CPSC 491 is a practicum course giving hands-on experience with a large, multidisciplinary team working with a real client on a real project. The course runs in collaboration with the Centre for Digital Media (CDM), a Masters-degree-granting institution co-sponsored by UBC, SFU, BCIT, and Emily Carr.
Where to find out more about the course:
Heavy load: Be aware before you join that you’ll be working with Masters students from various disciplines at the CDM who will be committing about the equivalent of a full-time job’s worth of work to the project. (The course is 12 credits for them.) At 6 credits, you’ll be expected to do about a half-time’s job worth of work. Be sure your load alongside CPSC 491 is reasonable so you can be successful and create an amazing portfolio piece!
Tight-knit cohort: You’ll be joining a group of students who have already been through at least 4 months of a small, intense, cohort-based program together (8 months if you join a summer offering). Come in expecting to dedicate substantial time to the project, including being in-person and on-site at CDM at least two full days per week. Also plan to work hard on integrating yourself into your team and maintaining good communication with your CDM team, CDM mentor, and your team’s client.
Professionalism and communication: Unlike UBC CPSC project courses, the CDM course is primarily for graduate students and primarily aimed at external, industry clients. Expect a substantial focus on things like prototyping/ideation, market research, professionalism, client service, documentation, and business aims.
From ideation to development: Your work during the term tends to start with heavy involvement in activities like idea creation, prototyping, research, and client discussion. The techical side of that is often exploring potential alternate systems or approaches to support development and reporting on their tradeoffs (risks and benefits). After a few weeks, you tend to transition more toward developing software in heavy collaboration with any other developers on your team and with your team’s designers and other members. Be aware that many teams end up having to pivot substantially because of concerns from the client or external factors (like licensing or business changes on the client side)! That’s challenging but probably the best learning experience any team gets.
Here’s a rough schedule of a typical term:
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| ~2.5 months before term | Application deadline; see the application page on the CDM digital media practicum page for more details |
| ~2 months before term | Learn whether you’ve been offered an interview; complete interview |
| ~1 month before term | Learn whether you’ve received an offer. (Most interviewed candidates receive an offer, most terms.) |
| Start of term | ~6 hour kickoff meeting at CDM; group and client assignments announced. (No one knows their project before this.) |
| Regularly, during term | Meet with your CDM mentor. |
| As needed, during term | Talk with your UBC CPSC 491 instructor. |
| ~Halfway through the term | CDM performs extensive midpoint feedback. |
| Near end of the UBC term/start of exams | Submit draft report to UBC instructor. |
| ~3 days later | Receive feedback on draft |
| ~3 days later | Present your project with your CDM team; submit a small recorded supplementary presentation on your own contributions |
| ~1–2 weeks later | Final reports due. |
Your team will regularly meet with and have deliverables directed toward your CDM mentor and your client. Many of these will be negotiated based on your project and client, although some (like midpoint feedback) will be standard for CDM. Most teams also document both their process and their systems in some way (e.g., a blog for the former and a website, manual, or help system for the latter).
You have two main UBC-facing deliverables that are not required on the CDM side: a 3–5 page report and a 2–3 minute pre-recorded supplemental presentation. Check out more detailed documentation about the UBC deliverables.
We hope you’ll join us! The practicum is an amazing opportunity to build something cool on a team of creative people with expertise in areas you have never studied or even worked with and real clients with real and compelling needs. It should be fun :)