DEI 600s


DEI 612 Working in Teams (0.50) LAB,LEC,RDG,SEM,TUTCourse ID: 014085
This course will cover the three key areas for working in teams: communicating, differing and facilitating. To master the art of managing and participating in high performing, problem-solving teams, team members must be aware of both their own and others' strengths and weaknesses when working in teams. They must also be aware of the dynamics of teams throughout the phases of a problem-solving cycle. Theory on teams and on team development will be introduced, as well as the particulars of working in teams on early-stage innovation projects. The course will then focus on deepening and practising relevant skills. It will begin with a self-assessment of personal capacities and of the distribution of skills in the team as a whole. Following this, it will focus on deepening skills in a sequence which shadows the phase of the project on which the teams are working. Students will be trained in the skills of reflective listening, problem identification and analysis, supportive listening and facilitation, creative brainstorming and alternatives generation, construction differing and choice, idea development and presentation, and team process evaluation. The format of the course will combine short lecture with experiential skill-building exercises. Coaches assigned to each team will support individual and team learning. Students will be required to enter a "contract" relative to their team role and performance.

DEI 613 Digital Media Solutions 1: Design Principles and Practice (0.50) LAB,LEC,SEMCourse ID: 014086
In this course, students will explore the principles of digital designs in terms of their visual design components (space, line and shape, tone, colour, movement, and rhythm) and the functions they perform in various forms of digital content production (images, video and film, sound, and animation). Students will receive hands-on training in digital image, video and sound production by engaging in a complete production cycle from conceptualization, through to production and post-production. To situate their practices within the wider social, cultural and economic contexts of digital design, students will also learn an explicit theoretical vocabulary for exploring, explaining, critiquing, and evaluating their design practices.

DEI 614 Principles of Marketing in a Globalized World: Leveraging Digital Technology (0.50) LEC,SEMCourse ID: 014087
The objectives of this course are to provide students with a firm understanding of market strategy and the techniques used for marketing in a globalized context. Over the past decade, marketing has embraced a broad set of online tools that have revolutionized and revitalized an approach to the marketplace, including blogs, online news releases, social media, streaming video, and viral marketing strategies, among others. This course aims to instruct students in two primary, fundamental areas of marketing: (1) basic principles of marketing, which includes market segmentation strategies, the use of marketing channels, how to develop promotion and pricing strategies, and how to develop competitive advantage, and (2) how to leverage technology-driven, digital media for achieving marketing goals. Students will learn through various examples of marketing problems, and they will learn to apply these principles within the context of a problem-oriented approach. A secondary but also important set of learning outcomes of the course is an understanding of the rewards of global marketing, social responsibility, and the benefits of a global vision in setting business goals.

DEI 615 New Perspectives: Media History and Analysis (0.50) LEC,SEMCourse ID: 014088
In this course, students will first be introduced to key moments in the building of networks, where knowledge and information are interlinked on a large scale, such as the printing press of Renaissance Europe, early cinema and photography at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and the internet, social media, and digital imagery of the 21st century. Secondly, students will receive training in the critical analysis of these media through the use of conceptual tools such as semiotics, cultural criticism, discourse analysis, visual anthropology and others. The objectives of this course are twofold: 1. to provide students with historical and cultural grounding in the interaction between technological developments and the shaping and transfer of knowledge. 2. to equip students with critical and conceptual tools to effectively analyse cultural representations in a variety of media. Students will acquire these skills through lectures, individual and team assignments, and case studies. Students may participate in a non-compulsary international field-trip. If a student chooses not to participate in the field-trip, an alternate experience will be determined by the program director.

DEI 623 Digital Media Solutions 2: Project Management (0.50) LAB,LEC,RDG,SEM,TUTCourse ID: 014090
This course will focus on managing production processes and resources for digital media projects, from initial planning and budgeting through the management of milestones, tasks, personnel, technical resources and delivery. Students will receive hands-on training in initiating and tracking individual tasks within the overall structure of the project, learning how to adjust for change in project needs and available resources. This practical knowledge will combine an ongoing understanding of project management concepts and techniques with the use of project management software.

DEI 624 Understanding the Consumer Universe: Market Research in Digital Media (0.50) LAB,LEC,SEMCourse ID: 014091
Understanding the consumer universe in ways that can lead to business success is a vital goal of market research, and a core component of business anthropology. This course instructs students in the key methods of exploratory and confirmatory research for understanding consumer behaviour. Students are instructed in the qualitative methods of market ethnography, where they learn how to develop the tools to recognize business opportunity through interviews, focus groups, and personal observation. Students are also instructed in the quantitative methods of market survey, where they learn how to measure the potential of business opportunity through sampling with consumer polls, questionnaires, and combined research strategies. Students will gain an understanding of the "do's" and "don'ts" of market research, particularly in terms of how gaining insight in consumer needs and behaviours can influence important business decisions.

DEI 625 Media Innovation and Impact (0.50) LEC,SEMCourse ID: 014092
Changing media have a profound impact on our economy, governance, and community life. Our institutions, our approaches to economic and cultural development, and traditional business models are challenged to adapt to the realities of an information-rich, technology-enabled society. This course will provide a survey of the broad implications of evolving technology through research and case studies focusing on personal, institutional, and political choices. Students will learn about the policy and social context (regulatory, copyright, privacy, industrial incentives) of innovation in an anthropological, globalized context, and will explore in depth varying social responses to innovation, from outright rejection, to benign neglect, to viral adoption. Drawing on recent examples, students will address practical issues of business and institutional transformation as the digital world emerges.

DEI 626 User Experience (UX) Fundamentals and User Research (UER) (0.50) LAB,SEMCourse ID: 014302
This course will cover he fundamentals of UX design and provide the students with insights into the "real-life" processes, challenges, considerations, tools, teams, models, etc. of a user evaluating, implementing and measuring of UX.

DEI 631 Projects (1.50) LAB,LEC,RDG,SEM,TUTCourse ID: 014093
This final project course will serve as the culmination of work started in Projects 1 and 2. Here, student teams will work intensively on their project, applying lessons learned during the other courses and working closely with industry consultants and coaches to bring their project to the stages of delivery and implementation. Students will be given an opportunity to publicly showcase their work at the end of the term.
Instructor Consent Required