I am a second year student currently studying a range of modules, one specifically being multimedia. I am now seven months into the module. I have only done work on ‘Flash’, making me believe the multimedia and e-business world outside of university uses this software. Starting my work experience in this sector, I have found out this isn’t the case. ‘Flash’ appears to be non-existent in the workplace. As a result, I decided to research this, believing there must be a chunk in the market that uses this; otherwise my extravagant fees just don’t seem worth it.
University’s teaching in multimedia tells students that the future is in hand-held devices, but then contradict themselves by teaching software which is obsolete on these devices. Why? Flash is being taught at Higher Education Establishments in multimedia modules, while ‘Flash’ seems to be dead in the water.
Apple’s burst onto the scene and its rise in power, has engulfed the market. This has been the monumental cause of Flash’s downfall. Apple’s outright refusal to have Flash on any of its devices from Mac’s to Tablets has led to Flash being less used, predominantly on hand -held devices, which is the future. Also Adobe is pushing itself away from Flash, starting to prefer HTML 5 for developing on hand- held devices. In 2012 Flash said ‘It will not allow Flash to be downloaded on any android devices from now on, due to them not developing the software to work with Jelly Bean which is now being used on all android devices with the introduction of the Nexus 7. With flash deciding not to develop its software to work with android and with it not allowed on apple, Flash seems to have given up. Flash was designed to be used with a mouse and keypad, but the future is hand-held devices and touch screen and it doesn’t seem to want to adapt to the ever developing market.
So why is Flash being taught to students on multimedia modules? The reason is some Universities use a ranking system to choose what to teach, in this case Flash is one of the highest staffed companies for application development in animation in the United Kingdom. This idea of selecting the best software to teach doesn’t work though as stats also show that their size in staff is dramatically decreasing from the bottom end of the company. This means no new staff for graduates making the use of teaching Flash still pointless
With knowing this, is a degree with a price tag of £22,500 worth it? No it’s not, as this means, when a graduate finds a job in this area, more than likely with a company not using Flash with other technology like HTML5 and CSS3 which IS growing in the multimedia developing world, then the graduate will just have to begin self-learning. £22,500 now just seems to buy you the paper the degree comes on and showing the effort put in with the level achieved, but it doesn’t show you know anything useful.