El Camino High School's Digital Media Pathway is a series of career technical education (CTE) classes that focus on digital media arts. The program features graphic design (marketing and advertising through images that have been digitally produced and enhanced), and web design (production of online content aimed at selling or promoting products or services).

The sequence of courses forms what's called a "pathway" which, when completed, shows you how to become a freelance designer capable of starting your own business or working at a professional design agency. Either way, it has the potential to start you on a very successful and lucrative career.

Grading Policy

Each assignment has clear expectations and a defined due date. If the student does not turn in the assignment by that date, the highest possible grade that you could get on that assignment goes down one letter grade each business day. If a student has excused absences for days that we worked on the project in class, they have that many days to make up the assignment with no penalty.

For example: If something is due on a Thursday and you turn it in on a Monday, the best you can get on it is a "C" because it is two business days late (weekends don't count).

If you are missing an assignment and believe that you already completed it, it is your responsibility to contact me via email (aaron.grable@oside.us) to get that fixed.

Google classroom is a useful tool for organizing your classes, viewing your assignments, interacting with each other and the teacher and turning in your work digitally. The district gives you unlimited space on their Google Drive but that goes away after your senior year. At that time, you'll need to find a way to migrate your information to your own Google Drive if you want to keep it.

This is the process for working with Google Classroom:

1. Make sure you're logged in to your school Google Drive.
2. Click on the green Google Classroom to the left or click here
3. Sign in, using your school email (your student ID plus "@oside.us")
4. Your password is your eight-digit birthdate (for example, January 1st, 2022 would be 01012022)
5. Sign up for classes using the codes I give you in class.
6. Use this portal to view, complete and turn in assignments

Success tip: go to your student calendar (while logged in as a student) by clicking here and you'll see all your due dates for all your Classroom classes!

Note: If you don't plan on checking your district email (yourstudentid@oside.us), you should set it up so those emails forward to your personal account.

Schedule for Graphic Design:

(year-to-date schedule here, district schedule here, bell schedule here)

Portfolio: addresses here, form to submit your address here.

Links to your files: 1st, 5th, 6th

Short for the week: Broken

Mock interview schedule here. If you don't show up for your interview, you don't get credit for it.

6/2: Students will choose and begin a tutorial-based design project that they will customize to match the style of the studio they researched. Go over mock interview form and expectations.

6/3: Students assigned to mock interviews will participate in them; everyone else will continue working on their tutorial project and begin making stylistic adjustments to fit their chosen studio.

6/4: Students continue developing their tutorial project with feedback and refinement focused on making it look like something the studio they chose would actually produce.

6/5: Second round of mock interviews takes place; students not interviewing should have most of their tutorial project completed and ready to add to their portfolio.

6/6: Students begin preparing slides and talking points for their final presentation, including selecting the piece they’ll show and writing what they’ll say about it.

For finals week:

6/9 (Monday): Regular schedule. All students should finalize their tutorial project and begin preparing their slides and talking points for the presentation.

6/10 (Tuesday): Finals for Periods 1 & 2. Period 1 students will give their final presentations—show your studio-inspired design, explain your choices, and reflect on what you learned.

6/11 (Wednesday): Finals for Periods 3 & 4. No graphic design today—this is your prep day to review slides and polish your talking points if needed.

6/12 (Thursday): Finals for Periods 5 & 6. Periods 5 and 6 students will give their final presentations.

Please note: anyone who finishes their assignment is required to continue working on something (a) productive and (b) relevant to web or graphic design. You will lose one point for every class period that you don't.

Schedule for Web Design:

(year-to-date schedule here, district schedule here, bell schedule here)

Portfolio: addresses here, form to submit your address here.

Links to your files: 3rd, 4th

Link to Business Contact Tracker HERE

Short for the week: Broken

Mock interview schedule here. If you don't show up for your interview, you don't get credit for i

6/2: Follow up with your client if you haven’t heard back. If approved, you should have chosen an Astra template and started customizing the homepage.

6/3: Interview day for some. Others must edit homepage content, update images, and remove any unneeded pages.

6/4: Customize About and Contact pages, fix menus, and begin preparing what you’ll say in your final presentation.

6/5: Interview day continues. Others finish Services or Portfolio page and check mobile layout and spacing.

6/6: Final edits and full site test. Seniors prep for Monday presentation; everyone else preps for Wednesday.

For finals week:

6/9 (Monday): Regular schedule. All students should finalize their website content, check mobile responsiveness, and rehearse their presentation.

6/10 (Tuesday): Finals for Periods 1 & 2. No web design today.

6/11 (Wednesday): Finals for Periods 3 & 4. Periods 3 and 4 students will present their final websites, explaining design decisions, client feedback, and site functionality.

6/12 (Thursday): Finals for Periods 5 & 6. No web design today.

Please note: anyone who finishes their assignment is required to continue working on something (a) productive and (b) relevant to web or graphic design. You will lose one point for every class period that you don't.

Resources:

• Assignment folder here
• Business contact tracker here
• Portfolio address/progress reports here
• Web Design syllabus and outline
• Click here if you need your work from previous years
• Link to ECHS vector here
• Link to WordPress site here