While many of our classes presented during Interterm boast an opportunity to study a subject away from campus, there are numerous courses taken by students wishing to gain some technical experience that aren’t as flashy as our international travel courses.  Yet, the unique combination of small class sizes, longer class periods, and focused study entice many students to stay here on campus and accelerate their education.

Why stay on campus, when you could be off exploring the world?  Simple: our students are here to
learn
, and they love it!  The skills picked up during an off-semester, like the summer or January terms, reinforce what they learn in the classroom, and make a direct contribution to their post-graduation job hunt.

ProTools CertificationDigital Techniques Interterm Classes


This course is designed to give students immersive, hands-on training in Avid ProTools (Version 11), the industry-standard software for recording, editing, and mixing professional sound. It will cover all basic features of the application as well as advanced functions such as Elastic Audio, MIDI and virtual instruments, and a full spectrum of editing tools and techniques.

Quizzes given every class, designed to teach students about the fundamentals of the ProTools certification test.  Professor Pavelin warned students, “Don’t worry about grades for the quizzes – they’re made extremely hard.  Live the SAT prep tests, they’re here for you to cut your teeth on.  It’s important to remember that students aren’t learning just one program — they’re learning how a suite of related programs can interact with it, in addition to ProTools HD, a revamped and more feature-dense version of the standard ProTools program.

In the final class, the students took an actual practice exam.  The exam is 
very
particular, and tests students on the specifics of using the ProTools software suite.  We’re not talking general concepts here, we’re talking 
specifics
: “what’s the difference between a Quantize function performed on a sample-based audio track and one performed on a tick-based track?”  ”All of the following functions are available through the Import Session Data dialog box,
except 
_______?”  ”MIDI is resolution is ___ ticks per quarter note?” and so on.  (Extra points if you knew the answers to any of those!)

AVID CertificationAVID logo


Like ProTools, this class, taught by Professor Dan Leonard, aims to teach students the fundamentals of the AVID Media Composer software editing suite.

In contrast to its cheaper, more popular cousin FinalCut Pro, AVID is the industry-standard application used in nearly every studio and production shop in the world.  The controls are complex, the data processing robust, and the suite of tools which it can be integrated with is staggering.

Much like the ProTools certification class, the AVID course prepares students for the software developer’s own assessment tests.  Using a combination of in-class demonstrations, short projects, and self-directed study, students enrolled in the class are taken well beyond the rudimentary tasks taught in introductory courses, to learn the details of how the editor functions.

The point here, is to make sure the young professionals know the software like the back of their hand.  Not that they just have a working understanding of how to muddle along using a combination of Google hints and YouTube tutorials — that they can
think
in terms of the software.  And this is why classes like these are so important; it’s a concrete and verified skill set you can highlight on a resume or an interview.  It’s not just a test delivered by our own Professors, about what they think is important, it’s a test designed by the company who created the software itself.  It’s externally verifiable, and shows you have a concrete understanding of a huge body of knowledge.  Productive knowledge, that can be put to immediate use.

If you’re considering being on campus during the next interterm, make sure to mark these classes off on your calendar!