Course Structure

The Bachelor of Design Computing is a three-year degree, or four years with honours. Your subjects in the Design Computing program include core and University-wide electives - it's intensive and it's flexible! The core unit studios in each year broaden your knowledge on significant themes in Design Computing, as well as develop your communication and design process skills. You'll be spending about 20 hours each week at Uni, attending lectures, tutorial and studio classes. Classes are mainly project-based, where you demonstrate your skill through a final design and written material. Study material is usually assessed through project work rather than exam.

The Bachelor of Design Computing focuses on four major areas of study:

• Design
  Design studios and lecture-based units of study serve as the principal forums for the conception and implementation of your designed works. You will learn about elements of design including concept development, making portfolios, and visual literacy.
• Programming
  Programming, still the most sought after skill in industry, is the glue between your ideas and the production of your creative projects. Programming is situated within most units of study. Programming languages you'll learn include PHP, Java, JavaScript and Processing.
• Interaction
  Interaction deals with designing the contact surface between humans and computers. The Interaction Design Studio is the fundamental unit of study in this area. Software used in units of study in Interaction include Director and Max/MSP+Jitter.
• Modelling
  Modelling takes on two key directions: modelling for the representation of form and simulation such as for computer-aided design and animation, and modelling the design process to enable computer-automated design. Software may include Maya and Virtools.

Bachelor of Design Computing Course Structure

Recommended Arts & Technical Electives For 2012

To assist you in your planning and selection of your arts and technical elective units, we have prepared a set of recommended electives. These are not mandatory, but they can help to make your selection of electives easier. The numbers in () indicate in which semester the unit is offered, and if it’s offered in summer or winter terms.
Today, to plan your first year of study, you will select 2 elective units of study for Semester 2. (You can still change your choices before semester 2 starts if, during semester 1, you find out about new, exciting choices!)

There are 3 types of electives:

1. Table B electives - You may choose to take at most 24 credit points from units of study listed in Table B on Page 23 of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning Handbook 2011.

2. “Technical electives” - You must complete 18 credit points from units of study with a prefix of COMP, ELEC, INFO, ISYS, and/or MTRX and at least 6 credit points must be at the 2000 level or higher.

3. “Arts electives” - You must complete 18 credit points from the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Sydney Business School, and/or Science and at least 6 credit points must be at the 2000 level of higher.

To satisfy the requirements of the technical and arts electives, you will need to plan your studies carefully, because units of study at the 2000 or 3000 level have pre-requisites (units you must take before you may enrol) and co-requisites (units you must enrol in simultaneously). To plan and select your electives, we recommend that you perform the following steps:

1. Look at the online Handbooks for the Faculties where you are interested in taking a unit of study. Find a 2000 or 3000 unit of study that interests you.

2. Review the pre-requisites for that unit.

3. Select units of study as electives for your first and second year of enrolment such that you would satisfy the pre-requisite for the 2000 or 3000 level unit of study by semester 1 of the third year.

Arts and Social Science Electives

Profession: Film and Animation
ARHT1001 Art and Experience (2, Summer)
ARHT1002 Modern Times: Art and Film (1)
ARHT2655 Modern Cinema: Modes of Viewing (1)

ARIN2600 Technocultures (1)
ARIN2620 Cyberworlds (2)
ARIN2630 Digital Arts (1) or ARIN3640 Computer Games and Simulation (1)
All of these units require that you have already successfully completed 18 credit points, that is, at least one semester of study.

MUSC1503 Fundamentals of Music I (1, 2)
MUSC1507 Sounds, Screens, Speakers: Music & Media (1)
MUSC2653 Introduction to Digital Music Techniques (2)

Profession: Advertising, Public Relations, Media and Marketing
LNGS1001 Structure of Language (1)
LNGS1002 Language and Social Context (2)
LNGS2604 Discourse Analysis (2) or LNGS2603 Functional Grammar (1)

MKTG1001 Marketing Principles (1,2)
MKTG2112 Consumer Behaviour (1) or MKTG3114 New Products Marketing (2) or MKTG3121 Advertising: Creative Principles (1)

SCLG1001 Introduction to Sociology 1 (1)
SCLG1002 Introduction to Sociology 2 (2, Winter)
SCLG2606 Media in Contemporary Society (1)

Profession: Electronic Media Arts
GCST1601 Introduction to Cultural Studies (1, Winter)
GCST2607 Bodies, Sexualities, Identities (1, Summer)
GCST3603 Consumer Cultures (1, Winter) or GCST3604 Cultural Theory (2)

PRFM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance (1)
PRFM2602 Performance: Production & Interpretation (2, Summer)
PRFM3605 Cross-Cultural and Hybrid Performance (2)

PHIL1011 Reality, Ethics and Beauty (1)
PHIL1013 Society, Knowledge and Self (2)
PHIL264 The Philosophy of Happiness (2, Summer) or PHIL2642 Critical Thinking (2, Winter)

Profession: Human Development (e.g., UN)
ANTH1001 Cultural Difference: An Introduction (1, Summer)
INGS1001 Power and Money in Global Society (1)
INGS2601 Transnational Spaces and Networks (1)

Profession: User Experience Design
PSYC1001 Psychology 1001 (1, Summer)
PSYC1002 Psychology 1002 (2, Summer)
PSYC2013 Cognitive and Social Psychology (2)

Technical Electives

Profession: Interaction Design
INFO1103 Introduction to Programming (1,2)
INFO2110 Systems Analysis and Modelling (2)
INFO3315 Human-Computer Interaction (2) or COMP3419 Graphics and Multimedia (1)
“Advanced” students might skip INFO2110 and do both INFO3315 and COMP3419.

MTRX1701 Mechatronics Engineering Introductory (1)
MTRX1702 Mechatronics 1 (2)
MTRX2700 Mechatronics 2 (1)

ELEC1103 Foundations of Electronic Engineering (1)
ELEC1601 Foundations of Computer Systems (2)
ELEC2004 Electrical Engineering: Foundations (1)

Profession: IT Consulting
ELEC3610 E-Business Analysis and Design (1) (You will take INFO2120, which is its pre-requisite, as a core unit of study).

Profession: Game Programming
INFO1105 Data Structures (2)
COMP2007 Algorithms and Complexity (2)
COMP3308 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (1) or COMP3419 Graphics and Multimedia (1)

To explore these unit options in more detail, search the unit code in the 'Find A Course' search engine at: http://sydney.edu.au/courses/ using the search by 'Unit Of Study' dropdown menu, then on the following page click the 'Unit of Study Handbook' link.