Faculty Working Draft
Prepared September 2026
Companion to the Current-State Curriculum Map, the specialization definition, the 290–390–Capstone continuity analysis, and the game-design and AI case examples.
This is a reading of published requirements and of the committee's current-state documents. Faculty validation sheets and the student experience worksheet have not yet been returned. Until they are, a gap below is a feature of the published curriculum or of a path the rules allow. It is not yet a count of how often students hit it in a given semester.
How to read an entry
A known gap shows up on an ordinary path through the published major. A student who follows the four-year plan, stays on one degree track, and takes courses when they are ordinarily offered still meets it.
A possible gap appears when a less common path is still permitted. Transfer credit, a missed spring, an early reach of 86 credits, a late change of direction, a special topic that is not offered, or a project that happens to need a facility can open it. The published rules make the path possible. They do not say how often students use it.
Three labels from the faculty worksheet describe the kind of break, when a break is the issue:
- Missing preparation. A later course needs a skill or a scale of work that a required earlier course was in a position to provide and, on this path, did not.
- Abrupt jump. A course requires a skill or a scale of work that no required earlier course prepared.
- Repetition. A course grades again a skill an earlier course already graded, and adds no new demand.
Some gaps are about legibility rather than a single assignment. The path exists as pieces, and a student cannot see how to go further without private knowledge of which courses fit together.
This document records the gaps. It does not choose a repair, a new course, a prerequisite change, or a transcript label.
Already known gaps
These are visible without syllabi. Confirmation from the courses as taught can sharpen them. It is unlikely to remove the structural ones.
The shared studio sequence has two breaks
Both degree tracks require IMDM290, IMDM390, IMDM490, and IMDM491. The four-year plans place them in that order: Collaborative Studio I in spring of the second year, Collaborative Studio II in spring of the third year, Capstone I in fall of the fourth year, and Capstone II the following spring.
Registration is shorter. IMDM390 requires IMDM290. IMDM490 also requires IMDM290, together with major standing and 86 credits. IMDM490 does not require IMDM390. IMDM491 requires IMDM490.
| Gap | What the published curriculum does | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Order | A student can define the Capstone project before taking the experiential studio the plans place immediately before it. IMDM390 remains required for the degree and can be taken in the last semester, concurrent with IMDM491 and the public showcase. Skills learned in that studio then have no later course in which to enter the senior project or to be shown as advanced understanding. | Missing preparation, when Capstone assumes research, scale, display, or documentation that the catalog assigns to IMDM390 |
| Handoff | Completing the courses in the advised order still does not require an individual outcome to move from IMDM290 to IMDM390, or from IMDM390 to IMDM490. IMDM290 and IMDM390 are team studios. Capstone asks for a project one student can carry for a year. | The sequence can start over at each studio, or it can accept earlier work with no new demand |
Capstone itself continues. IMDM491 receives the project planned in IMDM490. The open break is upstream of that pair.
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.
Depth is real, and several areas are still clusters
The program already has three established bodies of depth: computing and software on the B.S., studio and digital creative practice on the B.A., and collaborative immersive production on the shared IMDM spine. Those are the ground of a specialization. They are not themselves specializations.
Around them, the published map shows pieces of game design, extended reality, artificial intelligence, interaction design, physical computing, 3D and technical art, sound, and creative research. Related courses, faculty expertise, and facilities are present. A student who wants to go further still has to assemble the route. On the specialization definition, that is a cluster: the pieces are real, and the mechanism for going further is not yet a property of the curriculum.
The game-design and AI cases name the same pattern in more detail.
Game design
- There is no shared introduction centered on mechanics, prototyping, playtesting, and iteration.
- CMSC425 is the clearest advanced game course, and it is most accessible to students who have completed the upper-level Computing sequence.
- Critical context for games sits in IMDM350, on the B.A. route.
- Advanced game production can happen in IMDM290, IMDM390, a special topic, independent study, or Capstone. It is not guaranteed.
- Audio, narrative, technical art, and production roles depend on the instructor, the topic, or the project.
- Advising and public materials do not show the path.
- No faculty role is charged with connecting the pieces.
Artificial intelligence
- There is no shared AI foundation designed for both tracks.
- The clearest technical sequences, including CMSC421, CMSC422, and CMSC472, require substantial computing prerequisites.
- Creative and critical experiments are distributed across IMDM350, special topics, research, and projects. They are not a progression from introduction through repeated practice to advanced work.
- Responsible-practice expectations, including provenance, disclosure, consent, rights, and documentation, are not standardized across courses.
- Advanced intelligent-media production is not guaranteed.
- Computing infrastructure for models, APIs, GPUs, and storage is uneven.
- Faculty ownership is distributed.
The same test still has to be applied, course by course, to extended reality, interaction design, physical computing, 3D and technical art, sound, and creative research. The published competency matrix already shows the shape. Introduction, practice, advanced work, and public demonstration do not line up as a path a student can follow, and several demonstration cells are marked only when the project makes that competency central.
