical structures combining text, image and sound into self-contained digital works. Students experiment with the transmission of creative and expressive information through sequential and time-based formats, including fixed-image sequence, digital video, and animations.
Prerequisites: NMD 344
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3
NMD 445 – Mobile Applications
Mobile applications have become one of the predominant ways that people interact with each other. Yet designing and developing apps for phones and tables typically requires a mastery of a half-dozen languages and platforms. This course, by contrast, builds on familiar Web design and development skills taught in NMD 345, Web Applications, to produce a working app for common mobile platforms such as iOS and Android by using a full-stack approach. Students conceive and produce an app that interchanges data with the cloud to offer access to new information or connect people in new ways.
Prerequisites: NMD 345
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 490 – Independent Study in New Media
Topics not regularly covered in other courses. Content varies to suit current needs. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: permission of instructor.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Credits: 3
NMD 498 – New Media Capstone I
Part one of a two-part capstone experience on campus or in a commercial or other institutional environment with faculty supervision. Students meet in a weekly seminar to discuss progress. Each defines and researches his or her own individual project and prepares to bring it to fruition as a new media publication, such as a Web site; animated, feature or documentary video; or other digital production.
General Education Requirements: Writing Intensive requirement. Together with NMD 499, this course also satisfies the General Education Capstone Experience Requirements.
Prerequisites: Senior Standing and a grade of C- or better in NMD 306.
Course Typically Offered: Fall
Credits: 3
NMD 499 – New Media Capstone II
Part two of a two-part capstone experience on campus or in a commercial or other institutional environment with faculty supervision. Students meet in a weekly seminar to discuss progress. Each defines and researches his or her own individual project, presents it within the format of the seminar and brings it to fruition as a new media publication, such as a Web site; animated, feature or documentary video; or other digital projection.
General Education Requirements: Together with NMD 498, this course satisfies the General Education Capstone Experience requirement.
Prerequisites: NMD 498.
Course Typically Offered: Spring
Credits: 3