Courses in the Minor

CDT 20706 The Archeology of Hacking

Taught by Luis Felipe Rosado Murillo & Walter Scheirer

Hacking” is one of the most pressing topics of technological and societal interest. Yet, it is one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized practices in the public sphere, given its ethical and technical complexities. In this course we will combine anthropological and computer science methods to explore the digital tools, practices, and sociocultural histories of hacking with a focus on their context of occurrence from the late 1960s to the present. Our goal is to help students think anthropologically about computing as well as technically about the digital mediations that we depend on in our lives.

CDT 30200 Privacy and Security

Taught by Jared Bulosan

In today’s digital age, people and organizations produce and deal with unprecedented amounts of data. Thus, issues concerning information privacy and security have taken on critical importance. Information privacy and security are fundamentally about data protection. Information privacy refers to decisions around what information should be protected, from whom, why, and issues related to the ownership of information; whereas information security refers to the tactics and technologies to ensure data protection. In this course, we will address questions such as: How should organizations manage privacy and security issues? What are the various privacy and security threats that organizations and individuals face? What are the current advancements in privacy and security technologies and government regulations? We will learn about economics of privacy, biases and heuristics in privacy decisions, privacy ethics, social engineering, and public policy and regulations. Also, we will gain an understanding of security threats and gain insight into managerial best practices for managing information security. This course will involve a number of assignments along with interactive in-class exercises aimed at enhancing your privacy and security decisions.

CDT 40205 Computer Security

Taught by John McEachen

This course is a survey of topics in the realm of computer security. This course will introduce the students to many contemporary topics in computer security ranging from PKIs (Public Key Infrastructures) to cyber-warfare to security ethics. Students will learn fundamental concepts of security that can be applied to many traditional aspects of computer programming and computer systems design. The course will culminate in a research project where the student will have an opportunity to more fully investigate a topic related to the course. Instructor permission required

Digital Arts and Humanities

Commonly Taught Fall Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 30300 Baseball in America

Taught by Katherine Walden

Baseball is one of the most enduringly popular and significant cultural activities in the United States. Since the late 19th century, baseball has occupied an important place for those wishing to define and understand "America." Who has been allowed to play on what terms? How have events from baseball's past been remembered and re-imagined? What is considered scandalous and why (and who decides)? How has success in baseball been defined and redefined? Centering baseball as an industry and a cultural practice, this course will cover topics that include the political, economic, and social development of professional baseball in the United States; the rise of organized baseball industry and Major League Baseball; and globalization in professional baseball. Readings for this course will include chapters from texts that include Rob Rucks's How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game (2011), Adrian Burgos's Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line (2007), Daniel Gilbert's Expanding the Strike Zone: Baseball in the Age of Free Agency (2013), Robert Elias's How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad (2010), and Michael Butterworth's Baseball and Rhetorics of Purity: The National Pastime and American Identity During the War on Terror (2010). Coursework may include response papers, primary source analysis, and a final project.

CDT 30385 Data Feminism

Taught by Katherine Walden

Feminism isn't only about women, nor is feminism only for women. Feminism is about power — about who has it and who doesn't. And in today's world, data is power. Data can be used to create communities, advance research, and expose injustice. But data can also be used to discriminate, marginalize, and surveil. This course will draw intersectional feminist theory and activism to identify models for challenging existing power differentials in data science, with the aim of using data science methods and tools to work towards justice. Class meetings will be split between discussions of theoretical readings and explorations of data science tools and methods (such as Tableau, RStudio, and Python). Those readings may include chapters from texts that include Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein's Data Feminism (2020), Virginia Eubanks's Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor (2018), Ruha Benjamin's Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), and Sasha Costanza-Chock's Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need (2020). This course will also examine the data advocacy and activism work undertaken by groups like Our Data Bodies, Data for Black Lives, the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, and Chicago-based Citizens Police Data Project. Over the course of the semester, students will develop original research projects that use data to intervene in issues of inequality and injustice. This course is not about gaining mastery of particular data science tools or methods, therefore familiarity with statistical analysis or data science tools (R, RStudio, Python, etc.) is NOT a prerequisite for this course. 

CDT 30420 Sound and Music Design for Digital Media

Taught by TBD

Sound and music for digital media is an often overlooked art form that is critical to the effective telling of a story. Writer-director George Lucas famously said that "sound is 50 percent of the movie-going experience." Director Danny Boyle mentioned in a n interview that "the truth is, for me, it's obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound. You don't realize it because you can't see it." At its root, sonic design creates mood and setting — it engages the audience on a primal, emotional level, in ways that imagery alone can not achieve. A cleanly recorded and creatively edited sound effects track can immerse an audience in a fictional world. Music, whether used sparingly or in grandiose fashion, can enhance or subvert the visual component of a film or video game to create cinematic magic. Through feature film screenings, video game play-through sessions, and hands-on production assignments using Adobe Audition CC, students will learn how to direct the emotions of an audience through creative recording, mixing, and editing of sound effects and music.

CDT 31420 Photography 1

Taught by Martina Lopez and other staff instructors in AAHD

MATERIALS FEE. This course is an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes of black and white photography. Lectures and demonstrations expose students to both traditional and contemporary practices in photography. Critiques of ongoing work encourage students to begin discovering and developing their individual strengths and interests in the medium. A 35mm camera with manual shutter speed and "F" stop is needed.

CDT 31425 Photography II: Digital Workshop

Taught by Martina Lopez

MATERIALS FEE. This is a level II course in the photography sequence and builds upon the experiences gained in Photography I. Digital constructions, Photoshop software techniques, studio lighting and time-based projects are explored. Presentations, assignments and critiques promote visual and technical skill building, helping students continue defining their creative interest and technical expertise. A digital SLR with manual focus and exposure controls is required; or, students may check out departmental cameras to complete assignments. A portable hard drive compatible with the Apple OS platform is required for storing personal files. Course is taught on the Apple OS platform.

CDT 37410 Special Studies in Tech Dev in Digital Arts

Taught by John Behrens or one of the other CDT faculty

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangements must be made to take this course.

CDT 40401 Digital Peacebldg & Peacetech

Taught by Lisa Schirch

This course explores how social media and other new technologies are profoundly reshaping the world, impacting democratic institutions, social cohesion, conflict, and the peacebuilding field. We will engage in deep-rooted analysis of technology's positive and negative impacts on society, drawing on neuroscience, psychology, political analysis, and economic research of the profit models, affordances, and designs of current technology platforms. Students will analyze the impact of digital technology on fifteen global conflicts and explore twenty spheres of digital peacebuilding. The course includes a policy analysis of proposed government regulations on technology companies. Participants will learn through case studies and policy dialogues to identify best practices for using social media to support peacebuilding.

CDT 40430 Technical Concepts of Visual Effects

Taught by Ramzi Bualuan

This class seeks to introduce students to some basic concepts of computer-generated imagery as it is used in the field of visual effects, and to delve into some of the technical underpinnings of the field. While some focus will rely on artistic critique and evaluation, most of the emphasis of the class will be placed on understanding fundamental concepts of 3d modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering, and compositing. Those who excel in the visual effects industry are those who have both a strong aesthetic sense coupled with a solid understanding of what the software being used is doing "under the hood." This class, therefore, will seek to stress both aspects of the industry. From a methodology standpoint, the class will consist of lectures, several projects that will be worked on both in-class and out of class, scripting, many tutorials, and open discussion.