Competencies with a thin middle or a late public form
| Competency | What is already in place | Known gap |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | A third-semester review, usually during IMDM227, then documentation and display associated with IMDM390, then exhibition and promotion in IMDM491 | The middle of the major does not show a required habit of keeping work in a form the student can show without the instructor present |
| Professional practice | Production planning in IMDM490, and exhibition, promotion, and public communication in IMDM491 | Role definition, collaborative expectations, intellectual property, client or partner work, budgeting, and career materials are late, or they appear only when a project happens to require them |
| Programming and creative coding | Strong required depth on the Computing B.S.; IMDM127, CMSC122, and IMDM227 on the Emerging Creatives B.A. | B.A. depth is moderate beside the B.S. sequence. A shared studio that assumes upper-level computing will be ahead of one track |
| Visual design | Strong required depth on the Emerging Creatives B.A.; ARTT100, ARTT200, and ARTT255 on the Computing B.S. | B.S. depth is moderate beside the B.A. studio sequence. A shared studio that assumes advanced visual practice will be ahead of one track |
| Physical computing | Introduced in IMDM101, practiced in IMDM227, and available again when an IMDM390 or Capstone project uses it | No visible sequence through advanced work |
| Audio and sound | Encountered in IMDM227, ARTT255, and IMDM290 | Further depth is a special topic or a project choice |
| 3D and spatial media | ARTT200, IMDM290, and, on the Computing track, IMDM327 and graphics electives | Access to advanced spatial work depends on the track |
| Facilities | The program has projection, prototyping, motion capture, imaging and scanning, sound, design, and XR/VR labs | Published materials do not say which of these every student who finishes a given course has used, or at what level of independence |
Two routes into the same shared courses
IMDM227 can be reached by IMDM101 plus CMSC131, or by IMDM127 plus CMSC122. IMDM127 is restricted against students who have completed CMSC131 through CMSC499, so the creative-coding introduction and the computing introduction are alternate doors, not a stack. IMDM290 then requires IMDM227 and ARTT255 for both tracks.
The shared studios are built for a mixed room. A gap appears when one of those studios treats a skill from only one door as preparation every student has. The validation sheet for IMDM227 asks for a skill the two prerequisite paths do not share. The sheets for IMDM290 and IMDM390 ask where Computing and Emerging Creatives students arrive differently. Those answers are still open. The fork itself is already in the catalog.
Possible gaps in less common scenarios
Each scenario below is allowed by the current rules, the offering pattern, or the way advanced work is staffed. A student on the four-year plan may never meet it. A student who does can hit a sharper version of a known gap, or a break the ordinary path hides.
Capstone starts before Collaborative Studio II
IMDM390 is spring-only and IMDM490 is fall-only on the 2024 four-year plans. A student who has IMDM290 and 86 credits can register for IMDM490 without waiting for the next spring of IMDM390. Prior credit, a heavy load, or a missed spring makes that order ordinary for that student and uncommon for the cohort.
What can follow:
- IMDM490 has to teach scale, research, display, or documentation while it is also supposed to produce a plan and prototype for IMDM491.
- IMDM390 arrives in the last semester, concurrent with IMDM491 and the public showcase. The experiential studio no longer prepares the project. Skills learned in that studio have no later course in which to enter the senior project or to be shown as advanced understanding. The student can instead delay IMDM491 until IMDM390 is done.
- The two tracks, already in different advanced courses during the third year, arrive at Capstone with no shared studio since IMDM290.
Track courses, a special topic, or an earlier project may have supplied the missing practice. The curriculum does not guarantee that they have.
A required course is missed, and the calendar cannot absorb it
IMDM290 and IMDM390 are spring courses on the current plans. IMDM490 is fall-only. A leave, a failed prerequisite, a study-abroad semester, or a conflict that removes one spring does not only delay a course. It can force the Capstone fork above, because the next IMDM390 and the next IMDM490 are not in an order the student can still follow before the credit threshold.
A special topic that is the only advanced work in an area, and that is offered once, creates a similar calendar gap. Missing that semester removes the advanced stage. Independent study can replace it for a student who arranges it. Under the specialization definition, an independent study a few students were able to arrange does not fill the advanced stage of a path.
The student finds the area late, or changes direction
Some students will find a direction in IMDM390 or at the start of IMDM490. A late start can still be depth if enough of a path remains before the public demonstration. A topic chosen for the first time in IMDM491 is a Capstone subject. It is late for the path the specialization definition describes: introduction, repeated practice, advanced work, and a body of work.
A change of direction has a related break. Methods, research, assets, and documentation can travel into the new area when a later course is built to use them. If each studio starts blank, a student who is continuing and a student who is changing direction are treated the same way. Both begin again. If a studio accepts the previous project unchanged, the student who stayed with the old area is graded again on finished work.
