A few months back I organized and hosted a panel discussion at John Jay College’s 10th Annual City University of New York (CUNY) IT Conference. The presentation was on “Creating a CUNY-wide approach towards Digital Media Programs” and focused on what I believe are some of the major issues facing digital media programs within CUNY. I assembled the panel group from colleagues at four separate CUNY institutions and within five distinct New Media subdivisions. We discussed strategies that the university could implement to prepare our digital media programs for the future.
One of the major initiatives that I suggested during the conference presentation was the establishment of a digital media council to address the specific needs and concerns of the faculty and students within the digital disciplines. Well I am happy to say that the first steps toward the creating a CUNY-wide digital media council happened today thanks to my colleagues in the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) Media Arts and Technology Department. Today a luncheon was held at their institution in which the program directors from many of digital media degree programs within CUNY were invited to discuss our common interests and challenges.
The emerging nature of web and multimedia technology has created a dilemma for both students and instructors of digital media. The convergence of traditional forms of communication, finance, and entertainment with new hi-tech methods of delivery has challenged the ability of CUNY to adapt to the changing landscape. Because of the evolving nature of new digital disciplines, and the speed in which cross-disciplinary technical innovations are implemented in programs, there are very few universal standards in place for instruction and assessment. As a result, CUNY instructors and students of digital media can often face difficultly in everything from updating curricula, to being able to seamlessly transfer from two-year schools to four-year senior colleges.
The meeting was highly productive. We agreed to continue the discussion and form a CUNY digital media council to help to proactively clarify our field before it is defined by academics from traditional non-technical disciplines.
An audio recording from the meeting can be found below in mp3 format.