Commonly Taught Spring Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 20706 The Archeology of Hacking

Taught by Luis Felipe Rosado Murillo & Walter Scheirer

Hacking” is one of the most pressing topics of technological and societal interest. Yet, it is one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized practices in the public sphere, given its ethical and technical complexities. In this course we will combine anthropological and computer science methods to explore the digital tools, practices, and sociocultural histories of hacking with a focus on their context of occurrence from the late 1960s to the present. Our goal is to help students think anthropologically about computing as well as technically about the digital mediations that we depend on in our lives.

CDT 20719 Introduction to Learning Analysis

Taught by Simone Zhang

Algorithms and data increasingly influence our behavior, steer resources, and inform institutional decisions that affect our everyday lives. This course will examine the social forces that shape what information gets recorded in databases and how algorithms are constructed and used. It will also introduce various approaches for assessing how algorithms and big data impact the social world. Along the way, we'll tackle important questions raised by these technological developments: What opportunities and challenges emerge when machine learning is applied to data about people? How should we evaluate whether algorithms are better or worse than the systems they replace? How might algorithms shape our agency, relationships, and access to opportunity?

CDT 20750 Technological Revolutions and Environmental Change

Taught by Joshua Tonkel

How should we address the environmental impacts of new and emerging technologies such as Bitcoin, artificial intelligence, or electric cars? To answer this question, and others like it, we must first remember that technology does not exist in a vacuum; just as technologies impact the environment, social systems shape and are shaped by technological development. In this course, students will gain an understanding of these interrelated systems by reading a variety of historical and scientific sources with an emphasis on the impacts of technology upon the environment during history's three Industrial Revolutions (i.e., the rise of the steam engine, the emergence of mass production, and the development of computing technologies). These revolutions were times of rapid technological development with especially dramatic impacts on politics, economics, the environment, and society. Discussions of these readings in conjunction with individual research projects will allow students to incorporate the lessons of the course into a critical analysis of the impacts of rapid technological change, culminating in a discussion of what the future (and present state) of technological change may be. By the end of this course, students will have developed writing, research, and communication skills which will help them craft well-developed research questions and present evidence-driven arguments in their respective fields of study.

CDT 30390 Sport and Big Data

Taught by Katherine Walden

Sport is one of the most enduringly popular and significant cultural activities in the United States. Data has always been a central part of professional sport in the US, from Henry Chadwick's invention of the baseball box score in the 1850s to the National Football League's use of Wonderlic test scores to evaluate players. This course focuses on the intersecting structures of power and identity that shape how we make sense of the "datification" of professional sport. By focusing on the cultural significance of sport data, this course will put the datafication of sport in historical context and trace the ways the datafication of sport has impacted athletes, fans, media, and other stakeholders in the sport industry. The course will also delve into the technology systems used to collect and analyze sport data, from the TrackMan and PITCHf/x systems used in Major League Baseball to the National Football League's Next Gen Stats partnership to emerging computer vision and artificial intelligence research methods. Readings for this course will draw on texts like Christopher Phillips' Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know About Baseball (2019), Ruha Benjamin's Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life (2019), and Michael Lewis' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2004). Class meetings will be split between discussions of conceptual readings and applied work with sport data and technology systems. Coursework may include response papers, hands-on work with data, and a final project. Familiarity with statistical analysis, data science, or computer science tools and methods is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

CDT 30395 Race and Technologies of Surveillance

Taught by Katherine Walden

The United States has a long history of using its most cutting-edge science and technology to discriminate, marginalize, oppress, and surveil. The poorhouse and scientific charity of an earlier era have been replaced by digital tracking and automated decision-making systems like facial recognition and risk prediction algorithms. This course focuses on how automated systems are tasked with making life-and-death choices: which neighborhoods get policed, which families get food, who has housing, and who remains homeless. This course will examine black box tools used in K-12 education, social services, and the criminal justice system to better understand how these technologies reinforce and worsen existing structural inequalities and systems of oppression. Class meetings will be split between discussions of conceptual readings and applied work with technology systems. Readings for this course will draw on texts that include Safiya Noble's Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (2018), Virginia Eubanks' Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor (2018), Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein's Data Feminism (2020), and Meredith Broussard's Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (2019). This course will also examine the advocacy and activism work undertaken by groups like Our Data Bodies, Data 4 Black Lives, Algorithmic Justice League, Auditing Algorithms, Big Brother Watch, and Chicago-based Citizens Police Data Project. Coursework may include response papers, hands-on work, and a final project. Familiarity with statistical analysis, data science, or computer science tools and methods is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

CDT 30405 Experiments in Narrative

Taught by Evan Hume

This course will explore the narrative potential of photographic media as well as the role of sequencing in the creative process. Projects will use both still photography and video as vehicles for storytelling and conceptual expression. Students will gain competency in image and video editing software and techniques while taking inspiration from cinema, video art, and photography. A combination of production, critique, and readings will advance student understandings of narrative structure and experimental approaches to time-based media.

CDT 30420 Sound and Music Design for Digital Media

Taught by TBD

Sound and music design for digital media is an often overlooked art form that is critical to the effective telling of a story. Writer-director George Lucas famously said that “sound is 50 percent of the movie-going experience.” Director Danny Boyle mentioned in an interview that “the truth is, for me, it’s obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound. You don’t realize it because you can’t see it.” At its root, sonic design creates mood and setting - it engages the audience on a primal, emotional level, in ways that imagery alone can not achieve. A cleanly recorded and creatively edited sound effects track can immerse an audience in a fictional world. Music, whether used sparingly or in grandiose fashion, can enhance or subvert the visual component of a film or video game to create cinematic magic. Through feature film screenings, video game play-through sessions, and hands-on production assignments using Adobe Audition CC, students will learn how to direct the emotions of an audience through creative recording, mixing, and editing of sound effects and music.

CDT 30425 La Telenovela

Taught by Elena Mangionie

Telenovelas are a major form of entertainment in Latin America and around the world. In this course, we will study the telenovela in an integrated multidisciplinary learning environment. We will begin by exploring the genre of the telenovela and its significance as a social, cultural, political, and economic force in Latin America and in the United States by reading about the genre (in Spanish) and watching two condensed telenovelas (also in Spanish). We will learn the formulas of the classic telenovela and its archetypal characters. You will demonstrate your understanding of the telenovela and its place in Hispanic culture through writing and discussion, and you will also engage in the linguistic and technical aspects of screenwriting, production (basic videography), acting, and post-production (computer-based video and audio editing) techniques through the creation of a class telenovela; This course taught in Spanish.

CDT 30560 AI in the 21st Century

Taught by Kate Marshall

According to several popular narratives, Artificial Intelligence is either about to be the most transformational influence on human culture since the Industrial Revolution, or an over-hyped set of diffuse technologies and systems with only superficial relation to each other. In this course, students will consider AI from several different disciplinary perspectives in order to make sense of both the narratives and the science surrounding it. These perspectives include computer science, the history of technology, philosophy, AI ethics, and science fiction. By taking up these different perspectives, students will develop vocabularies for talking about AI and, importantly, for thinking about its future.

CDT 31420 Photography 1

Taught by Martina Lopez and other staff instructors in AAHD

MATERIALS FEE. This course is an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes of black and white photography. Lectures and demonstrations expose students to both traditional and contemporary practices in photography. Critiques of ongoing work encourage students to begin discovering and developing their individual strengths and interests in the medium. A 35mm camera with manual shutter speed and "F" stop is needed.