Hybrid work raises the same issue from two sides. A game project that is deeply sonic, or an XR project that is a critical research project, needs somewhere to go further. When both areas are clusters, neither course is responsible for receiving the other area's prior work.
One track's advanced course is the other track's closed door
Ordinary track differences are already listed above. Less common attempts to cross them produce a harder gap.
- An Emerging Creatives student who wants CMSC425, or the CMSC artificial-intelligence sequence, meets prerequisites built for the Computing major. The course can be real and still be unavailable in time to matter before Capstone.
- A Computing student who has completed CMSC131 cannot take IMDM127. The B.A. creative-coding introduction is not a way back into a skill the computing sequence skipped.
- A Computing student who wants the critical context IMDM350 gives games, XR, or AI is outside the course's required audience. The B.A. theory course is not on the B.S. plan.
- A B.A. student who needs IMDM327 meets its prerequisites, IMDM227 and CMSC132. Spatial and XR technical depth on the published map sits on the Computing side of that line.
Permission, a seat, or a one-time substitution can open any of these for one student. A path that depends on permission or an unscheduled topic remains a cluster.
The team owns the work the next course would need
IMDM290 and IMDM390 produce team projects. A less common, and still predictable, outcome is that the archive belongs to the team and the individual student leaves with a grade. Capstone, a later studio, a portfolio review, or a job-application portfolio then has no artifact that student is allowed to continue, revise, or show as their own.
The inverse also occurs. A student is allowed to carry the team project forward and is not asked for new learning, or is not asked to show which part was theirs. That is repetition, or a portfolio that over-claims a collaborative work.
Intellectual property, a client or partner restriction, or a facility dataset can tighten the same bind. The work exists. The student cannot take it out of the course.
The advanced version depends on who is teaching, or on the project
Special topics and independent study are how the published map houses games, AI, sound, physical computing, and facilities depth when no required sequence does. Those offerings are variable.
Possible breaks:
- The topic that would be the advanced stage is not offered in the year the student needs it, or it is full, or it requires permission.
- One section treats a facility as guaranteed. The next section lists it as available, and some students finish without using it.
- A competency is advanced only when the project makes it central. Students in the same course leave at different levels, and the next course cannot tell which level arrived.
- Professional practices such as client work, budgeting, or intellectual property appear in one project and not in the next.
- Responsible-practice expectations for AI, including disclosure, consent, and provenance, differ by instructor. A later course cannot assume them.
- Tooling moves faster than the syllabus. A student prepared on one platform meets a later course that has changed platforms and treats the earlier preparation as absent.
Prior credit replaces a course and not the experience
Catalog prerequisites can be satisfied by transfer or by a course the IMD sequence did not teach. The student is eligible to enroll. The shared studio still expects the introductory collaborative, theoretical, or creative-coding experience that the substitute course did not include.
The same pattern appears inside UMD when a partner course is the prerequisite on paper and the usable skill is different in practice. ARTT255 and the two doors into IMDM227 are the ordinary version of this. A transfer equivalent of one of those courses is the less common version: the prerequisite line is satisfied, and the preparation the next IMDM course relies on in the first weeks is missing.
Advising knows a path the curriculum does not publish
A student who is told, by a particular faculty member, which elective, topic, and Capstone shape add up to games or AI can go further. A student who does not have that conversation meets the known legibility gap in a sharper form. The path was real for one advising relationship. It was not findable.
The specialization definition treats that as evidence the area is still a cluster. Individual assembly, including a strong Capstone, shows student initiative. It does not show that the curriculum supplies the route.
What would confirm, narrow, or retire an item
| Source | What it can settle |
|---|---|
| Faculty validation sheets | Whether a published gap is what every student in that offering actually hits; which skills the two doors into IMDM227 fail to share; whether an individual record leaves IMDM290 or IMDM390; which 390-level demands IMDM490 reteaches |
| Student experience worksheet | Where students wanted to go further and could not see a route; which courses needed something they did not yet have; the order in which they actually took IMDM290, IMDM390, and Capstone |
| Offering and enrollment records | How often IMDM490 starts without IMDM390; how often IMDM390 falls beside IMDM491; how often the advanced work in an area is a single special topic or independent study |
A known gap stays on this list if the enacted course matches the published structure. It narrows if only some sections or some student paths hit it. It moves to the possible-gap list if the ordinary path has already closed it and only a less common path still meets it. A possible gap becomes known if validation shows it is common enough to be part of the ordinary experience.
What this document does not decide
The list does not choose whether IMDM390 should be required before Capstone, what artifact should cross from one studio to the next, which clusters to build first, or whether a specialization should appear on the transcript. Those decisions belong to the faculty, after the validation sheets and the student responses are in.
Syllabus language can make a path easier to see and can allow earlier work to continue. It does not by itself create the missing course, the missing seat, or an agreement between instructors.