Sunday, May 06, 2012

EMCP at Carleton University

Hai Pink Nerds,
For those of you who don't know what EMCP stands for, it's Enrichment Mini Courses Program. This is a program that is provided at Carleton University, University of Ottawa and La Cité Collégière. Basically, students from grades 8-12 go to one of those university's for a week instead of attending their regular school. They take one university course designed for the EMCP from 9AM to 3PM every weekday for that whole week. My school reserved 25 spots in this program, I was chosen for one of those spots. Once you are chosen for a spot, you pick 10 courses you'd like to participate in. A machine goes through that list and gives you the highest ranking course on your list that still has a spot available. I got into my 4th choice. That course is called 'Picture This! The Secret Language of Images'

So obviously, the title doesn't give you the whole idea of the course. Here is the outline I got today at my orientation.

A picture may say a thousand words, but do you understand the language they speak? Images have a language of their own and when understood, can reveal coded information. In this course, we will examine a number of images in order to learn the language of pictures and then work to decode their meanings. What can art tell us about historical events? Do images always tell the truth How do advertisements influence the what we buy and ultimetly who we are? In this interactive environment, we will consider historical art, propaganda campaigns and contemperary media images and their multiple ciphered meanings. When you finish this course, you will have the ability to interpret the thousand words a picture says and understand the large number of images we encounter every day.

The course is heavily focused on propaganda and other hidden messages in both art historical images and contemparary media. Due to the imformation available and the specialties of the instructor,  this course will only focus on Europe and North America. This is a discussion based course and therefore student participation is highly encouraged. This is a supportive and open learning environment that accepts diverse opinions and perspectives. Creativity is also valued during the larger projects and activities. Finally students are inbited to think of their own personal topics of interest which may be added to the course. Previous open topic suggestions include: computer generated images, sptort in the media, the art of the instructor, graffiti, music video images, inkblots, the art of Van Gogh, racial profiling and much more. Open topics will be decided on Monday and announced on Tuesday.

Okay, so I'm pretty sure none of you read all of that but I thought I'de write it all anyway. I'm REALLY excited for EMCP! It starts tomorrow and I'm super psyched. My only concern is getting lost on campus but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll probably write about my first day tomorrow.

Bai Pink Nerds,
Meaghan ♥

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