Ohio University (OU) was established in 1804 as Ohio’s first university. The school serves nearly 35,000 students enrolled in more than 300 programs across 11 colleges. The E.W. Scripps College of Communications houses the School of Media Arts & Studies (MDIA). Serving nearly 700 undergraduates, MDIA offers a BS in Communication with an Emphasis in Games and Animation.
In partnership with the School of Visual Communication and the J. Warren McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies in the Scripps College, MDIA also offers an MFA in Communication Media Arts.
Games and Animation (G&A) is a flexible major that allows students to choose courses to match their career goals. The school says students in the program “start with a game design or animation pathway, with many options to enhance either area – including a full set of new courses in virtual and augmented reality offered by the McClure School.”
All students will complete an overview of media history, production techniques and storytelling before continuing into focus areas such as animation, game design and development, and/or virtual reality.
Course highlights for the G&A Program include Animation I-III, Digital Game Design, Electronic Media, Game Development I-II, History of Computer Graphics, Media and the Creative Process, Motion Graphics, Special topics in Games and Animation, and Visual Storytelling.
Students will have the option to complete a local or international internship and the Digital Games Capstone or Storytelling, Technology and Digital Media in Theme Parks. The Capstone is three credit hours and it allows Junior and Senior level advanced G&A students to produce portfolio projects while working on collaborative teams. Storytelling, Technology and Digital Media in Theme Parks is a four credit hour course that “examines media design, technology, and storytelling principles that are employed in the development of theme parks.” The course emphasizes “the integration of different forms of media into one cohesive immersive environment.” An off campus field experience is part of this course.
Games and Animation alumni have found employment at companies such as Blizzard, Disney and Disney Imagineering, EA, Game-U, Google, Jim Henson Co., Max Gaming Studios, Riot Games, Sony Playstation, Unity, and many others.
The MFA in Communication Media Arts is a three-year program that provides the opportunity for students “hone new creative production skills, contextualized through hands-on, collaborative projects in order to graduate prepared for the leading edge of industry.” Candidates for the program must have at least three years of professional experience in the communication field and at least one high-level production skill.
While in the program, each graduate student will add to their current skill(s) by studying in at least two additional areas. A few options include include animation, data visualization and info graphics, digital games and animation, documentary, interactive media/web design, publication design, and virtual and augmented reality. Students must also declare a Cognate Area outside of their production skills. Examples include art history, educational technologies, education, public media or a wide variety of humanities areas.
Hands-on, experiential projects are a required part of the program. “Students must engage in collaborative projects such as grant-funded faculty initiatives, projects through WOUB Public Media, the Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab, or practicum projects through the Scripps College of Communication or the College of Fine Arts.” International experiences and professional externships are also encouraged in this area. Successful completion of at least eight credit hours of Experiential Learning Courses serves as confirmation that the student is prepared for the thesis project.