Media arts is a newly distinguished, nationally available, “5th arts content discipline”, that encompasses cinema, animation, imaging, sound, interactive and virtual design, including game, app, web, 3D and multimedia design. This dynamic assembly forms an intersecting, “creative hub” that can integrate any and all arts and academic content disciplines in interdisciplinary, project and design-based forms of learning. As a virtual “maker studio space” for creative expression and inventive design, students can share their points of view, research, experiment, and present information about their communities, and construct entire interactive, virtual worlds.
Within this creative, virtual space, where students can produce or design almost anything imaginable, students are fully engaged in the learning process through authentic, 21st century practices. They work together to discover and solve problems through the creation of cultural products and experiences, actively representing and enacting their new knowledge. They realize for themselves the tangible rewards and connective power of learning. They come to govern and value the process of learning itself, towards becoming self-directed, lifelong learners. Media arts forms the potential for a connective, “culture of learning”, that "dissolves classroom walls" across the local community and the larger world.
Consider these examples of media arts education in action:
- Students are challenged with designing a sustainable community on Mars. They produce media arts projects to investigate, develop and present their findings and propositions to scientists and their community: multimedia portraits and interactive maps of their local community; investigatory documentary and news segments on the various aspects of environmental, Mars and Earth science; models and prototypes of new technologies necessary for settling on Mars; animations and games about the adventure and technical challenge of travelling to and thriving on a remote, inhospitable planet; and animated, virtual 3D architectural renderings of their proposed community. (NASA/JPL)
- Students engage in online cultural exchanges with classrooms around the world, exhibiting their local communities, their ideas and dreams, academics, culture and arts, and the issues and challenges of their society and environment. Through various “transmedia” channels, students can produce and share: news, academic presentations (TED), dance, poetry and music videos, interactive games, live theater and music presentations, interviews, streaming chats and twitter feeds, etc. They can interact and reflect on each other’s educational methods, cultures and consider potential future collaborations.
- Students produce historical video games, which incorporate a diverse range of skills and concepts, such as: visual, spatial, and interactive composition, character design, story development, environmental design, game theory, spatial and interactive computations, code, script-writing, psychology, marketing, interactive motion physics, 3D surface rendering, etc, all based around the content knowledge of a historical setting.
- Limited English Speakers work collaboratively with fluent English speaking peers on a variety of video production projects and formats, including talk shows, cooking, reality, game, drama, and talent shows. They must actively utilize and expand their language fluency in examining, analyzing and evaluating media examples, and then in collaborative, organizational production processes, and in playing various roles in the productions.
- Students construct a virtual environment, with limited space, time and resources, where they must learn to collaborate and negotiate in order to maintain peace and avoid conflict, all while designing sustainable cities.
