Career and Technology Studies (CTS) offers all students important learning opportunities:

  • Developing skills that can be applied in their daily lives, now and in the future
  • Refining career-planning skills
  • Developing technology-related skills
  • Enhancing employability skills
  • Applying and reinforcing learning developed in other subject areas
  • Preparing for transition into adult roles in the family, community, workplace, and/or further education


CTS logo courtesy of Alberta Education

Important components of all CTS courses include identifying and documenting skill development. To help you accomplish this, download and print the Initial Skills Inventory. Follow the instructions included with the document, and complete the skills inventory.



Keep your Initial Skills Inventory in a safe location. You will need it later in the course. 

COM 1005 - Visual Composition

You have only one chance to make a first impression. A strong understanding of visual composition ensures that impression is a great one!

Have you ever noticed in nature how everything just seems to fit beautifully together? Have you ever asked yourself why you like a particular picture, poster, or advertisement? Have you ever wondered how some images affect your emotions—make you happy, or sad, or angry. These examples illustrate the impact the elements and principles of design have on us all.

History teaches us that the fundamental elements and principles of design have always existed, unchanged, regardless of the medium or technique used.

If we are to produce sophisticated digital visuals that entertain and communicate effectively, we must apply these fundamentals to our designs.

Graphic design is the art of visual communication through the use of words and images. It is the basis of visual composition. This course encourages you to integrate the fundamental elements and principles of graphic design into the production of two-dimensional images.

Materials and Equipment: To complete this course successfully, you need the use of a computer with Internet access and a printer, and/or a scanner.              

Image Source: Pixabay


Image Source: Pixabay


Image Source: Pixabay


Pathways: A pathway is a selection of courses that gives you opportunity to explore and acquire the attitudes, skills, and knowledge for a specific career. COM 1005 is prerequisite to several CTS pathways. Pathways support goals that include university, college, apprenticeship, or direct movement into the workforce. 

Here is an example of a pathway you could take using this course as a foundation.

Visual Composition (COM 1005)
↓
Photography - Introduction (COM 1205)
↓
Photography - Digital Darkroom (COM 1275)
↓
Photography - Exposure (COM 1215)
↓
Photography - Composition (COM 2205)
↓
Photography - Photojournalist (COM 3215)