CDT 33601 Digital Divides and Algorithms

Taught by Erin Klawitter

Social Inequality, Digital Divides, and Algorithmic Literacy: How differences in technology access and skill impact individuals and society In the years following its inception, utopian narratives of the Internet promised unfettered access to information, markets, and relationships that would allow users to create wealth and contest power structures by building platform-based enterprises and values-based virtual communities. While some of these benefits have accrued to individuals and society, a significant body of research demonstrates that the reality of the Internet���s impact on the world is much more complex. Grounded in key sociological texts, this course focuses on empirical research concerning how ���Digital Divides��� - differences in individuals��� access to, participation in, and benefits from using the Internet ��� exist on geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic dimensions. It also examines the important role skill and literacy play in mitigating these differences, and takes up the nascent understanding of algorithmic literacy, the increasingly critical knowledge set people need as they navigate the many facets of everyday life now powered by artificial intelligence. As part of the course, students will learn how to critically evaluate empirical social scientific publications and also compose their own literature review concerning a topic related to the course theme.

CDT 33698 AI for Good

Taught by Georgina Curto Rex

Traditional strategies to fight against poverty, inequality and climate change have proved ineffective in the last decades. New and creative solutions are required where cutting-edge technological innovation and multidisciplinary work serve the common good. In this course, you will explore the state of the art in AI business development and its ethical implications in relation to current global societal and environmental challenges. You will reflect on your individual role in society and develop critical thinking about the current socio-technical value system. Our readings will include original works of philosophers, economists and computer scientists as well as examples of state-of-the-art AI supported business and institutional projects. As a result of the readings and class discussions, you will acquire well-informed understanding about the implications of the AI Trustworthy principle of justice and fairness, including non-discrimination and avoidance of unfair bias. You will become aware of the potential for AI to contribute, if well managed, towards fairer and more sustainable societies as well as the dangers it entails to widen inequalities and aggravate the discrimination suffered by vulnerable communities. This is a hands-on course where you will be ideating and planning projects for the social good. I will accompany you in the development of business plans where ethics is the driver and AI is the key instrument. I will help you define your project idea in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Therefore, your projects will be designed to work towards mitigating poverty, reducing gender and race inequality, combating climate change, improving the sustainability of cities and communities, ensuring affordable and clean energy, achieving responsible consumption and production, improving the quality of education, providing better health and well-being services, ensuring decent work and economic growth or promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. The goal of the course is to encourage and support you, as new entrepreneurs and future leaders, to work in multidisciplinary teams and develop interdisciplinary skills, being able to take advantage of new technology to create and manage projects for ethics in action.

CDT 37410 Special Projects in Digital Arts and Humanities

Taught by John Behrens

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangement must be made to take this course.

CDT 40408 Theories of Media and Tech

Taught by Ranjodh Dhaliwal

This course offers a multidisciplinary introduction to the vast variety of theoretical approaches used to understand media and technologies. From film, TV, and videogames to computers, internet, and social media, we will study different methods and concepts that help us understand our mediated condition(s) better. Moving historically and geographically, we will also encounter the many ways in which the term 'media' itself gets deployed and critiqued in scholarship across humanistic and social scientific disciplines. We will plug some of these (critical) theoretical understandings of media and culture into the longer histories of politics, philosophy, language, and literature, considering, for example, books as media technologies. And finally, we will ask what studies of media and mediation can do for our comprehension of the politico-economic, sociocultural, racial, and environmental crises surrounding us today.

CDT 40420 Advanced 3D Digital Production

Taught by TBD

You have learned the basics of 3D digital production in Maya, and your insatiable thirst for digital content creation can not be quenched. Welcome to the next level — Advanced 3D Digital Production! In this class, you will move beyond the fundamentals of 3D production and tackle advanced concepts such as complex object and character creation, digital sculpting, keyframe and motion-captured character animation, and more. You will create a portfolio of high-quality 3D assets which you can use for graduate school and job applications. You will dig deeper into the Maya toolset as well as learn new programs such as Mudbox. Students will be treated as professional 3D artists, and expectations for timely, quality final deliverables will be high.

CDT 40430 Technological Concepts in Visual FX

Taught by Ramzi Bualuan

This class seeks to introduce students to some basic concepts of computer-generated imagery as it is used in the field of visual effects, and to delve into some of the technical underpinnings of the field. While some focus will rely on artistic critique and evaluation, most of the emphasis of the class will be placed on understanding fundamental concepts of 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering, and compositing. Those who excel in the visual effects industry are those who have both a strong aesthetic sense coupled with a solid understanding of what the software being used is doing "under the hood." This class, therefore, will seek to stress both aspects of the industry. From a methodology standpoint, the class will consist of lectures, several projects that will be worked on both in-class and out of class, an on-site photo shoot, and extensive open discussion. The nature of the material combined with the fact that this is the first execution of the class will mean that a significant degree of flexibility will need to be incorporated into the class structure.

CDT 40700 VCD 8: Social Design

Taught by Neeta Verma

MATERIALS FEE. This advanced course in visual communication design is for students to understand social advocacy within the local (South Bend) context. Each semester new risk areas and deep rooted inequities within the local communities are explored. Students understand their role as designers/collaborators/catalysts through real life experiences working closely with members, groups, and organizations already deeply invested in the community. Students from diverse disciplines create a multi-disciplinary team that focuses on complex social problems that combines and delicately balances strategic thinking with innovation. Working as a group, students conduct research in the field, partner closely with local agencies to understand the system and based on this research and understanding of the inherent social ecology, build design approaches that address these multifarious problems. Projects in the past have ranged from addressing the Digital Divide in the City of South Bend to Mitigating Youth Violence in South Bend. DESN 20101 (VCD1) is recommended, but not required.

CDT 40701 ID: Collab. Design Development

Taught by Emily Harris

This cross-disciplinary course is team project-based, intended to develop meaningful and informed innovation through an association of expertise from business/marketing, management entrepreneurship, chemistry, engineering, anthropology, graphic design, and industrial design in response to a semester long challenge. Collaborating teams of graduate and undergraduate students will engage in research, design and development, applying interdisciplinary methods and mindsets reflective of real-world team response scenarios. Beginning with an identification of a need or opportunity and concluding with comprehensive proof of concept, tests of function, specified manufacturing processes, and an appropriately resolved, aesthetically pleasing product or system. All collaborative team members will be engaged throughout the research and developmental process. Each participant will share in rotating leadership responsibilities, providing direction and applying methods from their specific areas of expertise in the context of a sequential course outline. The course is typically industry-sponsored or responds to a real-world challenge posed by an outside organization

CDT 40705 Digital/Art/History

Taught by Michael Schreffler

Students in this course study digital art as a category of artistic production, digital art history as a set of research methods and modes of disseminating research outcomes, and the tools that offer new possibilities for creative practice and visual engagement with visual culture.

CDT 40706 Data in the Humanities: Mining the Book of Nature

Taught by Caterina Agostini

This course will introduce advanced undergraduates and graduate students to data mining and computational methods in the humanities. What do we mean when we say “data” or “big data”? Why would data, or data visualization count as an argument in the humanities? Through the concept of the “Book of Nature,” students explore unstructured and structured data in the work of scientists Thomas Harriot, Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Andreas Vesalius, and Primo Levi, and practitioners in pharmacy and alchemy Camilla Erculiani and Caterina Sforza.* Students familiarize themselves with data mining and visualization, text analysis, and geospatial techniques through resources at the Center of Digital Scholarship and the Institute for Data and Society, while also gaining experience with digital cultural heritage. Primary sources include texts and images from manuscripts, printed books, artworks, and natural history that we will see in person at the Hesburgh Rare Books and Special Collections, the Snite Museum of Art, and the Notre Dame Museum of Biodiversity.

