Dundalk IT will host another springboard course in animation this year, with places still available.
Michael Connolly, an assistant lecturer in Animation for Digital Production and Games on the Springboard Courses at Dundalk IT has been spending some time getting a headstart on the next academic year and has put together a journal for Talk of the Town of his experience of the course.
Check it out below…
“My first year as a lecturer at DkIT and lecturing on a new animation course for game and production, I was impressed at how friendly and helpful the teaching staff are. Equally I was surprised at how diverse it can be. Preparing notes for lectures and labs is straight forward after the first few weeks but animation and especially 3D computer animation is a very dense subject with a lot technical and creative knowledge to digest so laying the route for learning outcomes and setting briefs early helps.
“The nature of springboard courses means that learning is going to be intense. I see it as part of my job to try to ease some of this workload while at the same time encouraging a more shared learning environment where learners learn from each other through group projects. One project that work particularly well in my opinion was the symposium. Each student focused on one aspect of the computer animation pipeline or workflow to become an expert on it and shared thier findings at the symposium.
“Another aspect of the Springboard course is work placement experience. Springboard was initatied to offer free courses in areas where there are employment opportunities in the Irish economy. An opportunity to up-skill and cross-skill and to allow people with qualifications in one sector to easily transfer across to another where there are opportunities for people who are job ready. Here I was very much involved with building a database of animation, game, visual effects and multimedia companies in Ireland. I also partnered with Fergal Scully work placement officer and we managed to place all students for work experience with placements in GlueVFX, Jam Media, Brown Bag Films, Geronimo, Nebula, Lightscape but even better we made strong links with Zink Films who wanted half of our students to work on a short film they were working on.
“Gary was very impressed with the competences and diligence of the students that worked for him on Botcom the short Zink Films are working on. So much so that we have discussed our next batch of students working on another short as part of their final project.
For further details on the course or to enlist email michael.connolly@dkit.ie
What some of the students said:
“Very practical, covered a broad and relevant range of subject areas, feel have learned skills which are applicable not only to animation field, but any workplace. Accessible, knowledgeable tutors. Having spoken to people in industry, feel we’re coming out with more technical animation skills relative to other animation courses in the Republic of Ireland, and comparable to courses in Northern Ireland. Feel the acquired skill set will put us in a position to get jobs in the industry.”
“Amazing course. Should be made full time”
“Tutors made themselves available and accessible outside lecture and practical hours throughout the year, which is very appreciated. Tutors enthusiastic, helpful and experienced in industry.”
Talk of the Town 