BMPD Program
Information & Admissions

You will jump right into foundation courses for both storytelling and online design.

A weekly workshop in non-fiction storytelling starts with the basics of how stories are built through words, sounds and images and how they influence audiences. In the winter term you will explore how to find and tell stories in engaging ways.

On the design side you will start with an overview of interactive multimedia design including the issues and processes you will explore in the coming years. In the winter term you will take an introductory course in web design and another one in problem solving for object-oriented programming.

You’ll choose your remaining 2.5 credits (of the 5.0 credits for the year) from other programs that interest you. You might want to start the entrepreneurship minor at the Sprott School of Business.

You will take 3.5 MPAD credits, again split between storytelling and online design.

Your fall term will include courses in the basics of visual storytelling, an introduction to data storytelling and a workshop that will hone your writing skills, teaching you to write concisely and fluidly for all forms of media production. In the winter, you’ll build on your video skills, adding photography and multimedia theory and presentation. You’ll take a lecture course on the laws affecting the media and information industries, covering everything from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to social media and the law.

The design segment of your program will be in the winter term when you move beyond the fall’s data course to examine data visualization and design in more detail and build your skills in multimedia data management in preparation for upper-year projects.

It’s a busy year for core courses for your degree so you will have only 1.5 credits for electives from journalism from other programs.

There are 3.5 credits in required MPAD courses in third year.

You will have your first opportunity to bring together the skills you have learned thus far, starting with a course on civic engagement and public institutions as a preparation for what’s coming in the winter term – a minor design project with a focus on civic engagement and public institutions.

You’ll take a course in media ethics as well as one that links non-fiction storytelling with social media and the role it plays in telling stories and disseminating information. You’ll build on your past data work with a course on the internet and big data law.

Your design focus for the fall will be on intermediate programming using C++ language. In the winter, design will concentrate on immersive storytelling highlighting game engines.

You will have 1.5 credits for electives.

The final year of the program will help you prepare for your future after graduation.

Working in groups, you’ll complete a yearlong capstone project that can be your calling card for post-graduation employment.

You’ll start with an idea, create planning and design documents, and then turn the storytelling concept into reality, presenting the finished group project to the class at the end of the winter term.

Other courses will provide you with freelance media survival skills, help you understand the state of the media world, and give you the opportunity to take select journalism electives.

You will have 2.5 credits of elective space to take courses from other programs.

You can select the co-op option within the BMPD.

That would give you 12 months of paid work experience geared to your interests with an employer in the Ottawa area, back in your home town or in another community. It’s all arranged and overseen by Carleton’s Co-op office.

Your work year would start after the completion of your fall term courses in third year. Then after your co-op year ends, you would be back on campus for the winter term courses of third year followed by the fall and winter terms of fourth year to complete your degree.