CDT 40711 Future of Labor

Taught by Yong Lee

The new wave of technologies, e.g., robotics and AI will have long-lasting impacts on the labor market. Jobs will be displaced, new tasks will be created, different skills will be demanded, and new management practices will emerge. These new technologies may benefit workers unevenly, potentially increasing inequality. At the same time, new demographic challenges driven by aging will have large impacts on labor. How will these forces affect the future of labor and how should we prepare for changes in the labor market? The goal of this course is to provide students with a framework for analyzing how new technologies like robotics and AI will affect the labor market drawing largely from the economics literature. Students will analyze and describe the literature on these topics and understand the different methodologies used in the literature. Ultimately, students will build perspectives on how AI and robotics could affect jobs, occupations, the future of work, income distribution and social institutions. Students will also build perspectives on education, training, and redistribution policies that can help mitigate the labor market disruptions created by technological change. Students will collect and analyze data that can provide insights on the future of labor.

Course options WITHOUT computational/digital focus (only one is allowed):

CDT 30305 Decolonizing Gaming: Critical Engagement Through Design and Play

Taught by Ashlee Bird

This course aims to change the way you think not only about the way that we play games, but also about the way that video games teach their players to behave within their digital worlds. This course will encourage students to reflect on and utilize their lived experiences as players, and utilize these experiences to locate themselves within their analysis and writing as well as their design practices. This course will undertake an intensive, interdisciplinary focus on the history of video game development, representation in video games, and the languages that digital games work in as well as decolonial theory and diverse theories of design. This class will engage with a variety of scholarly texts, video games, media posts, videos, and design exercises, in order to illustrate the ways in which video games have shaped the ways we play, think, and behave within their spaces. Students will be required to write and design around these lessons and address and push back against the problematic behaviors and colonial narratives around violence, race, gender, sexuality, and relationship to the land that these gamic languages and lessons have created.

Technology Development and Management 

Commonly Taught Fall Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 30680 Digital Transformations in Higher Education

Taught by Sonia Howell

This course will examine the journey from pre-digital to digital, aka the “digital transformation”, in higher education. We will be focusing on online learning, the use of artificial intelligence, and XR, and their impact on teaching and learning. Through a series of case studies, readings, and guest speakers, we will explore how higher education institutions approach digital transformation and the opportunities and challenges brought about by new technologies. Students will gain hands-on experience working on projects with higher education professionals responsible for assessing, implementing, and stewarding digital transformations related to teaching and learning at Notre Dame. This course will benefit those interested in learning technologies and organizational evolution related to technology.

CDT 37610 Special Projects in Tech Development and Social Media

Taught by John Behrens

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangement must be made to take this course.

CDT 40200 Privacy & Security

Taught by Jared Bulosan

This course provides students with a practical, hands-on exposure to information security topics. This course follows the curriculum for the industry-standard Security+ certification program. Students successfully completing this course will be prepared to take the Security+ certification exam. This credential is a valuable way to demonstrate knowledge of information security topics to potential employers.Students completing this course will be prepared to address the information security issues facing managers and leaders in any organization. The course is also an excellent starting point for those seeking a career in information security or risk management consulting. Specific topics covered include:

• Network Security
• Compliance and Operational Security
• Threats and Vulnerabilities
• Application, Data and Host Security
• Access Control and Identity Management
• Cryptography

CDT 40610 Case Study - Computing-Based Entrepreneurship

Taught by Kevin Bowyer or other staff instructors

The purpose of this course is to Inform, Introduce and (hopefully) Inspire you. You will become Informed about computing-based entrepreneurship case studies across a wide variety of areas: computer software, computer hardware, healthcare technologies, databases, web services, data analytics and more. You will also become Informed about different aspects of the entrepreneurship challenge. You will be Introduced to guest speakers who are, or who have been, principals in developing technology, founding companies, running companies, selecting technologies for venture capital investment, etc. As a result, you will hopefully be inspired to consider pursuing a computing-based entrepreneurship opportunity.

CDT 40640 Data Science

Taught by Meng Jiang

Data mining and machine learning techniques have been widely used in many domains. The focus of this course will primarily be on fundamental concepts and methods in data science, with relevant inclusions and references from probability, statistics, pattern recognition, databases, and information theory. The course will give students an opportunity to implement and experiment with some of the concepts (e.g., classification, clustering, frequent pattern mining), and also apply them to the real-world data sets. Instructor permission required

Course options WITHOUT computational/digital focus (only one is allowed):

CDT 20510 Science, Technology, and Society

Taught by Samuel Hall

This course introduces the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies. Our concern will be with science and technology (including medicine) as social and historical, i.e., as human, phenomena. We shall examine the divergent roots of contemporary science and technology, and the similarities and (sometimes surprising) differences in their methods and goals. The central theme of the course will be the ways in which science and technology interact with other aspects of society, including the effects of technical and theoretical innovation in bringing about social change, and the social shaping of science and technology themselves by cultural, economic and political forces. Because science/society interactions so frequently lead to public controversy and conflict, we shall also explore what resources are available to mediate such conflicts in an avowedly democratic society.

CDT 40630 Ethical and Professional Issues

Taught by Kevin Bowyer or other staff instructors

This course seeks to develop a solid foundation for reasoning about the difficult ethical, professional, and social controversies that arise in the computing field. Emphasis is placed on identifying the appropriate legal and professional context and applying sound critical thinking skills to a problem. Topics covered include relevant professional codes of ethics, encryption/privacy/surveillance, freedom of speech, "cracking" of computer systems, development of safety-critical software, whistle blowing, and intellectual property. This course relies heavily on case study of real incidents, both historical and current.

Commonly Taught Spring Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 20719 Introduction to Learning Analysis

Taught by Simone Zhang

Algorithms and data increasingly influence our behavior, steer resources, and inform institutional decisions that affect our everyday lives. This course will examine the social forces that shape what information gets recorded in databases and how algorithms are constructed and used. It will also introduce various approaches for assessing how algorithms and big data impact the social world. Along the way, we'll tackle important questions raised by these technological developments: What opportunities and challenges emerge when machine learning is applied to data about people? How should we evaluate whether algorithms are better or worse than the systems they replace? How might algorithms shape our agency, relationships, and access to opportunity?

CDT 30200 Privacy and Security

Taught by Jared Bulosan

In today’s digital age, people and organizations produce and deal with unprecedented amounts of data. Thus, issues concerning information privacy and security have taken on critical importance. Information privacy and security are fundamentally about data protection. Information privacy refers to decisions around what information should be protected, from whom, why, and issues related to the ownership of information; whereas information security refers to the tactics and technologies to ensure data protection. In this course, we will address questions such as: How should organizations manage privacy and security issues? What are the various privacy and security threats that organizations and individuals face? What are the current advancements in privacy and security technologies and government regulations? We will learn about economics of privacy, biases and heuristics in privacy decisions, privacy ethics, social engineering, and public policy and regulations. Also, we will gain an understanding of security threats and gain insight into managerial best practices for managing information security. This course will involve a number of assignments along with interactive in-class exercises aimed at enhancing your privacy and security decisions.

