IMDM290 · IMDM390 · Senior Capstone
One sequence described, a shorter one enforced.
Both degree tracks require Collaborative Studio I, Collaborative Studio II, and the two Capstone semesters. The plans place Studio II before Capstone. The registration rule does not.
Move among the three accounts, or rest on a course. IMDM390 requires IMDM290. IMDM491 requires IMDM490. The open break is between Studio II and Capstone I. When Studio II waits until the last semester, it runs with Capstone II and the showcase, after the senior project has already been defined.
Order and handoff are separate
Requiring IMDM390 before IMDM490 would put the experiential studio before the senior project is defined. It would not, by itself, let a student go further with work already underway. IMDM290 and IMDM390 are team studios. Capstone asks for a project one student can carry for a year. The catalog requires no individual outcome to move from one of these courses to the next.
| Problem | What is missing | What a prerequisite change alone would do |
|---|---|---|
| Order | IMDM490 can start without IMDM390. | Place the experiential studio before the project is defined. |
| Handoff | No required individual outcome moves from studio to studio. | Leave each course free to start from zero, or to accept an unchanged project. |
| Transfer | IMDM390 can be taken in the last semester, concurrent with IMDM491 and the public showcase. Skills learned then have no later course in which to enter the senior project or the demonstration of advanced understanding. | Place the experiential studio before the project is defined, so the showcase semester can use what Studio II taught. |
IMDM390 is spring-only and IMDM490 is fall-only on the current plans. A student who begins Capstone after IMDM290 therefore meets Collaborative Studio II in a later spring. That spring is often the IMDM491 semester: the last semester of the degree, the second semester of the senior project, and the semester of the public showcase. The project being exhibited was defined in IMDM490. Research, scale, display, and documentation learned in IMDM390 during that same semester arrive while the work is being finished and shown. They have no subsequent course in which to become part of the project, or part of what the showcase can treat as advanced understanding.
Between IMDM290 and the advised semester of IMDM390, the tracks do different advanced work. Computing students are in IMDM327 and the computer-science core. Emerging Creatives students are in IMDM350 and advanced digital-media coursework. That year is real depth. It is not a shared rehearsal for Capstone. When IMDM390 is not in front of IMDM490, the last common studio is IMDM290.
How often students enter Capstone without Studio II, and what each studio actually requires a student to leave with, are questions for the faculty validation sheets. Until those sheets return, the analysis stops at the published structure.