Those interviewed for this article have remained anonymous.
As the 2009-10 school year comes to an end, the time has come to assess the inaugural year of Elon University’s iMedia graduate program.
Students of the master’s program were interviewed and asked to give their assessment of their experiences of the past year as they prepare themselves to graduate and — they hope — enter the workforce in stride.
For the Interactive Media program Elon recruited students from around the country including California, Maryland, and, of course, North Carolina. The students all came from different backgrounds and varying educations and were looking to better their future in these tough economic times with an advanced degree.
A few of the students were asked various questions including what their future goals are, the expectations they had for the program, and about the experiences they had.
The reason for enrolling
As the country is in the middle of what has been deemed “the Great Recession,” there have been numerous reasons that the students had for wanting to enroll in the program.
The majority of students felt that iMedia offered them a way to obtain new skills that would benefit them as they hunt and battle for jobs in this poor job market. One student said, “I was looking to retool my skills in design that are relevant” in today’s multimedia age and workforce.
Many see interactive media as the future of entertainment, business, education, and social change. As people rely more and more on electronic media, it has permeated our lives. It seems that in almost anything we do, multimedia is where we turn to for information and knowledge.
Career goals
Students of the inaugural class realized this and have career goals that they felt would benefit from the education they would receive at Elon. They understood that whatever direction they wanted to take their professional future, interactive media would play an important role.
One student coming from a journalism background said, “I want to be a iMedia director of a major newspaper or news organization,” a field he’s been working in since graduating from college. He has experienced the journalism word as it has been and knew that in order to be successful in the field in the future he must possess interactive media skills that he could not receive in the workplace.
Other career ambitions included working for Pixar as a designer, Web designer at an advertising agency, or work in marketing and brand management, which is being transformed by social media.
What they want to learn and what classes they got the most fromWhen researching graduate schools many of the students had a set of expectations of the program based on what it had to offer. Most were promised that they would learn a variety of software programs that would be essential in any media-related job. “Elon said it would be an extremely hands-on program in which we would be learning design, coding, and back-end things,” one student mentioned, while another said, “I was hoping to learn a lot about online advertising and learn more technical skills.”
It seems that most students wanted more experience in using software programs such as the various Adobe Flash for Web animations, Adobe’s Illustrator and InDesign used for multimedia design, and Final Cut Pro for video editing.
“the theory classes have helped me think more critically about media.”
However, they also received a lot of education in the field of communication and Internet theory. While some say “the theory classes have helped me think more critically about media,” some felt “theory is all well and good but it won’t help me get a job. I’m not one to sit in the backroom creating theory or stats. I want to create things that help companies and organizations have an online presence and I feel bad because I don’t have all the things I need in order to do that." The practice of creating media is what interests the students the most.
All the students interviewed felt that the classes they have gotten the most out of based on their career goals, was the iMedia production class in which all student learned Adobe Flash, as software that allows users to creative interactive animation such as the ad banners seen on some web pages.
In general most of the students believe they have learned most of the skills they were expecting to but some feel that there was “very little support in learning CSS, Javascript, and HTML” which are essential for being able to create web sites.
“the program [hasn’t been] valuable in the way it was promoted but I did get something out of it I didn’t expect and that was meeting and working with my classmates"
Fortunately, the environment of graduate schools offer students a source of education outside of the classroom. One student said with immense sincerity, “the program [hasn’t been] valuable in the way it was promoted but I did get something out of it I didn’t expect and that was meeting and working with my classmates. Getting their opinions about my work has been more beneficial than anything else. It’s amazing to enjoy a program because of the people (classmates).” Another pointed out that, “I’ve learned most of the skills I wanted to but not necessarily through the program structure. A lot of what I’m learning is from online sources or my classmates.”
Of course this is something that Elon was probably very aware and expected most the learning to occur outside of the class and between fellow students. Graduate school is different than undergraduate school in that the students tend to take more responsibility on themselves to learn what they want to learn. Yet, when spending nearing $29,000 on tuition, there are still expectations of the classes, professors, and school as a whole.
Some feel that the inaugural class was more of an experiment than anything else. One student has the suspicion that “the school was still trying to define the program as the year went on.” Case in point was the last-minute addition of a second semester elective that was not openly advertised to all students as an option for them.
When asked if they felt they learned all the skills that they would consider essential to their future career ambitions, the responses were mixed. Upon being asked this question, a student with interest in journalism said, “I think so. I’ve learned what I need to get the job I want.”
On the other hand, some felt differently. “We got tons of experience in some things but not all,” said another student. “I don’t feel I’m marketable because I haven’t learned the skills that others will have” is the concern of a student wanting to get into marketing and brand management.
Suggestions for the future
Despite the concerns that some students have, they all understand that it’s almost impossible to please everyone when they come from different backgrounds. As a result they were all willing to offer suggestions for improving the program for future classes.
Some suggested that Elon teach theory only during one semester and leave the other for classes that taught practical applications such as the interactive media production class that taught them Flash. One maintained, “It’s hard to focus on theory classes when needing to learn programs to get our portfolios done so we can get jobs.”
A couple of other students suggested allowing students more options and guide their education in the direction of their choosing by “making some of the required classes electives and let students find their own path.”
As the interviews reached the end, the students were asked their overall impression of the first year of the iMedia program.
“I’m glad I came back to Elon for [iMedia],” one student said. Regardless whether the students learned all they wanted to learn, they do seem to enjoy their time at Elon and the close ties its community offers. The bonds that the students have formed with each other appear to be what’s most important to all. They have all been in this together and relied on each other, which has led to a new degree and new future.
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