Online courses directory (88)

This course focuses on the design of modules or components that can be assembled/clustered/aggregated to form a larger spatial component system to enhance an existing space. Rather than aggregating identical components (such as bricks which are identical in size and shape), we will be designing our own components that can vary in size and shape to form differentiated component systems. The exercises in this course will introduce and develop parametric thinking skills (without the use of advanced parametric design software) and will require the student to fabricate working prototypes of her/his component system out of simple materials or commonly found items.

This course introduces three-dimensional composition of modules, basic form and volume principles, and form-based (three-dimensional) operational and ordering strategies. We will focus on the relationships between form and space with basic ingredients such as planes, surfaces, masses, and volumes. Students will produce physical and digital working models of their module studies as well as generating plan and section drawing types.

Gamecrafting is a second-order design problem. Unlike traditional linear media, in which the form and sequence of an experience are created by the designers, game experiences are created by the players. Good game designers must be therefore be good anticipators, striving to imagine and optimize the range of interesting choices afforded by their designs. They must also anticipate the range of experiences they can afford to afford, based on the practical limits of available time and resources.

This course focuses on the basic skills of scoping a game project to keep it manageable, iterating on design details to refine and improve the player experience, and thoroughly testing game prototypes (using both automation and live subjects) to determine if experience goals are being achieved.

The course introduces audio signal processing concepts motivated by examples from MIR research. More specifically students will learn about spectral analysis and time-frequency representations in general, monophonic pitch estimation, audio feature extraction, beat tracking, and tempo estimation.

This course introduces the student to the history and techniques of creating objects from hot metals. Techniques include the 3000 year old lost-wax (cire-perdue) method, sand casting methods dating back over 5000 years, and others. Finishing techniques covered include drag and flash removal, surface cleaning and polishing, and others.

This second course covers the rebels and revolutionaries of the Dada and Surrealist movements including Duchamp, Dali, Magritte, and others. And then we jump across the pond to look at the American succession of the New York School with de Kooning, Pollock, Rothko, Krasner, and many more.

This third course examines the explosion of the mass media and its expression in Pop art as well as the rise of the simpler, but equally powerful movement called Minimalism. Conceptual art, performance/body art, Land Art, takes us into the countercultural 70s, and then finally the dizzying glut of the information age and Postmodernism.

Today's vast amount of streaming and video conferencing on the Internet lacks one aspect of musical fun and that's what this course is about: high-quality, near-synchronous musical collaboration. Under the right conditions, the Internet can be used for ultra-low-latency, uncompressed sound transmission. The course teaches open-source (free) techniques for setting up city-to-city studio-to-studio audio links. Distributed rehearsing, production and split ensemble concerts are the goal. Setting up such links and debugging them requires knowledge of network protocols, network audio issues and some ear training.