Bachelors in New Media Interactive Development

The last decade has seen unprecedented innovation in technologies for communication, computation, interactivity, and delivery of information. Two huge underlying factors –Internet connectivity and computer processing – have transformed the media landscape dramatically. The new media are dynamic, personalized, and connected. They change the way we learn, communicate, affiliate, and play. For the world to benefit from these changes, there is a need for practitioners who can integrate evolving technologies with creative disciplines. The IGM department's BS in New Media Interactive Development was developed to meet this need.

In a field that is changing so rapidly, successful practitioners must have a solid foundation in cutting-edge technologies, a well-honed sense of design, and the skills to put creative ideas into practice. The Bachelor of Science in New Media Interactive Development program was carefully formulated to provide students with a balanced background in design and technology, with an emphasis on independent problem solving in a constantly evolving field.

Online games, search engines, rich media web applications and dynamic delivery of media-rich experiences touch nearly all of us daily. Educators, advertising agencies, design studios, and a wide variety of industries use new media to reach targeted audiences for advertising, entertaining, training, transacting business, and expressing creative ideas. Over the last few years, new media products and services have become a staple of many key areas of contemporary society: industry, education, the arts, the sciences, politics, and entertainment, to name a few. Indeed, there is virtually no area of society that does not benefit from the capabilities that new media offers. In light of such high demand, new media specialists can look forward to an employment market with extremely interesting and diverse jobs.

Successful New Media practitioners must have a solid foundation in cutting-edge technologies, a well-honed sense of design, and the skills to put creative ideas into practice. The BS in New Media Interactive Development was carefully formulated to provide students with a balanced background in design and technology, with an emphasis on independent problem solving in a constantly evolving field.

Students in the BS in New Media Interactive Development (NMID) gain a solid background in graphic design, programming (in multiple languages), and content development for dynamic experiences. NMID students spend their first two years learning essential new media concepts and skills. Around the beginning of the third year, students design a track that focuses on a specific technology area, such as web development, casual games, or interactive applications. In several of their courses, NMID students collaborate and work side-by-side with their peers in the New Media Design and Imaging BFA degree program, just as they will later on in the workplace.

By graduation, NMID students have built up skills and knowledge ranging from the technical to the artistic - web programming, graphic design, animation, data-driven applications, interaction design, digital audio, and more. You'll find our alumni working in advertising, electronic entertainment, journalism, design, education, software development, finance, and other fields at the forefront of technology.