Intro to Multimedia Class

Its always been a struggle for me to balance teaching and operating the studio at the same time. Until Bridget started working at the studio on April 28th (little over three months ago) it was hard for me to get any real work done on the days that I taught. For the past four years until this past Spring I taught only one class.  Then at the end of last year I was informed that I was being given the privilege of teaching not one but two classes at the Lone Star College North Harris campus; Digital Video (which I've taught since Fall of 2004) and Intro to Multimedia.

The Intro to Multimedia class allows me to share with all my students my true love of all the different types of media... photography, graphic design, video, web site and DVD creation. In this class all the students get hands on practice and learn practical knowledge of how to use the variety of multimedia software that Adobe has on the market (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Premiere, Encore and After Effects). The students are also introduced to the superior Apple Macintosh. Yes, I said superior (PC's and Microsoft are of the devil), not because I have only ever used the Mac, but because the Mac is truly the world's most user friendly and most stable operating system. But, we'll leave that for another discussion. Those of you who have taken my class you know how I feel about the Mac.

This summer was only the second semester that I taught the Intro class. After teaching it last Spring I knew that something had to be changed. Last Spring I had several students who were simply bored with the repetitive book reading, writing papers and only working with the Adobe software for about half of the contact hours. I had to create a more functional way to teach them all how fun it could be to use all the software packages together to create a user friendly multimedia experience. I'm happy to say it was a success. Normally on any given semester the turn over rate for students staying through the semester versus those who drop the class (for whatever reason) is generally 1/2. If 20 students enroll, likely 10 will drop. This summer, every student stayed to the end. I am so grateful that you all stuck through it. I know the class can be tough, learning the software can be daunting, working with the Mac for the first time is a challenge, but you all did it; I am so proud of you all. Not only did they all stay for the duration of the class, few were ever absent and you all demonstrated a drive to learn all that you could.

Thank you all for allowing me to make a difference. Thank you for not just being my students but my friends. I will miss the eight hours a week that we spent together. I look forward to seeing you all go on to do great things. I will always be here as a mentor and friend if you ever need help with your careers or simply just want to talk about life. Remember who to come to for your photography when you go to get married. I hope you all took something away from the class that allows you to go on to not only help yourselves through life but also those around you. Thanks again Barbara for my new box camera. It will be displayed prominently with my growing antique camera display. Don't be strangers guys.

PHOTOS AND VIDEO COMING SOON! COME BACK!