Good Communication Skills

So today in class we had a presentation, several of the ITCD faculty come and spoke to us about their specialties.
First Eric Clinger came in and reminded us that he is our peer adviser and soon we will each meet with him and work out our individual learning plans. I'm actually very eager to finally count up my units and see where I stand towards graduation.
Only 70 units of my previous studies are transferable to the University, so Eric and I have to pick out the best 70 of the 90 to 100 units I have in all.
A BS is given at 120 units so that's where I get the 2.5 years plus for me still in my program. Fortunately I only have the great upper division design and graphics courses left!
And then Pat Watson: animation track, 3D modeling, digital photography.
he wrote a book: Pixelated beauty; digital art and the end of theory.
He showed some Great animations, including a graphic visualization of the CSUMB campus in the future.
He was talking since post-modernism, creative expression is in the hands of the consumer, it no longer has to be filtered through the academic theorists
We are past the post modern period and are now in the Digital period.
That's why I love the field I'm in.
He went on to say things about how everything on the screen has potential to move.
He's a "motionographer", and he showed us examples of kinetic typography.

Then the network guy Michael Mochado, he had studied users experiences between blackboard and ilearn.
He has a bunch of free windows software. Great. He did suggest some websites that give good student discounts on software. I Need CS4.
So iTCD has 6 servers and on one of them we each get 600 megs of space!!!
We have the original Myspace Server! and itcdland.
Which one is my server?
He gave us the secret to success in school: come to class, do the work, don't drink too much!
1 more professor was coming in 10 minutes so Dr Tao filled in the time with lessons;
The ten words to success: "Read the assignment, do what it tells you to do."
iTCD is not a department, it's a School!
Our goal is to Enhance Communication and ... develop the technology.
Which reminds me of Dr Tao's first lecture and his ideas about invention and innovation, that's just the stuff I'm interested in.
I have several iPhone applications in planning. I'm always thinking of new ideas and inventions and trying to perceive the public need before it comes so I can strike it lucky.
So our local building 18 media learning Center faculty specialists are:
Pat Watson: Animation
Kevin Cahill: Web Design
Bobbi Long: Visual Design, Graphic Design
Susan: Interactive Design
There is a Masters of Instructional Systems Technology program,
a Master of Science in Management Info Technology program,
There used to be a High Tech Entrepreneur program
and they're planning a Doctorate program in Information Technology.
I like my Ole Bachelors in Information Technologies and Creative Design with a Visual Design emphasis and a minor in Animation. It has a nice ring to it.

And then came Dr. Satyan Narayanan.
He's a network specialist and he was apologetic that his slides looked bad but I thought they looked appropriate considering that hes from the technical side of computing.
He worked in wireless networking.
He stressed the need for cooperative communication between people in the work place and he referred us to a film on that topic.
He went on to tell us what a Four Year Degree is For.... "To prepare You For A Career"
Communication is the most important skill.
High expectations among teachers and students are the most important thing to an education.
So Blog on our individual learning pathways and the film.
I watched the film "What Skills Do I need to Get Hired?" when I got home, it's a series of interviews with highly placed corporate players and they all assert that communication is the most important thing in a job candidate.
The main message I got from the film was the emphasis on how important it is for us to develop good communication skills and the ability to play well with others.
In this day and age we need to develop excellent verbal and writing fluencies as well as our technical abilities. I'm beginning to get what iTCD means.

I'll go over my individualized learning pathway tomorrow and write about it then.

Goodnight,

Ethan Elias