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Media Arts Newsletter for 09-27-2019

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Welcome to the first Media Arts Newsletter for the 2019-2020 school year!

Today's Topics:

  1. Back To School Night
  2. Current Projects
  3. Notices of Concern
  4. Fundraising for New Computers
  5. Hardware Recommendations
  6. Podcasting

  1. Back To School Night
    1. As you likely already know, we had our Back To School Nights this week for both K-5 and 6-8. It was great to see so many of you in attendance. If you for some reason need to see the presentation I shared that night, you can find it here.
  2. Current Projects
    1. We recently wrapped up our introductory lesson, which you can find in its many parts in SchoolMax as "Story Time." Students created stories in small groups by combining events that happened to them over the summer, then recorded the audio and added supporting images.The goal for this project was to introduce students to the formatting of the class as well as a free editing program called OpenShot.
    2. As with most programs, OpenShot has a learning curve, but it is still easier to master than our previous go-to software, HitFilm Express. There are still times when HitFilm is the better option, but for my personal editing projects I've been exclusively using OpenShot for over a year.
    3. Our current video, due by the end of the day on Monday, September 30, is a "Silent Film" with a plot showcasing the steps needed to create a video. As with all silent films the work will not be completely silent, rather the camera audio will be muted and a song selected by the student will be added to support the tone of the video.
    4. These videos, as with all projects I assign, have rubrics posted both here on FouloisTech.info as well as on Google Classroom.
  3. Notices of Concern
    1. It is my deepest regret that sometimes I am forced to complete paperwork. One of those times is if  a student is scoring below a 70% average in my class.It's important to know that, while Q1 is almost halfway over (The Progress Report grading window opens on Monday), Media Arts is a year long class. Please do not look at your child's score in SchoolMax as a 100% accurate assessment of their talents or motivations.
    2. We only have one video completed so far, as well as one round of critiques. I fully expect scores to shift as new students adjust to the major and returning students encounter projects that test more of their skills.
    3. My best advice is to keep checking SchoolMax on a regular basis. It is a personal goal of mine to update my grade book every day BEFORE I head home, even if that means walking out the door at 7pm.
  4. Fundraising for New Computers
    1. During Back To School Night I mentioned that I had a Donors Choose project to get a new computer to replace one of the 11 year old computers currently in use in my lab. Since then, the project has been fully funded!When this most recent addition arrives, we will have 5 Raspberry Pi computers for students to use! (Technically 7 ... but two of them are personal computers that I've brought in.)The Raspberry Pi 4 is a robust device for its size and price, and while it in no way competes with our newer lab computers that cost us $1000 each (of which we do have several ... just not a full lab's worth), they're worlds better than the ones that are as old as our 6th grade students.
    2. In an effort to keep the momentum going, I've already created a new Donors Choose project to bring in computer # 6. If you feel so inclined to maybe chip in a dollar or two, I would greatly appreciate it.
    3. I've also been bringing in older computers previously used by either my wife or myself, wiping the hard drives, and installing Linux on them. With no personal data remaining on the computers they are useful steps up from what we would otherwise be using for our non-video assignments.
    4. If you happen to have an old (5 years or newer) computer that is sitting and collecting dust, as mine were, I would not mind at all if it were donated to the cause. We have plenty of monitors, mice, keyboards, and cables, but what we need are CPUs that are more recent. As stated, the first thing I do is wipe the hard drive so no personal data remains on the computer.
  5. Hardware Recommendations
    1. As much as I love the Raspberry Pi, it is not my main or even secondary computing device. If your child is truly interested in building their skills as a media artist, it is my recommendation that they have a personal computer powerful enough to last several years. I've found that historically computers in the $800-$1000 range tend to have the hardware quality to last for 3+ years and still be powerful enough to do the video editing required of them.
    2. For brand choices, I have personally purchased and enjoyed Acer and Asus computers. I'm currently typing this on a three year old HP laptop (purchased as an open-box unit at a hefty discount from woot.com, #notsponsored) that I have no desire to replace any time soon.
    3. I've previously recommended Apple and I still think they produce quality hardware, but on the High School level there seems to be a trend to go away from FinalCut Pro (Mac only video editing software) to Adobe's Creative Suite (Mac and Windows). This doesn't rule out Apple, but it makes it far less of a necessity.
    4. In truth the only brand that I suggest avoiding is Lenovo, due to some shady practices in the past where they installed malware on their own machines. This happened some time ago but I'm personally not quite ready to trust them again.
  6. Podcasting
    1. One of my goals for this year is to have a student-run podcast where all of the content is scripted, recorded, and edited by the students. This mirrors goals shared by some individuals in higher positions in the county and we will even be getting some new equipment to support our efforts, but in truth we don't even need to wait for the new equipment to arrive.Podcasts are a wonderful media that can even be created on the aforementioned older computers I'm seeking to replace.
    2. Remember the "Story Time" project I mentioned way up there under "2. Current Projects?" The audio recording process was a first taste of the technical skill sets needed, and most students recorded their audio on older hardware with little difficulty.
    3. What we DO have to wait on, however, is making sure that all of the Publicity Release forms are in and accounted for. Podcasts by their nature are public facing, and I will not start such an initiative until I know who can and can't be on a mic.
    4. If you have not yet signed and returned a Publicity Release form (or signed it but checked the box saying you do not give permission), I ask you to please reconsider. It's true that withholding permission prevents your child's photos from being in the Yearbook, but it also prevents any video they appear in from moving on to the County level of the Film Festival and makes Media Arts field trips extremely difficult.

And that's it! You survived the first Media Arts Newsletter! Or you at least skimmed it, or you scrolled down to read these last few sentences.

In any case, thank you for your support. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me at aaron.smith @ pgcps.org.