Transnational Workshop: Digital Creation 'Beyond the Screen' (Faculty-Led Program)

This innovative, interdisciplinary, transnational workshop-laboratory focuses on the latest stage in a long history of creative experimentation with computers and computer technologies in their capacity to generate literary, artistic, and interactive experiences that link human participants, computers, and immersive environments, both physical and virtual, in new ways.

Highlights

• Collaborate with Master's students in Paris on an interdisciplinary creative digital art project of your own design - no prior technical skills are necessary.
• Travel to Paris for 10 days in early May for an intensive workshop experience. You will create a digital art project during this time—a great addition to your portfolio or resume.
• Immerse yourself in Paris, a world-renowned cultural heritage and art site, and expand your knowledge of past and present multi-media experimentation and international artistic collaborations.
• Visit museums, including the Louvre, the Picasso Museum, and cultural sites such as the Seine River and the Eiffel Tower. 

Program Details 

• Course Term: Summer
• Travel Dates: May 17-28, 2025
• Location: Paris, France
• Credits: 3

The Transnational Digital Creation Workshop allows you to develop your talents in digital literary, artistic, and technological creation through this intensive transnational workshop with the University of Paris-8. You'll take ENGL 510/ENGL 610 Transnational Digital Creation Workshop taught by Prof. Laura Shackelford. The transnational teams will explore themes of global concern, cross-cultural communication, and/or language in their digital creation projects. The workshop will address transnational collaboration through its methods, its themes, and its practical preparation for you to speak basic French, navigate Paris, and appreciate French culture. In Paris, you will spend an intensive week working with French team members, University of Paris-8 faculty, and RIT instructors to realize your digital projects and spend several additional days exploring the city's literary, cultural, and artistic life.

If you are interested in storytelling, digital literature, interactive narrative, game design, digital installation, new media design and technology, human-computer interaction, sensing technologies, site-specific locative media, film, photography, French literature, arts, and culture, or global digital cultures, this is a unique opportunity to put your creative digital technology and humanities skills into practice in an experimental, exploratory way, to work with an interdisciplinary team, and to collaborate with French peers.

Course Details:

• ENGL 510/610: Transnational Digital Creation (3 credits)
  Course will take place during RIT Summer Session I. In Paris (5/17 to 5/28), you will spend time working on your digital projects and taking excursions to explore the city's literary, cultural, and artistic sites. Outside of your travel to Paris, the class will meet on four Fridays (10-11:30 am) during Summer Session I. Friday meeting times can be attended in-person or remotely.

No pre-requisites. Open to all undergraduate majors (3rd year and above) and grad students.  No French language required, no prior technical skills needed.

Application Deadline: February 16, 2025

Eligibility:

• 3rd, 4th, Grad Year Levels
• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher (students with lower than a 2.5 GPA would be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• Have a clear conduct record with RIT
• Have no financial holds on your RIT eServices account at the time of your program acceptance/confirmation

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Program Cost & Financial Aid

Program Cost: Student budget worksheet - Transnational Workshop in Paris - outlines all program costs.

Financial Aid:
Financial aid may cover some program costs. As you review the budget worksheet, please remember that it does not include your RIT financial aid or scholarships which may cover some of the program costs. The purpose of the budget worksheet is to show all the costs associated with your study abroad program which will help your RIT Financial Aid Assistant Director determine how your aid and scholarships may be applied. 

To understand how your financial aid and scholarships may apply to your program costs:

• Make an appointment with your financial aid assistant director (call Financial Aid at 585-475-2186) and mention that you are calling for a study abroad appointment
• Upload a copy of your budget worksheet(s) via the Financial Aid upload portal at https://join.rit.edu/register/FA_upload (at least 48 hours prior to your scheduled meeting, so they have time to prepare) 
  • Please rename the file name of your budget worksheet before uploading it to the Financial Aid portal based on the instructions provided in the portal (adding your name and student ID)

To find out the name of your financial aid assistant director for your degree program visit: https://www.rit.edu/admissions/aid/contact#counseling-team

We recommend you meet with Financial Aid before the application deadline so you understand how your aid will apply. The RIT financial aid office is located in Bausch and Lomb Center (Bldg. 77), 2nd floor, 2125.

Scholarships:

• RIT Education Abroad Travel Grants ($500-$1,000)
  All students with pending applications in the RIT Study Abroad Compass for this program will be automatically considered for an RIT Education Abroad Travel Grant. You will be informed of your scholarship status shortly after the application deadline. Scholarships awarded based on financial need.

• Other scholarships: RIT Study Abroad Scholarships, National Study Abroad Scholarships

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To Apply

1) Watch this short video on application steps for RIT faculty-led programs.

2) Start an application in the RIT Study Abroad Compass
Before starting an application you will  be prompted to fill out a Compass profile. After completing your profile information, you will need to search for the "Transnational Workshop in Paris" program under "Search Programs" to complete an application.