The Digital Media Mini School, a two-week program designed for high school students age 15-18, explores how to design and build digital media projects across a range of industries.
Program dates
July 29 - August 9
Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 3:00pm
*There will be no class on Monday, August 5 in observance of BC Day
Program overview
Located at Centre for Digital Media (CDM), the Digital Media Mini School is modelled on CDM’s prestigious Master of Digital Media program, Canada's first graduate program in digital media.
Digital media are more than video games. Digital media products can be found in most industries, including entertainment, tech, eCommerce, non-profits, health, education, marketing, government, environment, sports, art, publishing, and television.
In the Digital Media Mini School you get a hands-on, collaborative learning experience as you explore how to design and build digital media projects across a range of industries, including the video game industry.
Week One
Learn about the importance of collaboration and key communication techniques in team-based projects. Discover the basic pipeline for building digital media products and explore the human-centred design process from ideation to creating a paper prototype for a real-world problem.
Week Two
Work with a team through ideation and innovation to develop your idea into a digital prototype, conduct user testing with your peers in order to critically assess and adjust your work, and present your final project and key takeaways from this learning experience.
By the end of course, you will be able to:
Apply a human-centred design approach to solving a problem
Give and receive effective feedback to peers
Utilize tools and practices used by industry professionals within the digital media field
Evaluate digital media projects by conducting and taking part in user testing
Create a functional digital prototype
The global digital media market is anticipated to grow at a considerable rate over the next decade. As will the demand for people with the ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams, use design thinking, be agile, collaborate, and communicate effectively—all in-demand skills you learn about and explore in the Digital Media Mini School.
Course format
- This course takes place at CDM, Monday to Friday, 9am–3pm. CDM is a state-of-the-art building approximately 30 minutes from UBC Vancouver.
- If you choose to live on the UBC Vancouver campus, we will help you get to and from CDM by public transit, a ride of approximately 45 minutes.
- Includes online access to self-study materials to help you develop your academic skills and mental health and emotional awareness as you prepare for university.
- You can also join the Virtual Student Lounge, hosted by UBC Student Ambassadors. Meet other Future Global Leaders from across Canada and around the world.
How to register
Please note, registration takes place through UBC Extended Learning.This program is part of the UBC Future Global Leaders On-Campus Pre-University Program and is offered at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver. While the Digital Media Mini School take place at Centre for Digital Media, please direct any questions about registration to UBC Extended Learning.
Learn from industry guest speakers
Digital media industry professionals will share valuable insights about their careers.
Housing available for students
Students can apply to stay in housing at the University of British Columbia. Please contact UBC Extended Learning for more information.
"My daughter hugely enjoyed – and benefitted from – this program. She and her peers were interested and highly motivated, the program was goal and process-oriented, and the instruction was not just instruction, but inspiration! The best part for her was problem-solving and building a product with a group of people who were just as hard-working and committed as she is".
- Parent of Student
"I had an amazing time meeting new people and working with them. Everyday I’d wake up and I’d feel excited to actually go to this camp. I’d always walk home with a smile on my face because of all the things we’d done and learned".
- Summer Camp Student
