NLC Computer Arts FAQ
This FAQ was written by Sharon Huston for the edification of present and potential NLC students. Any errors in it are Sharon's sole responsibility.
- What graphics-related courses are offered at North Lake College?
- Can you tell me more about each department's offerings?
- What are online web design classes like?
- Am I ready for the web design courses?
- Which web design class should I take?
- Why don't you have the latest versions of all the software?
- Why don't you teach "Software Program X", which I really want to learn?
- Can I "test out" of your classes?
- What are the lab facilities like?
1. What graphics-related courses are offered at North Lake College?
North Lake has a wide variety of computer graphic-related courses offered by four departments -- Information Technology, Radio TV and Film, Photography, and Art.
Information Technology offers the widest selection of web courses, including Web Page Design I & II, Web Graphics, Web Animation I & II, eCommerce, HTML, JavaScript, and more.
Radio TV and Film offers classes in Multimedia I, Multimedia II and 3D Animation, as well as a large selection of video classes.
Photography offers classes in Digital Photography.
Art offers Computer Graphics I and II, and several "supplementary" courses including Design I and 3D Design.
2. Can you tell me more about each department's offerings?
Information Technology has been teaching web design for five years. These classes typically use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software to produce cross-platform and cross-browser compatible pages. Information Technology offers fourteen web courses, and is constantly expanding its course offerings to keep up with the rapidly-changing web industry. This website supports the Information Technology web classes. Sharon Huston can answer questions about Information Technology's courses.
Radio TV and Film (RFTV) offers an introductory course in 3D animation using 3D Studio Max. The department also offers Multimedia I, which provides an overview of graphics, sound files, video files, and writing for on-line presentations. Multimedia II studies digital editing with Adobe Premiere, and interactivity with Macromedia Director. Other courses may be offered in the future. Andy Chiles can provide information the department's courses.
Photography offers classes in Digital Photography. Class topics include calibration, scanning negatives and slides, color reproduction, and retouching. Barry Snidow can provide more information on Photography's courses.
Art offers Graphics I, which uses vector-based CorelDRAW as its primary software. In Graphics II students can choose to work with Adobe Photoshop or with advanced issues in CorelDRAW. Art also offers Design I, a basic design course all students are highly encouraged to take. Students interested in 3D animation would benefit from a semester of 3D design as well. Chris Fulmer can provide more information on Art's classes.
3. What are web online classes like?
Our Online Orientation will probably answer most of your questions. If you need to know anything else please contact Sharon Huston (sharon@sharonh.com).
4. Am I ready for the web design courses?
We have a Student Assessment document that can help you determine if you're ready for the courses. It also has links to help you study if you aren't ready!
5. Which web design class should I take?
Most students start with ITSC 1413 Page Design I (Dreamweaver). We recommend serious web students take GRPH 1325 Web Graphics at the same time. The following graph can help you plan your course selection. Please remember, though, that there are exceptions to everything!
6. Why don't you have the latest versions of all the software?
Money. Sure, schools get nice discounts . . . but that doesn't completely offset the cost. If we purchase 27 licenses of a $150 program (which is a low estimate) we still have to come up with $4050 dollars. Most software seems to undergo a version change every year now, which adds to the cost.
7. Why don't you teach "Software Program X", which I really want to learn?
Once again, money. (grin.)
We just can't afford to buy every software product known to mankind, or hire enough instructors, or buy powerful enough computers to hold all the programs, or build an extra graphics lab to host all these wonderful other courses.
Having said that, I do want to point out that NLC has a commitment to offering technology-based classes students need and want to take. If you feel a software package should be taught which currently isn't, please talk to your instructors and write letters to the division dean and school's the vice-president of education. Student requests play a big part in the decision-making process at NLC.
8. Can I "test out" of your classes?
No. You may, with instructor approval, skip a class. (For example, skip Graphics I to take Graphics II.) In general the departments do not have old finals or other tests which you may use to test out.
Besides, the main reason people want to test out is to get a college credit - if that's an issue you're facing, you would be much better off exploring Credit by Examination or another equally widespread program which can insure that your credits will continue to transfer.
For more information on skipping classes, consult the department that offers the course.
9. What are the lab facilities like?
Our new lab, T242, features 25 Pentium III PCs with 128 MB memory. Each PC has a CD-RW, headphones, and a Wacom tablet. The classroom also has a flatbed scanner, a slide & film scanner, a digital camera, a digital video camera and five workstations with Firewire video capture cards.
Software includes Dreamweaver UltraDev 4, Fireworks 4, Photoshop 6.0, Flash MX, and several single copies of smaller packages like Adobe Acrobat and MGI PhotoVista. We hope to upgrade to the entire Macromedia MX suite in early September.