CDT 30390 Sport and Big Data

Taught by Katherine Walden

Sport is one of the most enduringly popular and significant cultural activities in the United States. Data has always been a central part of professional sport in the US, from Henry Chadwick's invention of the baseball box score in the 1850s to the National Football League's use of Wonderlic test scores to evaluate players. This course focuses on the intersecting structures of power and identity that shape how we make sense of the "datification" of professional sport. By focusing on the cultural significance of sport data, this course will put the datafication of sport in historical context and trace the ways the datafication of sport has impacted athletes, fans, media, and other stakeholders in the sport industry. The course will also delve into the technology systems used to collect and analyze sport data, from the TrackMan and PITCHf/x systems used in Major League Baseball to the National Football League's Next Gen Stats partnership to emerging computer vision and artificial intelligence research methods. Readings for this course will draw on texts like Christopher Phillips' Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know About Baseball (2019), Ruha Benjamin's Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life (2019), and Michael Lewis' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2004). Class meetings will be split between discussions of conceptual readings and applied work with sport data and technology systems. Coursework may include response papers, hands-on work with data, and a final project. Familiarity with statistical analysis, data science, or computer science tools and methods is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

CDT 30395 Race and Technologies of Surveillance

Taught by Katherine Walden

The United States has a long history of using its most cutting-edge science and technology to discriminate, marginalize, oppress, and surveil. The poorhouse and scientific charity of an earlier era have been replaced by digital tracking and automated decision-making systems like facial recognition and risk prediction algorithms. This course focuses on how automated systems are tasked with making life-and-death choices: which neighborhoods get policed, which families get food, who has housing, and who remains homeless. This course will examine black box tools used in K-12 education, social services, and the criminal justice system to better understand how these technologies reinforce and worsen existing structural inequalities and systems of oppression. Class meetings will be split between discussions of conceptual readings and applied work with technology systems. Readings for this course will draw on texts that include Safiya Noble's Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (2018), Virginia Eubanks' Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor (2018), Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein's Data Feminism (2020), and Meredith Broussard's Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (2019). This course will also examine the advocacy and activism work undertaken by groups like Our Data Bodies, Data 4 Black Lives, Algorithmic Justice League, Auditing Algorithms, Big Brother Watch, and Chicago-based Citizens Police Data Project. Coursework may include response papers, hands-on work, and a final project. Familiarity with statistical analysis, data science, or computer science tools and methods is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

CDT 30560 AI in the 21st Century

Taught by Kate Marshall

According to several popular narratives, Artificial Intelligence is either about to be the most transformational influence on human culture since the Industrial Revolution, or an over-hyped set of diffuse technologies and systems with only superficial relation to each other. In this course, students will consider AI from several different disciplinary perspectives in order to make sense of both the narratives and the science surrounding it. These perspectives include computer science, the history of technology, philosophy, AI ethics, and science fiction. By taking up these different perspectives, students will develop vocabularies for talking about AI and, importantly, for thinking about its future

CDT 30675 Open Government Data

Taught by Ben Chiewphasa

Open government data—simply put, government-related data freely made available to the public—is on the rise. Our federal, state, and local governments are developing and implementing open data policies and infrastructure in efforts to foster transparency, economic development, and wider civic engagement and participation. We will investigate the technical, legal, and ethical implications of open data (i.e., using open content to train harmful artificial intelligence technologies), acknowledging that personal privacy and civic society are closely intertwined. Class meetings are split between reading discussions and engagement with data science tools and data collection/harvesting methods. Students will inspect the major laws and policies surrounding open government while also examining the social and technological challenges and advancements that shape the future of open data—for example, grassroots data intermediaries are obtaining and “translating” open government data for a public audience. In the spirit of open scholarship, students will develop their own “open data projects” by incorporating open-source tools. No prior knowledge of computer science or data science tools (i.e., R, Python, etc.) is required.

CDT 30685 Intro to Learning Analytics

Taught by Bo Pei

The popularity of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and shifting to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic have witnessed the power of learning analytics (LA) of using large-scale learning data to support the teaching and learning practices. Although promising milestones have been achieved, the widespread adoption of LA is still at its infancy stage. In this course, we will introduce the most current topics in LA including: What are the main concerns in the LA field? How do we build artificial intelligence (AI) models to identify patterns in historical learning data and make predictions about the future learning? How to use Text Mining approaches to analyze forum discussion data to track changes in student emotional status? What are the data visualization skills we should have to support the analytical processes and present results? Apart from this, we will also talk about the topics about ethical issues such as the unintentional discriminations from AI algorithms, trustworthy concerns in AI predictions as well as privacy concerns related to large availability of learning data. Students in this course will be engaged in multiple projects based on publicly available learning datasets with modularized python function blocks provided for the corresponding tasks.

CDT 33601 Digital Divides and Algorithms

Taught by Erin Klawitter

Social Inequality, Digital Divides, and Algorithmic Literacy: How differences in technology access and skill impact individuals and society In the years following its inception, utopian narratives of the Internet promised unfettered access to information, markets, and relationships that would allow users to create wealth and contest power structures by building platform-based enterprises and values-based virtual communities. While some of these benefits have accrued to individuals and society, a significant body of research demonstrates that the reality of the Internet���s impact on the world is much more complex. Grounded in key sociological texts, this course focuses on empirical research concerning how ���Digital Divides��� - differences in individuals��� access to, participation in, and benefits from using the Internet ��� exist on geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic dimensions. It also examines the important role skill and literacy play in mitigating these differences, and takes up the nascent understanding of algorithmic literacy, the increasingly critical knowledge set people need as they navigate the many facets of everyday life now powered by artificial intelligence. As part of the course, students will learn how to critically evaluate empirical social scientific publications and also compose their own literature review concerning a topic related to the course theme.

CDT 33698 AI for Good

Taught by Georgina Curto Rex

Traditional strategies to fight against poverty, inequality and climate change have proved ineffective in the last decades. New and creative solutions are required where cutting-edge technological innovation and multidisciplinary work serve the common good. In this course, you will explore the state of the art in AI business development and its ethical implications in relation to current global societal and environmental challenges. You will reflect on your individual role in society and develop critical thinking about the current socio-technical value system. Our readings will include original works of philosophers, economists and computer scientists as well as examples of state-of-the-art AI supported business and institutional projects. As a result of the readings and class discussions, you will acquire well-informed understanding about the implications of the AI Trustworthy principle of justice and fairness, including non-discrimination and avoidance of unfair bias. You will become aware of the potential for AI to contribute, if well managed, towards fairer and more sustainable societies as well as the dangers it entails to widen inequalities and aggravate the discrimination suffered by vulnerable communities. This is a hands-on course where you will be ideating and planning projects for the social good. I will accompany you in the development of business plans where ethics is the driver and AI is the key instrument. I will help you define your project idea in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Therefore, your projects will be designed to work towards mitigating poverty, reducing gender and race inequality, combating climate change, improving the sustainability of cities and communities, ensuring affordable and clean energy, achieving responsible consumption and production, improving the quality of education, providing better health and well-being services, ensuring decent work and economic growth or promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. The goal of the course is to encourage and support you, as new entrepreneurs and future leaders, to work in multidisciplinary teams and develop interdisciplinary skills, being able to take advantage of new technology to create and manage projects for ethics in action.

