Six diverse students in the School of Journalism’s 4800 News App Design & Content class recently completed a unique app for the iPad.
Caleb Baldree, Margaret Blakemore, Emily Ford, Gracie Robinson, Tina Shang and Katie Smith worked diligently on the app that highlights the college’s Center for Popular Music (CPM), an archive and research center for the study of American popular music. The user is able to access panoramic view of the “the stacks” (the CPM’s archives), listen to music from the collections and view interviews with the center’s staff.
Guided by Center for Innovation in Media Director Val Hoeppner and Associate Professor Leslie Haines, students were responsible for the app’s content, writing, video, video editing, photography, design and production. Each student was required to collaborate and work independently while participating in every part of the app creation process. Students spent many hours outside of the classroom completing the project.
“Creating an app in 16 weeks is a challenge,” Hoeppner said. “Creating an app during a 16-week class was even more challenging. Leslie Haines and I first had to teach students how to create the content for the app including stories, an interactive timeline, photographs, panoramas and video. We spent 11 weeks of the semester creating content, editing stories and videos for the app. The final five weeks were spent teaching design elements, using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to create the templates and add the interactive overlays.”
The students’ mix of skills also enhanced the process, with backgrounds ranging from public relations to new media, visual communication and advertising.
“What made this project work was the students,” Haines said. “The students worked seamlessly to create a story and media budget and took responsibility for articles they were interested in. They helped one another with stories, one taking notes, the other holding a microphone or setting up a tripod. When it came time to design the app, they discussed the content and the center’s needs like professionals and quickly landed on a design that is woven throughout the app.”
Hoeppner hopes this is the first of many student-designed apps to come out to the School of Journalism. “We are open to ideas for apps that allow students to create mobile content, dive into app design and learn to build the app with Adobe DPS,” Hoeppner explained.
The Center for Popular Music iPad app is now available in the Apple Store. Search for “CPM The Stacks” to locate it, then download it to your iPad. The purchase of iPads and camera/video equipment used for the class was made possible by an MTSU ITD technology grant.
To download the app, click here.
The Leading Edge 
You must be logged in to post a comment.