Students in RIT Instructor Harvey Carapella’s Designing with Computers I and II classes are put in the driver’s seat when it comes to planning and structuring the coursework required to earn a final grade.

Designing Computers I and II introduces students to the computer as a graphic design tool. Students are typically beginners in the field of design, and some of the students may already work with designers and/or printers at their places of employment. The courses are structured for students to work independently of each other and to ultimately acquire two basic software skill sets. In Designing with Computers I, students learn how to use the Macromedia Freehand vector-based drawing program. In Designing with Computers II, students learn how to use the Adobe PageMaker desktop publishing software.

At the outset of these classes students are presented with options for structuring out the elements of their class assignments that will determine their final grade, based on competency-based parameters that can reveal specific learning outcomes.

Although Carapella’s classes are taught face-to-face, the strategies he uses for facilitating competency-based learning outcomes can be applied to similar classes in the online environment.

Basically, students in Carapella’s classes have two options: complete a series of the software manufacturer’s project-based tutorials (typically a total of ten) or create their own personal projects that have the equivalent learning outcomes as the ten tutorials. Additionally, students can do any combination of the tutorials and/or their personal projects, with Carapella’s pre-approval.

"What I have done is given students the power to pick and choose where their strengths are and to put their own package together that they will be graded and assessed on," Carapella says. "If they have absolutely no design experience, they can do all the tutorials. Other students, who happens to have design experience, can choose to do special projects that are related to their interests."

The tutorials are step-by-step exercises in which students assemble various design projects. In the Adobe PageMaker tutorials, for instance, students learn how to assemble projects ranging from a simple, one-page flier to a complicated, multi-page catalogue. "The tutorials are very structured, and the students can accomplished a lot in a relatively short period of time as they get exposed to the capabilities of the software," Carapella says. "They [the tutorials] get more difficult as they go along."

In addition to choosing the nature of their assignments, students have the option of turning in their work at any time, with all coursework due by the end of the quarter.

Although this policy winds up putting a great deal of grading work on Carapella’s plate at one time, the students do appreciate the flexibility. "Many of these students have jobs and families, so it is tough for them," Carapella claims. "Giving them the freedom of submitting their work at the end of the quarter has made it possible for a lot of the students to complete the course. One of the strongest comments I get on the class evaluations is that if it wasn’t for this flexibility being built into the class, they would have been forced to drop out because of their work loads and the demands being placed on them."

Carapella says that students who come into the class with no design experience typically come out of the class with the skills necessary to work effectively with printers and artists in the graphic design field.

"When they fill out the course evaluations, generally the results are high," he adds. "Plus, I’ve had no complaints."

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