CDT 37610 Special Projects in Tech Dev and Soc Media

Taught by John Behrens or one of the other CDT faculty

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangements must be made to take this course.

CDT 40205 Computer Security

Taught by John McEachen

This course is a survey of topics in the realm of computer security. This course will introduce the students to many contemporary topics in computer security ranging from PKIs (Public Key Infrastructures) to cyber-warfare to security ethics. Students will learn fundamental concepts of security that can be applied to many traditional aspects of computer programming and computer systems design. The course will culminate in a research project where the student will have an opportunity to more fully investigate a topic related to the course. Instructor permission required

CDT 40408 Theories of Media and Tech

Taught by Ranjodh Dhaliwal

This course offers a multidisciplinary introduction to the vast variety of theoretical approaches used to understand media and technologies. From film, TV, and video games to computers, internet, and social media, we will study different methods and concepts that help us understand our mediated condition(s) better. Moving historically and geographically, we will also encounter the many ways in which the term 'media' itself gets deployed and critiqued in scholarship across humanistic and social scientific disciplines. We will plug some of these (critical) theoretical understandings of media and culture into the longer histories of politics, philosophy, language, and literature, considering, for example, books as media technologies. And finally, we will ask what studies of media and mediation can do for our comprehension of the politico-economic, socio-cultural, racial, and environmental crises surrounding us today.

CDT 40711 Future of Labor

Taught by Yong Lee

The new wave of technologies, e.g., robotics and AI will have long-lasting impacts on the labor market. Jobs will be displaced, new tasks will be created, different skills will be demanded, and new management practices will emerge. These new technologies may benefit workers unevenly, potentially increasing inequality. At the same time, new demographic challenges driven by aging will have large impacts on labor. How will these forces affect the future of labor and how should we prepare for changes in the labor market? The goal of this course is to provide students with a framework for analyzing how new technologies like robotics and AI will affect the labor market drawing largely from the economics literature. Students will analyze and describe the literature on these topics and understand the different methodologies used in the literature. Ultimately, students will build perspectives on how AI and robotics could affect jobs, occupations, the future of work, income distribution and social institutions. Students will also build perspectives on education, training, and redistribution policies that can help mitigate the labor market disruptions created by technological change. Students will collect and analyze data that can provide insights on the future of labor.

Course options WITHOUT computational/digital focus (only one is allowed):

CDT 20510 Science, Technology, and Society

Taught by Anna Geltzer

This course introduces the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies. Our concern will be with science and technology (including medicine) as social and historical, i.e., as human, phenomena. We shall examine the divergent roots of contemporary science and technology, and the similarities and (sometimes surprising) differences in their methods and goals. The central theme of the course will be the ways in which science and technology interact with other aspects of society, including the effects of technical and theoretical innovation in bringing about social change, and the social shaping of science and technology themselves by cultural, economic and political forces. Because science/society interactions so frequently lead to public controversy and conflict, we shall also explore what resources are available to mediate such conflicts in an avowedly democratic society.

CDT 40630 Ethical and Professional Issues

Taught by Kevin Bowyer or other staff instructors

This course seeks to develop a solid foundation for reasoning about the difficult ethical, professional, and social controversies that arise in the computing field. Emphasis is placed on identifying the appropriate legal and professional context and applying sound critical thinking skills to a problem. Topics covered include relevant professional codes of ethics, encryption/privacy/surveillance, freedom of speech, "cracking" of computer systems, development of safety-critical software, whistle-blowing, and intellectual property. This course relies heavily on case studies of real incidents, both historical and current.

User Interface and Experience 

Commonly Taught Fall Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 21102 VCD Software Tutorial

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

This one-credit course will focus on Adobe Creative Suite software. The class will meet once per week throughout the course of the semester. Programs and topics to be covered will be Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, proper file preparation, and font access and usage. Co-requisite is CDT 31410 VCD:1

CDT 30110 VCD 3: Digital Media Design

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. This course focuses on the design of websites and interactive products. The course will explore user-centered (UX) design methods, Information Architecture (IA), the development of digital user interfaces (UI), the potential of interactive products to effect change, and the ethics of digital design. Students will gain a deeper understanding of design processes, digital design principles, current prototyping tools, and various research methodologies used in the design of websites and interactive products. This studio-based design course is structured around projects and exercises that guide students through the digital design process and introduce them to the diverse settings where web-based interactive design is applied.

CDT 30130 A UX Intro for ID

Taught by Huang-Chen Hsu

This course focuses on the application of User Experience (UX) Design principles and techniques in the instructional design process to develop digitally-enhanced instructional materials for educational and training purposes. We start by introducing UX design, why it matters, and the key principles in conjunction with best practices you should know about. The course then progresses into the topic of instructional design. You will use prototype delivery tools (such as Adobe XD) to design and create instructional modules in an effort to enhance user experiences that help learners/trainers to find and fulfill their needs in the most effective, efficient, and satisfying manner. Finally, we will use Heuristic Analysis to evaluate your modules to ensure the end product meets the desired goals to make the instructional products more accessible and usable. Through these hands-on experiences, you will gain the required skills and knowledge of UX and instructional design to develop effective applications in a wide variety of instructional settings including, but not limited to, schools, industry, government, health-related agencies, and institutions of higher education.

CDT 30135 Visual Communication Design 2: History, application, and art of typography

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. This second course in Visual Communication Design sequence focuses on the art of typography, its history, and the use of type as a critical element in the visual world by building on key concepts introduced in Fundamentals of Design. Students will gain fluency in typography and its systematic application to traditional and modern media. This studio-based design course is structured as a series of projects exploring message-making and type as image. Students will learn the origins and constructions of typography; how the visual translation of type influences human perception and understanding; and how textual messaging is evolving to include iconographic elements by exploring a variety of applications such as icons, symbols, alphabets, posters, animations, and non-traditional books.

CDT 31130 VCD 7: Interaction Design

Taught by Clinton Carlson

Evaluation, design, and simulation of user interaction with a computer or product interface. Development of interfaces through wireframes, sketches, renderings, illustrations, modeling, and animatic sequences. Exploration of user testing and research methods for generative, participatory, and evaluative stages of design.

CDT 31140: Human-Computer Interaction

taught by Ronald Metoyer

An in-depth coverage of the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) including its history, goals, principles, methodologies, successes, failures, open problems, and emerging areas. Topics include the fundamental principles of HCI (e.g., consistency, compatibility, pictorial realism), models of the human (e.g., perception, attention, memory, learning), interaction modalities and paradigms (e.g., windowing systems, haptic interactions), best-practice design principles (e.g., user-centered design, universal design, rapid application development), techniques to evaluate interfaces and interactions (e.g., observational methods, think-aloud protocols, cognitive walkthroughs), and emerging topics in HCI (e.g., affective computing, augmented cognition, social computing, ubiquitous computing).

