Oct 04, 2024  
USC Catalogue 2024-2025 
    
USC Catalogue 2024-2025

Interactive Media (Games and Health) (MFA)


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The Master of Fine Arts in Interactive Media with an emphasis in Games and Health is administered in conjunction with the Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center (CM&BHC). Students do not apply to this program separately.

Students must apply first to the Master of Fine Arts in Interactive Media. Students may describe their interest in the emphasis in their application, but it is not required. Upon admission and enrollment, students who are interested in the emphasis should plan to take courses from the Health Emphasis Foundations & Research Core. The CM&BHC director can approve a probational admission to the emphasis, which will be awarded upon completion of the emphasis core courses and a thesis in an area that aligns with the center’s vision and mission.

The curriculum is based on center crosscutting initiatives that represent the broadest descriptions of our vision and mission. Students benefit from emerging research, tools, and methodologies that converge at the center, as well as the wide range of backgrounds represented by faculty, students, and visiting scholars. Research is prioritized based on factors, including potential impact and benefit to society and overall alignment with center priorities. Some center initiatives include:

  • Sports and Exercise for Wellness: investigation of novel assessment and treatment techniques using entertainment and technology for improvement of health outcomes related to obesity, nutrition and physical activity
  • Healthy Brain Architecture: production and dissemination of innovative storytelling products toward promotion of healthy behavior for brain development and affect regulation during the entire human lifespan
  • Social and Sensorimotor Play: investigation of novel assessment and treatment techniques using interactive play for improving social skills, visuospatial navigation and motor coordination in physical space
  • Games for Health: promotion, development and assessment of innovative games with behavioral health applications
  • Storytelling for Mobile Health (mHealth): mobile interactive entertainment with general health and wellness applications, or a specific chronic illness focus
  • The Future of Health Care: re-imagining the patient/user/player experience within and beyond healthcare settings

This emphasis aims to provide specialized training and hands-on experience to enrolled MFA students toward design, development and evaluation of interactive entertainment for health and happiness. Students will obtain a broad perspective on theory, methods and practice through an intensive overview of core concepts of science with a lifespan perspective on brain development, lifelong resilience, wellness and illness. On a practical level, students will learn how to: (a) perform transdisciplinary formative research (e.g., literature reviews, prior art analyses) in order to establish background data and rationale for design and evaluation; (b) tailor intervention design and program design requirements to target population using transdisciplinary methodologies (e.g., ethnography, surveys, observation studies); (c) iteratively develop and/or adapt existing interventions focused on health and wellness in transdisciplinary team environments; (d) design and administer small studies for ecologically valid assessment of interventions (e.g., feasibility pilots, experimental designs, pilot clinical studies).

The degree requires 50 units and is a terminal degree. The degree is an intensive option suitable for research-oriented students who seek creative careers with a particular interest in education, healthcare, or social impact and will likely not pursue further studies. For students who do not wish to complete a thesis project, who want to focus less on creative expression, or who may pursue doctoral or health professional training, we recommend the non-terminal 36 units MA in Cinematic Arts with an emphasis in Media Arts, Games & Health 

Requirements for the MFA in Interactive Media (Games and Health)


Year One, First Semester


Total units: 12


Year One, Second Semester


Total units: 10-12


Year Two, First Semester


Total units: 10-12


Year Two, Second Semester


Total units: 8 - 10


Year Three, First Semester


Total units: 4 - 6


Year Three, Second Semester


Total units: 4 - 6


Health Emphasis Foundations and Research Core


At least 12 units from the following list:

Additional Requirements


Thesis Project

In order to begin work on the thesis/advanced project, students must first successfully propose their project to a committee of MFA interactive media program faculty. The proposal is prepared during the second year of study in CTIN 548  Preparing the Interactive Project and is submitted at the end of the second year. The proposal itself will include a written treatment of the project with a discussion of similar work in the field and its relationship to the proposed project. It will describe aesthetic issues to be explored and specific techniques to be employed in its realization. It will also include a project visualization, design macro, risk assessment and a polished piece of the experience, equivalent to the milestones associated with the end of the preproduction period. The faculty committee will make comments and decide whether the student may go forward with his or her project. Upon acceptance, the student will begin production work on the project, otherwise revising the proposal and meeting again with the committee.

In the third and final year, students concentrate on their thesis projects in CTIN 594a  and CTIN 594b  Master’s Thesis, completing production and post-production. A final review will take place in the second semester of the third year. The committee will meet and the student must show and defend the work. The student does not need to submit a thesis paper in conjunction with this project, though students interested in doing so may take CTIN 510  and prepare a paper for academic publication.

Criteria for successful completion include: 50 percent originality and 50 percent quality of execution.

Internship

Though the Internship class is not required, the division requires all MFA students to do work at an internship or in a professional context while enrolled in the program. The graduate adviser will work with each student to find an appropriate work environment and certify the student’s completion thereof.

Grade Point Average Requirement

An overall GPA of at least 3.0 (A = 4.0) must be maintained in all USC course work toward the master’s degree.

A minimum grade of C (2.0) must be earned in all required courses. Students who do not achieve a grade of C (2.0) in the core courses CTIN 532L , CTIN 534L CTIN 542  and CTIN 544  after repeating these requirements will be disqualified from the program. Two-thirds of the non-thesis units applied to the degree must be taken at the 500 level or above. The core courses as well as Master’s Thesis cannot be waived or substituted with transfer credits under any circumstances.

Time Limit

Students must maintain satisfactory progress toward their master’s degrees at all times. The degree must be completed three years from the first course at USC applied toward the Master of Fine Arts degree. Course work more than seven years old is invalidated and will not be applied toward the degree.

Graduate Review

One year prior to graduation, students are required to file MFA forms for a curriculum and graduation review. Contact the Interactive Media Program Office for forms.

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