Minor in Technology, Arts & Media (MTAM)

The Minor in Technology, Arts and Media (MTAM) provides a broad multidisciplinary perspective that integrates technological skills with a critical, theoretical, and historical understanding of technology, media and the arts.

Minor Goals:

  • to prepare the next generation of artists, designers, and media producers for the future
  • to give students the necessary technical, theoretical and historical backgrounds so they can contribute to the development of new functionalities and aesthetics for computer media
  • to facilitate the exploration of the intersection of technology and other specific disciplines
  • to produce active and critically aware participants and producers of technology
  • to enable students to critically and conceptually about digital media production

Minor Requirements:

  • A minimum of 21 credit hours:
    • ATLS2000, The Meaning of Information Technology
    • ATLS3010, Digital Media 1
    • ATLS3020, Digital Media 2
    • ATLS3030, Fundamentals of Digital Design
    • ATLS4010, Capstone
    • Invention and Practice Elective
    • Critical Thinking in Technology Elective
  • Student must maintain a 2.0 GPA within all MTAM courses.
  • Students must earn a minimum grade of “C” in all courses counted for the minor.
  • Students may not take more than one elective course from a single department (This does not apply to ATLS courses).
  • Course work used to satisfy MTAM requirements cannot be taken Pass/Fail.
  • ATLS core courses cannot be substituted (ATLS2000, ATLS3010, ATLS3020, ATLS3030, ATLS4010).
  • A minimum of 15 credit hours must be taken on the Boulder campus.
  • Failing to meet the minimum grade for any individual ATLS core course twice will result in automatic removal from the MTAM program.

Course Substitutions:

Course work not on the approved elective list (including course work from another University of Colorado campus, another institution, Study Abroad, or Semester at Sea) must be approved by the MTAM Faculty Committee. Students must complete a Course Substitution Petition Request Form and attach supporting documentation (syllabus). Substitution requests will not be considered if the student has already satisfied the requirement with an approved elective course.

MTAM Honors

Students who earn a cumulative MTAM GPA (the 21 hours used toward fulfilling the Minor requirements) of at least 3.5 will graduate with MTAM Honors.

Program Description

The Technology, Arts and Media Program, based within the ATLAS Institute, offers two undergraduate programs: a Minor in Technology, Arts and Media (MTAM) and a Certificate in Digital Media (CDM). The Minor is intended for students who wish to pursue research and careers related to digital media, whereas the Certificate is intended for students who are interested in the fundamentals of digital media production.

Teaching Philosophy

The philosophy of the TAM Program curriculum is to integrate creative production, critical thinking, and technical skills into each course. While TAM teaches a diverse and robust skill-set, it is not confined to specific disciplines such as “Graphic Design” or “Digital Art.” Students are challenged to become aware of the various disciplinary perspectives and to situate and contextualize their work accordingly.

The TAM program does not teach software-specific courses. Instead TAM courses will teach a variety of software and technologies so that the student can choose the most relevant application for his/her future goals. Due to the high rate of change within technological industries, TAM courses teach the fundamentals of software and technologies from a broad perspective. The goal of this is to encourage self-directed learning and to foster confidence in learning new applications within our students.