The Council on Academic Affairs voted on several new courses for computer and information technology as well as revisions to existing courses Thursday as they wrapped up their last meeting of the semester.

Gabriel Grant, a professor in the school of technology, introduced the course proposals for CIT 3303, Introduction to Gaming, Animation, and Stimulation; CIT 3313, 3D Modeling for Gaming, Animation, and Simulation; CIT 4753, Emerging Video Technologies; and CIT 4813, Front End and Mobile Website Development.

Grant also said these courses will eventually be the pre-requisites for his proposed Media Technology Minor, which will be effective in the Fall of 2016.

Grant said the courses were developed in response to constant questions he received from high school students regarding gaming and animation classes at Eastern.

Grant first introduced CIT 3303 and CIT 3313 and said students will be introduced to the tools and processes utilized in creating basic two-dimensional games and three-dimensional games for desktop or mobile devices.

According to the courses’ rationale, these topics (gaming, animation and simulation) fall under the description of multimedia artists and animators, which is a profession projected to grow 6 percent each year until the year 2022.
“There is no known program on EIU’s campus offering courses in the proposed topic,” according to the rationale. “Moreover, adding courses in gaming, animation, and simulation to the graphics and web development area appears to make sense as the technical proficiencies in graphics and web programming knowledge go hand in hand.”

Stacey Ruholl, the vice chair for CAA, said she noticed there were no pre-requisites for the courses Grant proposed.

“I’m not tech-savvy so am I going to be able to just sit in one of these classes and pick it up,” Ruholl said. “You keep saying intro and intro but is this really something students can do without any background?”

Grant said this is a ground-up approach and does not expect students to know much about the topics when entering the class however he said he thinks they will pick up the knowledge as the class progresses.

Grant also proposed CIT 4753, which he said will give students experience with the hardware, specialty equipment and media preparation behind video technologies and techniques.

“It’s a fulfilling opportunity for our students to be able to have exposure to the emerging technologies as they come out,” Grant said.

Grant said CIT 4813 would be offered in the CIT program as an option and in the Media Technology Minor as an elective.

Grant said CIT 4813 is emphasized on the creation of websites specifically for Internet-connected devices.

All four courses were unanimously approved and will be offered in spring 2017 and on demand only.

The CAA also approved several other new courses including CIT 4749, Capstone Project in Computer Information Technology; CIT 4803, Operating Systems for Computer Technology; CIT 4823, Big Data and Cloud Computing; and CIT 4833, Cybersecurity Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems.

They also approved Computer Information Systems, which will be a new major offered in the Fall of 2017.

The revisions were made to offer HST/CMN 4910, Applied Health Communication and FILM 2759G as an online course as well as face-to-face instruction.

Analicia Haynes can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]