Fall 2008 - Issue 4

The Silversword: Home > "Grind My Gearz" > Graphic Problems with Graphic Design Course

Graphic Problems with Graphic Design Course

Katie Palafox, Staff Writer

The graphic design class here at Chaminade has given its students more than their share of headaches this semester, myself included. What should have been an interesting and beneficial course for any major has become a pain in the you-know-where.

There are many causes for headaches in this course. First is the professor’s lack of office hours. Because this class requires learning a new program, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, students need more one-on-one time with the professor outside of class. An extra hour would be helpful to the students. During class, there are just too many students and only one teacher making it difficult to get all your questions answered.

Another problem is the time the class is scheduled. The class meets one day a week, Mondays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. With one instructor and about 16 students, it takes a while for the professor to get around to helping everyone, which means little work gets done in the three-hour time period. This is quite frustrating for the students as well as the professor, which is evident from the expression on everyone’s faces. However, we are required to spend the entire three hours in class waiting for help. If students were able to leave class early to work on assignments at home, they wouldn’t have to struggle in the end.

Lastly, the programs available to the students to use are not up-to-date. Currently, the Communications Computer Lab runs CS, which is the first version of programs like Photoshop and InDesign. However, available for purchase now is CS4, the before-mentioned software that is now on its third update. Although the basic capabilities of the software haven’t changed much, having CS becomes a problem for students who like to work on projects using a newer version of the program. When they bring projects from an outside computer they are unable to open them in class because it is not backwards compatible with CS. This can be incredibly frustrating when you need to make last-minute changes to an assignment but cannot do so at school.

To better service their current and future students, Chaminade should first and foremost update their software. This is practical because it keeps students learning on the newest software available, which is beneficial when they graduate and get jobs. Also, it allows those who choose to work on projects at home the ability to make last minute changes in class.

Next, Chaminade needs to amend the class meeting time. Three hours, one day a week is not helpful to students. Two one-hour-and-30-minute classes every Tuesday and Thursday would be ideal so that students can get help with assignments throughout the week instead of on Mondays only. Also, the professor should be available for office hours at least two times a week. This allows students time to express their concerns and get extra help if needed.

Finally, Chaminade should consider hiring two professors to run this course. They could work either as a team to teach one class or separate to create a smaller class size. Even one professor and an assistant would be beneficial. This will give students more one-on-one attention from the instructor as well as alleviate stress from the professor. The overall atmosphere will greatly improve.

Although there are many concerns with this course, the overall content is exciting and interesting. I appreciated being able to choose the projects we were assigned, which made the class fun and exciting. If these problems can be addressed for future semesters, students would be more likely to enroll in the course and the atmosphere would be much more pleasant.