News Release

ALL Campuses

Multimedia Courses Open for Enrollment at Cerro Coso

Ridgecrest, CA – January 10, 2006

The Media Arts Department at Cerro Coso Community College is offering 13 courses online this semester, including several multimedia courses. All of these courses fulfill requirements or electives within the Digital Animation and Web Design degrees. Multimedia combines text, sound, images, animation, video, and/or interactivity to create engaging content for the Web, CD-ROM, or DVD.

These courses also provide benefits to small business owners, enabling them to enhance their own marketing efforts. Media Arts Department Chair and Digital Animation professor, Jim Kiggens, states, "Anybody doing business today uses the Web, and 92% of Internet users have the ability to view video-based marketing. If you want to reach them, it's no longer enough to pick up the phone, print an ad, or send letters. Today, proficiency in this area is an absolute must."

Multimedia courses that are being offered this semester include Fundamentals of Web Design, Digital Video Production, Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Interactivity and Interface Design, Fundamentals of Game Design, and Game Prototyping. All of these courses are entry-level courses and only require strong computer and Internet literacy, with the exception of Interactivity and Interface Design, which requires previous experience with HTML and Adobe Photoshop. Interactivity and Interface Design also introduces students to the fundamentals of creating Flash media.

Tuition for 3-unit courses is $78. Spring semester classes run from January 17 through May 12 and are all offered online. Online classes provide students with a great deal of flexibility because they don't have to leave home and can log into class during times that are most convenient for them, provided that assignments are completed by the specified due dates.

For a complete list of online courses offered this Spring, see http://cconline.cerrocoso.edu/schedule/2006-spring.htm. Media Arts courses are numbered MA C101 through MA C230. Each listing provides a link to more information about the course, including required software, textbooks, and computer configuration. Media Arts students, including online students, also have the option of enrolling in an open lab course, which gives them access to computers and software in the Media Arts computer lab at the Indian Wells Valley campus. Students can enroll in the open lab course at no cost, but must be concurrently enrolled in at least 1 other Media Arts course. Instructors will explain how to enroll in this free course during the first week of class.

Although classes start on January 17, students can late-register through January 27. For more information about the Digital Animation program, contact Jim Kiggens at jkiggens@cerrocoso.edu. For more information about the Web Design program, contact Suzanne Ama at sama@cerrocoso.edu.
 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Joann Handeland, Director of Information, Development and Alumni Relations (760) 384-6230