One student’s story
Eugene O’ Regan is currently completing Creative Multimedia in LIT. We caught up with him over a cup of Barry’s to discuss his reasons and hopes from taking the course.
So, Eugene, hope you’re well. To get started, what’s your background?
A varied background to be honest. After a short stint at Ericssons, Athlone, I entered the weird and wild world of academia. It was here where I really first realised that I wanted to teach or be in a role that involved creativity, teamwork and giving something back. It was also here I had the good fortune to work with such great educators, such as John O’ Gorman, Dermot Shinners-Kennedy and Norah Power. After this, I had various teaching roles, which mostly involved some element of computing, mainly programming (Java and SQL). This, in my view, is an unconventional but excellent means of promoting a creative process, bringing the abstract to the concrete (no puns intended!) and in doing so, really promoting a sense of worth ("Hey, if I can do this, maybe there's other stuff I should try"). I’m in the camp of firmly believing that everyone has a creative passion inside that just needs a bit of encouragement and growth. And I'm also of the belief that people can and should go after their passions in life.
Why did you choose Creative Multimedia?
After a stint of commercial coding, I felt I needed a change of direction and emphasis. I hadn’t outgrown computing, but wanted to experience the more creative side and possibly prove myself wrong as regards front end developers having an easy time of it (and how wrong I was ... it's The Times crossword level tough). Also, I wanted to augment my current programming skills and the Creative Multimedia syllabus allowed this. And from a personal perspective, I wanted to challenge myself that I could still learn new topics, concepts and attitudes. Personally, I am inquisitive and get a kick out of becoming more adept at new technologies and concepts. Creative Multimedia definitely hit that criteria.
And why LIT?
Besides being within a reasonable commute (tolerated by a new appreciation of the MP3 file format and several travel mugs), I knew LIT had a great reputation for preparing people on a practical front. So while I knew it would be difficult, it would be worth this effort, with practical skills and work to be shown at the end of the process.
Was the workload difficult? ?
Are bears Catholic? It was intensive but a great challenge. But there was one thing that kept us all going – camaraderie! We all realised that we all had a varied skillset and while there was a limited amount of formal group work, every project was tackled together. Everyone was thrown into the deep end but we showed great resilience. Christmas was cancelled for 2017, but it was worth it. As well as growing our individual talents and portfolios, I do believe that the collective sense of confidence in the class grew exponentially.
The amount of work in both terms was high, with a steady stream of work that was both demanding and rewarding. In the first term, there was approximately 28 contact hours and project work on top of that. I would have no reservation that an average week was about 40-50 hours of work, with several hitting 60-65 easily. The second term had only 10 contact hours, but the work load was still there. It was a struggle at times, but the camaraderie of the class meant if you were having a bad day, there was someone there to keep you going.
What was the hardest aspect of the course?
Getting the head around new concepts and areas that I would have never thought I would have been able to do that. Once the notion that the thinking is worse than the doing, things became easier. Tasks like 3D-design in 3DS or running Code Igniter changed from daunting tasks to every day routine, which really helped confidence gorw.
Favourite topic ?
There was a few. I liked the notion of design and film, from which . This was new to me and was a bit of a challenge. But, together, we helped each other and it was noticeable that the decreasing amount of questions between each other (and expletives at monitors) was replaced by humour, albeit black at times.
That said, the staff themselves also helped make it an enjoyable experience. Some just went above and beyond providing support and guidance in topics which demanded steep learning curves, such as PHP, Javascript and HTML. The classes were a good source of banter between the staff who always remembered that the class comprised people who had not studied in a while and the mutual level of respect was really appreciated.
What was the environment of the class like? ?
Very good. While it was a vast challenge to us all in our own individual way, we all helped each other. The backgrounds of the students was also extremely varied, from teaching to design and customer services. It was really inspiring (and I am not male bovine effluenting here) to be in a classroom of really creative people, from brilliant artists (both paint and digital), to musicians and writers. Another thing that struck me was the ability of my classmates to do the course whilst still holding down part-time demanding jobs, care for their families and yet meet the numerous deadlines with exceptional quality of work. It would have been nice to have some form of display for the work - we might organise something yet.
What was the biggest problem with the course? ?
Without being harsh, I felt that there could have been more of an element of interaction with local companies and design organisations. Leaving aside biases, some of the work that was displayed by classmates was jaw-breakingly brilliant. Beautiful design work, seamless video editing and most of all, people producing work on platforms that they were only introduced to recently. In doing so, the class proved without a doubt that once the intimadatory factor was removed, we could complete seemingly impossible tasks in short timescales.
And was there any help for times like this?
Oh yeah, there was. As stated before, the lecturers were understanding and really helpful. Extensions to deadlines and extra classes were de rigeur and while levels of patience were tested, the teaching staff were always approachable and courteous. As well as that, there was great help from other LIT staff. The help from the Learning Support Office was invaluable and much appreciated as they provided an assistance service for people who may have had problems with a particular topic.
What would you say to anyone contemplating the course? ?
From a practical point of view, get things in order. You will need a good spec PC if working on projects from home (which you will be!). Get your schedule sorted too. It was easy for me, with only my own self to take care of. But if you have a part-time job, or more pressingly, children, the challenge is immense (why I have now an unreal respect for several of the class). Miss a day here and there, you’ll survive, but miss two or three days mid-way through and you’re definitely up the creek and the paddles not in the Lost and Found!
On a more personal point of view, be ready and be prepared to constantly remind yourself of your motivations. There will be WTF moments and panic, but if you remember your basic passion and that you have the capability to do learn more than you think you can, you will not only get through, but will also enjoy it. It wasn’t until I recently compiled my portfolio from the course that I realized the scale and amount of work that we achieved. This was reflected in all of the classmates’ work, which was a source of immense pride.
So it was worth it?
Well, don't get me wrong - there were times I wondered what I was doing, but on speaking to people on comparable courses, it seemed that we were fortunate in the fact that we built up such a
Thanks for your time Eugene.
No haslles at all. If anybody wishes to contact me, please feel free to do so at either of the following eugeneoregan@yahoo.co.uk