Digital Media courses?

aaf

I'm very interested in the area of digital media/technologies and would like to undertake a part-time course. I've had a quick look at a few college websites but I would like some feedback. It has to be part-time as I work a full-time job. I'm not really focused on any particular area of digital media but hopefully will find an area that tweaks my interest. These are the courses I've looked at so far:

Creative Digital Media - IT Blanchardstown
MA Creative Media Technologies - DIT Aungier St
MSc in Applied Digital Media - Griffith College Dublin
MA / MSc in Digital Media - IADT

I know I should call up each institution and talk with the lecturers but just looking for some advice here first.

PeakOutput

hmmmm ok

i study digital media design in ul which is an undergrad course but iv been doing stuff related to this for quite a few years

first things first

you need to find out which area you are interested in first. the spectrum of things 'digital media' covers is massive and while im sure each course touches of each one i have found that they tend to concentrate on one particular aspect the most

so which of these do you think you are into;

music pre / post production
video pre / post production
website design
graphic design
interface design(focusing on designing the perfect front ends to systems)
computer programming

now because i dont know what the courses you ahve listed are like personally i would say that the only reason you should do a digital media course is if you think all those things float your boat a little and you have no idea which you would like most. i say that because if you take each one individually there are better courses for each one on its own.

as far as jobs go out of a class of 30 odd this year maybe 4 people got work placement and maybe 2 of those work placements were related to the course and they were both in the film industry and very badly paid. like many things this isnt a course you are going to walk out of with a qualification that people are gagging to hire its more you do the course find out which you actually really like and then work on specialising in that yourself

hope this helps somewhat

g'luck
edit; unless there is a particular module in the IT's that really appeals to you i would stick with either dit or iadt

aaf

Cheers Peak. I'm a programmer by degree (hate it)and I work on the hardware side of things now. I'm confident enough to do a few bits and pieces in Photoshop and anything digital really but would like some formal training and proper guidance. I'll be working full-time and have no intention of giving that up anytime soon but I would like to learn about all of the below and build up a portfolio of work and knowledge. I'm interested in:

music pre / post production
video pre / post production
graphic design

Cheers for the reply.

PeakOutput

aaf wrote: »

Cheers Peak. I'm a programmer by degree (hate it)and I work on the hardware side of things now. I'm confident enough to do a few bits and pieces in Photoshop and anything digital really but would like some formal training and proper guidance. I'll be working full-time and have no intention of giving that up anytime soon but I would like to learn about all of the below and build up a portfolio of work and knowledge. I'm interested in:

music pre / post production
video pre / post production
graphic design

Cheers for the reply.

ah cool well you have the programming down and its a small step to web development(if any) from there

if you wanted to throw up links to the prospectus for the courses i could tell you which i think sound more like what your looking for

i know a friend of mine did media in dit and he did a lot of tv and film production stuff so i know they have the facilities if its video and tv stuff you like

if its more kinda abstract stuff you like in the music / video world then iadt might be a good bet seen as its mainly an art college

aaf

Creative Digital Media - IT Blanchardstown
MA Creative Media Technologies - DIT Aungier St
MSc in Applied Digital Media - Griffith College Dublin
MA / MSc in Digital Media - IADT

edireland

I just completed a Digital Media course with Professional Development LTD and found then totally unprofessional.
Course material supplied did not comply with the course requirements and management were extremely unhelpful. My recommendation is avoid them totally there is more reputably company’s out there.
I have completed several other IT courses with CMIT.ie with no problems with the course content, Staff, Management or FETAC requirements.

CrispyCrisp

Hi aaf

What course did you go for after? I'm in a similar position now

aaf

CrispyCrisp wrote: »

Hi aaf

What course did you go for after? I'm in a similar position now

I didn't do one. Hadn't got the money. I was thinking about the part-time Creative Digital Media ITB course at the time. I told my brother about it and he ended up doing the full-time course there and loved it. He's just finished year 3 and he's done really well. Very good course and ITB are buidling up a good reputation.

CrispyCrisp

I've already got a degree in multimedia but I'm trying to find an interaction/creative media masters that would be a progression on this, most of these courses seem to be conversion or they assume you don't have any prior knowledge in the subject area, not many options in Ireland as the area doesn't seem too big here yet...So I'm trying to find courses that might have a slight overlap at the start but after that I want to be learning cool new stuff, have no luck at all... Its annoying really this means Ill have to do a techy masters in order to eventually get into an area where I wont be using most tech...<end rant>