For Syracuse University students in Seth Gitner’s multimedia projects class, a project has turned into something reaching far beyond the classroom.

Students in the class, ICC 300: “Selected Topics: Interactive Communications Core,” created an application called CNY32 Degrees, which is now available as a free app for the iPad in the iTunes store. The app features a variety of multimedia feature stories on the topic of Central New York winters.

“My intent is always to have my students make something that is real,” said Gitner, an assistant professor in the newspaper and online journalism department.

From the beginning of the class, the goal was to craft an app that could transition and function into the real digital world, Gitner said

The app was originally going to consist of a compilation of stories that focused on the long, infamous Central New York winters, and serve as a magazine-style tourist guide about Central New York winters, he said.

The class was initially expecting to do typical winter stories centered around winter events and activities such as skiing, sledding and storms, said Kayla Rice, a senior photojournalism major in the class. But due to the mild winter that Syracuse experienced last year, the project had to shift to a spread that included spring and indoor activities, as well as some outside-of-the-box pieces.

In looking for story ideas, Gitner encouraged his students to think beyond the classroom and the campus.

Half of the day-in-the-life and feature-style pieces displayed in the app were inspired by a class field trip to Toggenburg Mountain. The class spent a weekend finding inspiration, shooting, interviewing, photographing, editing and writing on the hilly terrain and in the ski lodge.

The other half of the stories focused on a variety of topics, such as hot cocoa recipes and tips on winter fashion.

Emily Shearing wrote about her adventure trekking through three different Central New York parks with only her iPhone and Instagram. Katrina Tulloch’s story focused on an international award-winning ice sculptor who had made a visit to Syracuse.

Melia Robinson, a senior magazine journalism major, shared the account of a Central New York resident who goes to thrift shops, buys sweaters and recycles them into mittens for her self-started company.

Gitner said he encouraged the students to create the app with interactivity and various digital formats. There are panoramas, videos and photographs in the app that compliment the students’ stories.

Robinson said this class helped her “think more visually and tell a story across a media landscape.”

The class used the School of Information Studies’ Adobe Digital Publishing Suite account to take the app from the classroom to the iTunes store.

Elizabeth Teska, an instructional technology analyst at SU, said through this program, students with a faculty or department sponsor can create and publish apps.

The connectivity between the classroom and real world is something Gitner highlighted as a focus of the multimedia projects class.

While on a magazine department trip in New York City, Robinson heard representatives from Esquire magazine giveapresentation. From the presentation, she discovered they used the same software for their iPad app that she learned to use through the experience of creating the CNY32 Degrees app.

In general, Robinson said the class helped give her an edge in the job market by teaching her real world skills.

Said Robinson: “Having something tangible at the end of a class to show my parents and employers is invaluable.”

Published on February 10, 2013 at 11:38 pm

Contact Heather: hgrounds@syr.edu