The New Media Academy
The new syllabus will be available soon
 New Media Gallery New Media Student Blogs

What is new media?
New media is people designing graphics, moving images, sound, text, and storytelling to creatively advance digital communication, and to fulfill the need for interactivity using online social networks, collaboration, and sharing.

What is the new media academy and who is it for?
The New Media Academy is a specialized training program for students who are interested in imaginative computer use, creative expression, are motivated and teachable, and are interested in exploring and building a foundation for a career in this expanding field.

Mission Statement
The CHAMPS New Media Academy is committed to developing happy, self-confident, responsible, and skilled digital media content creators. We will provide opportunities for enthusiastic students to be inspired, educated, and challenged.

The Academy’s objectives are to:

  1. Train students to produce creative ways to communicate, educate, and entertain using digital media and the technical arts.
  2. Prepare students for continued study in college or professional schools.
  3. Increase the students’ overall self-confidence that comes from discovering and developing one’s talents, work ethic, and ability to productively work individually and in partnerships.
  4. Provide ongoing direction, resources, and practice to make life-long learning a pattern.
  5. Make some class time available to help students understand how to have fun using these skills to creatively complete homework for other classes and personal projects.

Each student will need to sign up for a free Google email account in order to gain access to the wide array tools they provide.  This does not have to become your main personal email, it can be your dedicated school address.

Grading: 
100%-90%=A | 89%-80%=B | 79%-70%=C | 69%-60=D | 59%-0=F
The four major elements that decide a student’s grade are:

Attendance:
Most projects are explained and completed in class, therefore attendance is very important.

Class participation:
There will be very little homework assigned, therefore, students need to be working on and completing class related projects in order to successfully complete each course. No myspace, unauthorized chats, or other off task activities.

Maintain a positive attitude:
be nice, polite and supportive of others
Complete all Weekly Assignments: you can make up any missing assignments

Tardies:
Be in your seat and ready to work before the tardy bell rings.  Lateness disrupts and wastes class time.  Three unexcused tardies within a grading period will result in a “U” in Work Habits.
All of the following courses are required and sequential:
All students who have been accepted into the New Media Academy are required to pass all of their required courses with a C or better.  Most academy courses require projects to be published online, as well as some short written research assignments.

The New Media courses have been developed using the new media workflow model that integrates a real-world combination of authoring tools that together contribute to the completion of each project.  This method of production is very common in the professional small group and entrepreneurial business environments.

New Media Academy Year One

Introduction to New Media 1A and 1B
One-year - no prerequisites - meets daily – required for all student entering the New Media Academy (NMA)
This engaging course will help prepare students for academic and professional success. NMA students will build a foundation of the visual communication skills needed for a career in the growing field of web, video, and print design. Students will be introduced to photography and video composition and editing, digital image creation and manipulation, graphic design, color theory, and typography. They will also review correct keyboarding, word processing, and presentation skills, and create an electronic-web-portfolio and a short graphic novel. Software includes: Adobe CS3 Design Premium, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, Google Docs and Presentation, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and other applications as they are needed. There are many equivalent software titles for Windows.

The Digital Lifestyle
“The only thing we can be sure of is change.” - Vaughan, B. W. This course is blended into the curriculum.  It is designed to help students understand, enjoy, and feel the excitement in the ever-changing world of technology. Students will learn how to easily find key resources that will keep them on the front edge of new innovations and evolving social movements.  They will be given in-class time to practice becoming a life-long learner through: podcast subscriptions, video news sites, blogs, and other resources.  Each student will regularly prepare a short multimedia presentation on interesting new information they discovered.

New Media Academy Year Two
One-year – meets everyday - prerequisite: completion of New Media 1A and 1B
Visual Design 2
Students develop skills that lay the foundation for photography and producing print-ready communications: graphic design principles, print production development, shared project management skills such as interviewing and project scheduling, peer review, and redesign. Project activities focus on developing effective communications that can be deployed in print, on the web, or in a video. Students develop a variety of graphics: a logo, a business card, and a client advertisement. They produce design documents and visual comps that clients review. Students culminate the course with a portfolio project during which they reflect on the skills and topics they’ve covered thus far and begin to explore the career areas that interest them in visual design.
Students use Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended to develop images, Adobe InDesign CS4 to design and build layouts and print materials, Adobe Illustrator CS4 to create vector-based graphics and illustrations to add interest. and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional to review and improve content, produce print-ready materials, and develop a portfolio.

Digital Video 2
Digital Video 1 lays the foundation for skills in shooting video, composition, communications, story planning, audio and narration planning and recording, video editing, shared project management skills such as interviewing and project scheduling, peer review, and redesign. Project activities focus on developing effective communications that can be deployed on DVD, digital videotape, or the web. Students develop a variety of videos focused on genres such as an action video, a news story, and a public service announcement. Students culminate the class with a portfolio project in which they reflect on the skills and topics they’ve covered and begin their career exploration to better understand what areas interest them in digital video.
The key skills emphasized are:
• Ethical considerations for editing and producing videos
• Designing for a variety of audiences and needs
• The design process and effective communication
• Peer teaching and evaluation in a collaborative environment
• Shooting, capturing, editing, and enhancing video and audio

Web Design Foundations 2
This course lays the foundation for producing web-ready communications: storyboards, web development, shared project management skills such as interviewing and project scheduling, peer review, and redesign. Project activities focus on developing effective communications that can be deployed on the web. Students develop a variety of graphical images, an electronic portfolio, and a client website. Students work individually or on teams and produce rich media communications such as digital narratives and rich media elements of client websites. They focus on effective rich media design, multimedia storyboarding, and design specifications with clients. They produce design documents and visual comps that clients review. They develop rich media designs that solve specific communication challenges, and build technical skills to address client needs.
The key skills emphasized in this semester are:
• “Soft” skills such as interviewing and responding to feedback
• Communication with clients, using design documents or specifications
• Design and redesign according to client specifications
• Technical multimedia skills such as film effects and transitions
• Design solutions, including effective navigation systems and digital narratives
Students learn Adobe Flash CS4 to apply design solutions requiring rich media and interactivity. This content prepares students for the Adobe Certified Associate in Rich Media Communication using Adobe Flash CS4 examination.

The National Education Technology Standards addressed
“What students should know and be able to do to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world …”
2007 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/index.html - Choose: National Educational Technology Standards 2007

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
3. Research and Information Fluency 
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems and operations.

California Department of Education: Career Pathway
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/careertechstnd.pdf

The New Media Academy will build a foundation for students to pursue a career in the following Media and Design Arts:

Computer graphics, digital design, web design, animation, computer game development, Internet publishing, building interactive online media, movie and video production, broadcast, commercial digital artist, photography, or computer science.

Of all the career industries, the Media and Design Arts sector requires perhaps the greatest cross-disciplinary interaction and development because the work in this sector has a propensity to be largely project-based, requiring uniquely independent work and self-management career skills.

Whatever the form or medium of creative expression, all careers in this sector require “publication” or a public presentation in one-way or another. Therefore there is a focus on the technical, organizational, and managerial knowledge and skills necessary to bring a project to the public.

New technological developments are also constantly reshaping the boundaries and skill sets of many arts career pathways. Consequently, core arts sector occupations demand constantly varying combinations of skills.

Successful career preparation involves both in-depth and broad academic preparation as well as the cultivation of such intangible assets as flexibility, problem-solving abilities, and interpersonal skills.