As producers and media companies struggle to keep up with the unrelenting pace of technological change, academic institutions too have found themselves scrambling to keep up. The next generation of media pros needs a tool box bigger than Tim “The Toolman” Taylor’s: where once someone trained to work in film, TV or digital, it’s now all one and the same. But as the following educational institutions prove, educators are listening and working to equip students with the skills needed for a world in which content is king and everyone has a shot at the throne.

CENTENNIAL
The Toronto college’s new offerings for the 2014-2015 academic year include two new industry-focused postgraduate certificates. The Television & Film Business certificate is an intensive, two-semester program that zones in on financial, regulatory and legal aspects of film and television production in Canada. Centennial will also offer a multi-disciplinary, two-semester postgraduate certificate called Advanced Film & Television – Script to Screen for the first time in September 2014. The program is open to writers, directors, producers and editors and will see students create four short scripts and see them through to production.

HUMBER
This summer, Humber will run its first Transmedia Fellowship program. Accepting students from Humber’s School of Media Studies and Information Technology and the School of Creative and Performing Arts, the program brings six students together for 14 weeks to develop multi-platform content. In its first year, the fellowship attracted about 30 applications. Humber is also trying to foster more collaboration between programs, such as encouraging 3D animation students and gaming students to work together.

SHERIDAN COLLEGE
September 2014 will see the launch of Sheridan College’s four-year Bachelor of Film and Television program. The program replaces the existing Media Arts advanced diploma program, a change spurred by feedback from industry and students, explains Sandy McKeen, associate dean for Sheridan’s Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design. In addition to providing students with more course options, the revamped program will also include a mandatory second-year course called Transmedia Storytelling. “We want to prepare them for a variety of different platforms in order to deliver their stories,” explains McKeen.

NAIT
The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton is also ramping up its digital offering. The polytechnic school has renamed its Video Production stream to Digital Cinema Production, and will feature more courses that focus on digital cinema. September 2013 also marked the first time NAIT offered an introductory transmedia course, where students will learn how stories can be told effectively across multiple platforms and create their own transmedia project. By the winter semester of 2015, NAIT will also offer an advanced post production class where students can take advantage of the school’s newly acquired Mistika system (please see Geared Up, left).

SENECA
For the coming academic year, Seneca will feature the new postgraduate one-year diploma called Documentary and Non-fiction Media Production. For the past five years, the college has offered a well-attended summer program focused on documentaries, but the newly expanded program will also focus on how to best integrate interactive media into nonfiction content, as well as reality television production. On the animation side, Seneca has also decided to renew its focus on 2D animation following an uptick in hiring in that area of the industry. “We want to make sure our grads are able to take advantage of those opportunities,” says Mark Jones, chair of Seneca’s School of Creative Arts and Animation.

Related: Click here for Part 2 of our feature on what’s new in schools, which breaks down what big equipment purchases Canadian schools have made in the past year. 

This article originally appeared in Playback’s Summer 2014 print issue.

Photo credit: SAIT Polytechnic