Preparing for Study
Back to Media Arts & Science
New Media study requires a wide array of skills and abilities. Our students are very talented individuals, but even the most talented person often finds the skill set New Media expects from its students daunting. Intelligent students easily learn the skills they need, but it takes time that could be spent learning more advanced concepts or building projects.
The best time to create a foundation for your New Media studies is during your high school career. Your school, your community, and the Internet have all the resources you need to develop the skills you need to hit the ground running as a New Media student.
Preparing in School
Students planning to be New Media majors need to carefully plan their high school schedule. Most importantly, New Media students need to make sure that they are on the college-bound track in their high school curriculum. Basic IUPUI standards call for 28 semesters of college preparatory classes, including:
- 8 semesters of English composition or literature
- 6-8 semesters of mathematics
- 2 semesters of laboratory science
- 4 semesters of social science
- 8 semesters of other college-bound courses
After you have made a course plan that satisfies the basics, you should consider other classes that are related to media study. You should take as many classes as possible in communication and telecommunications. Many high school Radio and Television programs teach concepts that you will often use in New Media classes.
Future new media students also need to be as familiar with computers as possible. You should take a variety of computer courses and not necessarily focus on one particular area of study. Computer science courses that emphasize programming and web design are very helpful, but courses in computer artistry and business computing will be just as valuable to you as a media student.
New Media students need strong English skills, and advanced courses in literature and writing are strongly suggested. Writing scripts and content is a critical part of media design, and solid knowledge of grammar and sentence structure is essential.
Taking at least one art course during high school is also advised. An Art class will help you look at the world in a detailed way, and as a New Media student you will need to pay attention to every detail of your work, whether you are working on a realistic 3D animation or a computer database.
Students can also gain experience and preparation by participating in any clubs or extracurricular activities related to media and communication. Speech and debate clubs help build communication skills, and Radio and Television clubs help teach knowledge that is often helpful when building multimedia projects. Computer clubs and societies are also a great place to share computer knowledge, tips, and tricks.
Preparing Outside of School
Not all of your preparation should to be inside of your school. Work that you do on your own and with groups outside of school can help you prepare as much or more even more than your high school activities.
To help build your communication and cooperation skills, you should join groups and clubs that are involved with team- building activities. Sports teams and clubs can help you learn how to cooperate and work as a unit with others. Even social clubs can help you learn about human interaction and communication, essential skills of a media student.
You should also work to expose yourself to every type of media technology that you can. Look at video games, movies, web sites, newspapers, radio, and television programs critically, paying close attention to the details. Go to an art museum and think carefully about the pieces on display. Spend as much time as you can learning about new media on the Internet. Take some online courses and build your own web site and web content. And, most importantly, read every book that you can find on subjects related to new media, computers, and communication.
As a new media student, you also need to be observant of the world around you. Spend time paying close attention to your senses and your environment. You will be asked to use a computer to simulate the world, and this calls for knowing the details of that world. Draw, write down ideas, and sketch some of the things you see every day.
Finally, keeping an open mind and exposing yourself to as many ideas as possible will help you towards the goal of becoming a successful New Media student. More than any other program on the university level, New Media requires experience with a wide range of concepts. It requires you to be not only an expert in one subject, but almost every subject. The more curious you are and the more you open yourself to diverse ideas, the better prepared for New Media you will be.
