Fair Grove High School students are learning industry leading digital skills as well as getting hands-on experience with real-world scenarios through their involvement in the school’s Digital Communications class.
Digital Communications helps students build their technology skill sets so they can bring their creative ideas to life in a variety of digital formats. Additionally, the class provides opportunities for students to get more involved in activities and events.
The class is designed to allow students to develop different methods of communication through digital means. A regular day in the classroom consists of learning experiences such as editing, scripting, and filming videos for a wide variety of topics.
Jalen Supancic, Fair Grove High School’s Digital Communication’s teacher explains, “Each topic is focused on highlighting different aspects of video production and helps teach students how to use specific thoughts, actions, and emotions to create a video with specific intentions in mind.”
One of the specific skills students gain from the class is how to edit videos through the Adobe Suite of products, which is a leader in the creative software space. Students get to put what they have learned into action by operating Fair Grove’s new video board in the high school gym.
“I learned how to work the video board in the gym and have created videos to be played on it. I’ve learned to create content that attracts a broad audience and keeps people interested in what Fair Grove is doing as a school,” Allison Findley (12) says about her experience in the class.
Students are also getting the opportunity to learn about certain editing tools movie and commercial producers use in their jobs to make their final products.
Digital Communications class teaches students how to communicate through technology and with one another. Nolen Geitz (11) shares, “I have learned how to collaborate with others to make something which is an important life skill, and also if I ever want to go into photography or cinematography in my future, I have that baseline skill set.”
Another benefit of the class is it prepares students for interactions that they will have in the future. Supancic states, “In a world where technology is very present, students must learn about how the intent and content found within digital productions will affect the way that others view it.”
The knowledge students gain in the class goes beyond the specifics of the technology. The students are learning the importance of their own ideas. Findley shares, “Creating good videos is not about the high end professional software you use, but it’s about the quality of your creativity.”