CDT 31410 VCD 1: Fundamentals of Design

Taught by Grace Hamilton & Neeta Verma

MATERIALS FEE. Fundamentals of Design is a gateway course for Visual Communication Design that introduces students to basic design elements like color, form, composition, and typography. This course explores and helps develop an understanding of the delicate balance between these design elements and how they have been skillfully used over time to create some of the most persuasive images and enduring messages. The course is an exercise in deconstruction and reconstruction of visual images using design elements as tools. Through assignments, students will work digitally to explore color, form, composition, texture, and typography; first individually and then in conjunction with other elements. Initial assignments will be short and will focus on the understanding of a singular element. As the course progresses, students will be expected to use experiences from these short assignments and use them as building block for more complex projects. Above all, the course builds a vigorous foundation that allows students to acquire visual skill sets that serve as a firm foundation for advanced level courses in Visual Communication Design. Co-requisite is CDT 21102 VCD Software Tutorial (1-credit)

Course options WITHOUT computational/digital focus (only one is allowed):

CDT 20110 Design Matters: Introduction to Design Thinking

Taught by Ann-Marie Conrado

MATERIALS FEE. Traditionally, design has been used to connote the process by which the physical artifacts of the objects and communications around us come into being. But over the last decade, design has come more and more to describe not only the development of objects but the process by which one shapes the interactions and experiences of people with the systems, services and organizations around us. A deeply human-centered approach to problem-solving, design thinking is centered around identifying and reframing complex problems, and solving them through a more creative, iterative and hands-on approach. This course will follow a series of overlapping modules that will introduce the student to the various steps employed in the design thinking process and becoming familiar with the tools and methodologies used. The course will feature a hybrid seminar format with lectures and case studies followed by hands-on exercises and practical applications of the theories in the form of team projects. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to articulate the tenets of the design thinking process and apply those methodologies to problems of a variety of disciplines from science and engineering to business and the liberal arts. If there are no seats available, please contact the art department (art@nd.edu) and the instructor to indicate interest and to sign-up for the waitlist. The course is the gateway for the Collaborative Innovation minor. Only students enrolled or having completed the course may sign up for the minor. There are only limited seats for juniors and no seats available for seniors with special approval. Co-requisite CDT 21110 D Think Lab

CDT 21110: D Think Lab

Taught by Ann-Marie Conrado

This once-weekly lab session is a mandatory requirement for students enrolled in the Design Thinking course. These sessions focus on practical application of the topics and materials presented in class with students working in teams to employ techniques and methodology on assigned projects. This hands-on lab will have students exploring the research, brainstorming, ideation, iterative prototyping, and presentation techniques that lead to creative innovation and disruptive breakthroughs applicable to students of any discipline.

Commonly Taught Spring Course Descriptions

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 20101 VCD 1: Fundamentals of Design

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. What makes a visual image compelling? Why do images engage? This course explores and helps develop an understanding of the delicate balance between these design elements and how they have been skillfully used by designers over time to create some of the most persuasive images and enduring messages. The course will be an exercise in deconstruction and reconstruction of visual images using design elements as a tool. Through assignments, students will work digitally to explore color, form, composition, texture, and typography; first individually and then in conjunction with other elements. Initial assignments will be short and will focus on the understanding of a singular element. As the course progresses, students will be expected to use experiences from these short assignments and use them as building blocks for more complex projects demonstrating and applying the understanding gathered in the previous assignments. No pre-requisites. Co-requisite is CDT 21102 VCD Software Tutorial (1-credit)

CDT 21102 VCD Software (Co-req. for CDT 20101 VCD 1)

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

This one-credit course will focus on Adobe Creative Suite software. The class will meet one evening per week throughout the course of the semester. Programs and topics to be covered will be Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, proper file preparation, and font access and usage.

CDT 30110 VCD 3: Digital Media Design

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. This course focuses on the design of websites and interactive products. The course will explore user-centered (UX) design methods, Information Architecture (IA), the development of digital user interfaces (UI), the potential of interactive products to effect change, and the ethics of digital design. Students will gain a deeper understanding of design processes, digital design principles, current prototyping tools, and various research methodologies used in the design of websites and interactive products. This studio-based design course is structured around projects and exercises that guide students through the digital design process and introduce them to the diverse settings where web-based interactive design is applied.

CDT 30120 Design Research Practices

Taught by James Rudolph or other staff instructors

MATERIALS FEE. This course is an introduction to various digital design techniques and workflows used by industrial designers. Students will explore design processes integrating digital tablet sketching and computer-aided design (CAD) in order to develop and effectively communicate design concepts. The course is aimed at students seeking to expand their 3-D visualization skills into a digital medium. Software introduced will include Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and SolidWorks 3D

CDT 30140 Human Computer Interaction

Taught by Toby Li

You will engage in an in-depth exploration of the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) including its history, goals, principles, methodologies, successes, failures, open problems, and emerging areas. Broad topics include theories of interaction (e.g., conceptual models, stages of execution, error analysis, constraints, memory by affordances), design methods (e.g., user-centered design, task analysis, prototyping tools), visual design principles (e.g., visual communication, digital typography, color, motion), evaluation techniques (e.g., heuristic evaluations, model-based evaluations), and emerging topics (e.g., affective computing, natural user interfaces, brain-computer interfaces).

CDT 31125 VCD 6: Motion design using kinetic messages

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. Exploration of narrative, visual and aural principles to best convey a time-based message through a series of project assignments. Effective use of motion graphics through sketching, storyboarding, kinetic type, animation, narration, and soundtracks. Media delivery may include digital signage, web, broadcast, and other public venues such as a planetarium. Survey of the technological aspects to motion media including principles of digital animation, video output devices, and planning for application in a space.

CDT 31130 VCD 7: Interaction Design

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

Evaluation, design, and simulation of user interaction with a computer or product interface. Development of interfaces through wireframes, sketches, renderings, illustrations, modeling, and animatic sequences. Exploration of user testing and research methods for generative, participatory, and evaluative stages of design.

CDT 31150 Programming for Video Game Development

Taught by Michael Villano

The purpose of this course is to provide students with hands-on development experience in various aspects of programming for video game development. No prior programming experience is necessary and students will proceed at their own pace. The first section of the semester introduces all essential programming concepts through several game programming projects using Unity (2D) with Visual Studio and C#. In the second section of the semester, students are exposed to 3D game development: level design, 3D construction techniques, custom textures, sound design, and lighting effects. Additional third-party (free) utilities may also be necessary depending on the student’s interest. Students will work on their own on a midterm (2D) and final (3D) project agreed upon with the instructor. 

CDT 31160 Practicum in Robotics

Taught by Michael Villano

This course will allow students to work with the Nao humanoid robot platform. Students will learn about how to control the sensory and motor capabilities of the robot to produce specific sequences of robot behaviors and/or to allow the robot to respond to particular inputs from the external environment. Students will work with the instructors to identify the specific behaviors and response sequences to be created. Permission is required.

CDT 37110 Special Projects in UI/UE

Taught by John Behrens

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangement must be made to take this course.

CDT 37610 Special Projects in Technology Development and Management

Taught by John Behrens

This course is intended to be used only for special projects that are approved in advance by the department. Special requirements and arrangement must be made to take this course

CDT 40120 VCD 10: Visualization of Data

Taught by Neeta Verma

The course focuses on the relevance of data in the current socio-political and economic dynamic. It defines how numbers and data can be turned into compelling narratives to communicate complex ideas using large data sets and then reframing them using graphic design principles. Powerful and compelling rendition of data help in determining discourse, creating awareness, affecting policy, and assisting understanding of issues that surround us in this complex world. Assignments focus on the crucial role that designers can play in packaging information in ways where dense and incomprehensible data can be made comprehensible and accessible for all audiences. The course is aimed at developing an understanding of what data means to humans and how does its visualization helps communicate ideas in the fields of medicine, technology, and social sciences. All assignments touch upon measurement, collection, reporting, analysis but ultimately focus on visualization. Visualization is when the data comes alive and is ready to be used to communicate a complex concept be it numeric, spatial, process, or temporal. Types of data covered in this course include but are not limited to: geographical, cultural, scientific, financial, statistical, meteorological, natural, and transportation data. The design process for each assignment, therefore, explores static, dynamic, interactive, and 3-dimensional formats of representation in an effort to understand why a certain format is more suitable for the nature of data, its analysis, and therefore its visual representation. Proficiency in Excel is required.

