Last year, Residential Computing introduced a new residence-based course aimed at multimedia skills, CS2C, Intermediate Computing at Stanford. Resident Computer Coordinators (RCCs) who were section leaders developed the curriculum for the course, which taught students how to produce audio, video, images, presentations, and Web sites using various software applications including Audacity, Photoshop, iMovie, PowerPoint, InDesign, and Dreamweaver.
and after taking CS2C.
CS2C is intended for anyone with an interest in multimedia, but the course also serves as a continuation of the CS1C curriculum where students learn about computing resources at Stanford and how to use those resources. Although enrollment for CS1C remained the same this year, with the addition of two residences and increased interest, enrollment in CS2C almost doubled to 58 students. This year, ten instructors taught a total of seven CS2C sections in Branner, Florence Moore East, Freshman/Sophomore College, Donner, Larkin, and Otero.
Throughout the course, each class session included hands-on exercises. For example, in learning how to edit audio using Audacity, students stitched together clips of background music and vocals recorded by one of the course instructors. By the end of the class, they produced a demo track of the song "Build Me Up Buttercup" with an audio introduction urging a record company to sign a deal with the singer. Some students also applied their acquired skills in projects outside of class: slowing down an interview recorded in Spanish in order to better understand the speaker, creating a video of a dorm trip to Lake Tahoe, and producing a multimedia poster for a residence event.
The first year of CS2C proved to be very successful and from survey data, students self-reported a significant increase in their confidence in working with multimedia. (See graph above.) Next year, Residential Computing plans to expand the course to another four residences and by Winter 2008, CS2C should be available in all residences with first year students.
