Collaborative Minor Offers LVAIC Students New Opportunities for their Education

May 7, 2018, @ 8:00 AM

LVAIC Documentary Storymaking students gather at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival opening night on April 6, 2017.

Documentary Story making is a growing field in the world of Academia. This new and exciting opportunity is the future of cross-campus collaboration. LVAIC’s collaborative minor is for member campus students in Documentary Storymaking. The minor includes three required courses, and a minimum of two electives, selected from a range of course offered at Lafayette College, Lehigh University and Muhlenberg College. The final documentary project must be completed in Capstone, one of the required courses.

The required Introduction to Documentary Storymaking will be taught each fall. The second course in the minor, Legal and Ethical Issues in Documentary Storymaking, will be offered online each spring. The Capstone in Documentary Storymaking, involving directed community-based work toward completion of a final documentary project, will be taught each spring. Students must also complete 2 electives, one of which must be a course that emphasizes documentary production in any media type. Upon completion of these requirements, student work in the minor is recognized on their transcripts issued by home campus Registrars upon completion of the degree.

The LVAIC Documentary Storymaking collaborative minor allows students to earn an additional educational experience without increasing their tuition while utilizing resources available across multiple LVAIC campuses. Without the use of collaboration, such an endeavor would not be possible. This effort allows a smaller cohort of students to maximize the capabilities of multiple colleges, which benefits everyone involved.

Courses in the minor are open to all LVAIC students, but only students enrolled at an LVAIC institution that has approved the minor in Documentary Storymaking are eligible for award of the minor. Students interested in pursuing this minor can register for the required courses via the LVAIC cross registration system on the LVAIC website. More information is also available on the program’s website.