CDT 40177 Advanced VFX

Taught by John Slaughter

This course is for students who wish to dive deeper into realistic visual effects. Students will learn how to build complex 3D simulations using procedural node-based workflows to create elements like fire and water, destruction and debris fields, as well as some video editing and node-based compositing of 3D elements over live video. The course will consist of class lessons and projects.

Course options WITHOUT computational/digital focus (only one is allowed):

CDT 20110 Design Matters: Introduction to Design Thinking

Taught by Ann-Marie Corado

MATERIALS FEE. Traditionally, design has been used to connote the process by which the physical artifacts of the objects and communications around us come into being. But over the last decade, design has come more and more to describe not only the development of objects but the process by which one shapes the interactions and experiences of people with the systems, services, and organizations around us. A deeply human-centered approach to problem-solving, design thinking is centered around identifying and reframing complex problems and solving them through a more creative, iterative, and hands-on approach. This course will follow a series of overlapping modules that will introduce the student to the various steps employed in the design thinking process and becoming familiar with the tools and methodologies used. The course will feature a hybrid seminar format with lectures and case studies followed by hands-on exercises and practical applications of the theories in the form of team projects. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to articulate the tenets of the design thinking process and apply those methodologies to problems of a variety of disciplines from science and engineering to business and the liberal arts. If there are no seats available, please contact the art department (art@nd.edu) and the instructor to indicate interest and to sign-up for the waitlist. The course is the gateway for the Collaborative Innovation minor. Only students enrolled or having completed the course may sign up for the minor. There are only limited seats for juniors and no seats available for seniors with special approval. Co-requisite CDT 21110 D Think Lab

CDT 21110: D Think Lab (Co-req. for CDT 20110 Design Matters)

Taught by Ann-Marie Conrado

This once-weekly lab session is a mandatory requirement for students enrolled in the Design Thinking course. These sessions focus on practical application of the topics and materials presented in class with students working in teams to employ techniques and methodology on assigned projects. This hands-on lab will have students exploring the research, brainstorming, ideation, iterative prototyping, and presentation techniques that lead to creative innovation and disruptive breakthroughs applicable to students of any discipline.

CDT 30510 Intro. to Cognitive Neuroscience

Taught by Jessica Payne & Carissa DiPietro

This is a survey course that introduces students to the biological substrates underlying various forms of cognition in humans, with a specific focus on mental processes. We will explore how psychological and cognitive functions are produced by the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, drawing from disciplines such as biological psychology (biopsychology), neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology. We will cover a broad range of topics, including learning and memory, perception, development and neural plasticity, cerebral lateralization and language, emotions and social cognition, stress, sleep and dreaming, and consciousness. No previous coursework in neuroscience is required, but at least some experience with biology or biopsychology is preferred.

CDT 30558 Learning & Memory

Taught by Gabriel Radvansky

A survey of the theories and methods relating to basic processes in learning and memory from both biological and cognitive perspectives.

Commonly Taught Summer Course Descriptions 

Summer courses are taught across a variety of tracks

Explore all summer online courses

Course options WITH computational/digital focus:

CDT 20101 VCD 1: Fundamentals of Design (Online)

Taught by faculty in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design

MATERIALS FEE. This foundation 3-D design studio begins as a natural extension of Basic Design. Students are encouraged to think and work in three-dimensional media. A series of fundamental design problems are assigned during the course of the semester. Emphasis is placed on the transformation of imagination from mind to paper to model. Computer-aided design (CAD) is also introduced into assignments.

CDT 20512 Robot Ethics (Online)

Taught by Tobias Flattery

Robots or "autonomous systems" play an ever-increasing role in many areas, from weapons systems and driverless cars to health care and consumer services. As a result, it is ever more important to ask whether it makes any sense to speak of such systems' behaving ethically and how we can build into their programming what some call "ethics modules." After a brief technical introduction to the field, this course will approach these questions through contemporary philosophical literature on robot ethics and through popular media, including science fiction text and video. This is an online course with required, regular class sessions each week. Class meetings are online via Zoom webinar software (provided by the University).Note: this course is delivered fully online. The course design combines required live weekly meetings online with self-scheduled lectures, problems, assignments, and interactive learning materials. To participate, students will need to have a computer with a webcam, reliable internet connection, and a quiet place to participate in live sessions.

CDT 20641 R Programming (Online)

Taught by Alan Huebner

In this course, you will learn the foundational skills necessary in R that will enable you to acquire and manipulate data, complete exploratory data analysis (EDA), and create visualizations to communicate your findings.
**Note: this course is delivered fully online. The course design combines required live weekly meetings online with self-scheduled lectures, problems, assignments, and interactive learning materials. To participate, students will need to have a computer with a webcam, reliable internet connection, and a quiet place to participate in live sessions. Students with other prerequisite courses or equivalent background preparation may enroll by permission of the instructor or permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Alan Huebner (Alan.Huebner.10@nd.edu).

CDT 20642 Python Programming (Online)

Taught by John Dillion

In this course, you will learn the foundational skills necessary in Python that will enable you to acquire and manipulate data, model data for the purposes of scientific analysis, and create visualizations to communicate your findings. The course will introduce you to efficient scientific computing using NumPy. You will learn how to apply the pandas library to perform a variety of data manipulation tasks, including selecting, subsetting, combining, grouping, and aggregating data. You will also learn how to generate and customize visualizations with matplotlib. The course will give you the basic ideas and intuition behind modern data analysis methods and their applications, with a strong focus on a course project and weekly assignments.
**Note: this course is delivered fully online. The course design combines required live weekly meetings online with self-scheduled lectures, problems, assignments, and interactive learning materials. To participate, students will need to have a computer with a webcam, reliable internet connection, and a quiet place to participate in live sessions. Students with other prerequisite courses or equivalent background preparation may enroll by permission of the instructor or permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Alan Huebner (Alan.Huebner.10@nd.edu).

CDT 30010 Elements of Computing 1 (CSE 10101, online)

Taught by Katherine Walden

Introduction to programming for students without prior programming experience. Programming structures suitable for basic computation. Elements of computer organization and networking. Development of programming skills including data manipulation, multimedia programming, and networking. Standards for exchange and presentation of data. Comprehensive programming experience using Python.

CDT 30643 SQL for Data Science (Online)

Taught by Alan Huebner

This course will teach students how to use Structured Query Language (SQL) to access and manipulate data stored in databases. Students will learn fundamental commands for filtering records, selecting variables, and merging data tables. These skills will be applied in the context of solving statistical problems in which students are presented with a research question, use SQL to obtain the appropriate data set, and then use the data to create an appropriate visualization and/or conduct a statistical inference to answer the question.

CDT 31420 Photography 1 (ARST 20401, online)

Taught by Martina Lopez and other staff instructors in AAHD

MATERIALS FEE. This course is an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes of black and white photography. Lectures and demonstrations expose students to both traditional and contemporary practices in photography. Critiques of ongoing work encourage students to begin discovering and developing their individual strengths and interests in the medium. A 35mm camera with manual shutter speed and "F" stop is needed.