Four Things Media Students Should Learn When Their Lab is Stripped Away
As a high school teacher who uses 75 percent of class time for hands-on lab, if not more, learning from home meant re-framing all of my lessons or coming up with new lessons completely.
The learning objectives became even more important because I had to come up with a new way to teach them. It was a beneficial questioning process because we can easily get so wrapped up in the technology and equipment we use, that we can forget the fundamental basics that require little more than a smartphone to create.
I settled in on some of the most important objectives I feel students need to grow in the media industry regardless of teaching them in the class or online.
1) The Story
I focus every lesson on storytelling, but now more than ever, we have an opportunity to teach students about why it is we even do what we do. Finding, recognizing, and re-telling a story using some type of technology is what media class is all about. Telling a story is a skill that will follow them to many different careers, even if they don’t go into the media.
2) The Medium
What medium will tell your story best? As Marshall McLuhan coined, the Medium is the Message. The ability to tell a story using different mediums, from radio/podcasting to broadcast video packages to a written news story, requires basic knowledge of the medium and art form.
3) The Audience
While the medium and the message are key, they are both dictated by the audience. While students currently are without broadcasting technology to create their passion projects at home, they still have a device of some kind, a phone or computer, that they can use to tell a story. Apps like Clips, Stop Motion Studio, and iMovie are a couple I have had students use that are all free and provide all of the most basic editing functions necessary to build a story.
4) Composition
I always begin with teaching the elements of art and basic composition and framing. Students catch on quickly, but as soon as more technology and equipment are introduced, the basic concepts of good art-framing, rule of thirds, etc., go out the window. Good composition can be the major part of any project done on any device at home, remotely, or in the studio.
I would argue that with the ability to understand and manipulate these four aspects of media, students will be ready to take on whatever entry level job they get, their college media studies, or even to do meaningful freelance projects of their own after graduation.
The root of this list is the story, the trunk and body of the tree is the medium, the audience are the branches, and the fruit is the composition. People are often pulled and attracted to a piece usually because of the fruit - art and composition of it. That’s the appeal. But without the roots of a solid human story, the right medium to express that story, all geared towards the right audience, the fruit means little.
The switch to teaching online only has reminded me of this and challenged me to think about how these aspects of media are being assessed and taught in every lesson and lab I do.
Meet the Author, Chelsea Shar
Chelsea Shar has been the Media Arts Career Tech Teacher at Alliance High School for a year and a half. She graduated from Malone University with a degree in communications, and she worked for a few years as a beat reporter for several local newspapers in northeast Ohio where video work snuck into her job description more every year.
She enjoys photography, gardening, reading, writing and yoga when she has the time. She resides in Alliance, Ohio with her husband and 2 year old son.
You can reach Chelsea at sharch@alliancecityschools.org