El Camino High School's Digital Arts Media Academy 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 80% 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 ([email protected]) 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 ([email protected]), you should set it up so those emails forward to your personal account. For more info on that, go to this link and follow the instructions on "how to forward all new emails".

Schedule for Graphic Design:

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

Weekly addition to your graphic design portfolio here

Classroom folder for 1, 2, 6

Rules for SD Fair entry are finally in! Read them here. We're on page 10, look for "product packaging".

3/20: Block schedule, 1/3/5. Everyone is done with sketch, goal is to finish up presentation by end of class. Read expectations, keep it brief, make it exciting and engaging for us "investors". Second half, choose package and talk about the structure of your package. Basically, it's a brochure! Presentation due.

3/21: Block schedule, 2/4/6. Same curriculum as Monday students had. Presentation due.

3/22: Regular schedule.

3/23: Block schedule, 1/3/5. Presentations to start, then work on package. Might need to create some custom images for your package if your item is imaginary or something that isn't commonly seen. Talk about different parts of box and "bleed" area.

3/24: Block schedule, 2/4/6. Same curriculum as Thursday students had.

Coming up:

  • Block schedule, starting 3/16. Schedule outline is here.
  • Tour of Mira Costa college (limited seats) in April
  • Portfolio due, completed, mid-may
  • Mock interviews, end of May

Resources:

Schedule for Web Design:

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

Weekly addition to your web design portfolio here

Classroom folder for 3 and 5

3/20: Block schedule, 1/3/5.

3/21: Block schedule, 2/4/6. No Grable today!

3/22: Regular schedule.

3/23: Block schedule, 1/3/5.

3/24: Block schedule, 2/4/6. No Grable today!

Coming up:

  • Block schedule, starting 3/16. Schedule outline is here.
  • JavaScript intro beginning of April. Need to sign up for CodePen here
  • Tour of Mira Costa college (limited seats) in April
  • Tour of SDSU (limited seats) in late April, Early May
  • Portfolio due, completed, mid-May
  • CTE Expo, mid-May
  • Chamber presentation, late May
  • Mock interviews, end of May

Resources:

Revise your work:

In an actual studio, your work is not final until the customer is satisfied with its quality. When I grade items, my thinking is the same: if you produce work that is below the quality that I feel you're capable of, you have a chance to revise it and resubmit. Though the resubmitted work won't be worth the full amount of the original assignment, it will increase your grade significantly.

If you received a nine or ten out of ten, this is superior work. No need for revision. You've shown you understand the concept we're practicing and have even put some extra effort into making it perfect. You should be proud to show this off.

If you received a seven or eight out of ten, this work is adequate. You completed the assignment and though you didn't put extra effort into it, the finished product is "good".

If you received a six or less, this work is not as good as I know you're capable of. You may have misunderstood the assignment, chosen not to complete it, or rushed through it. The finished product is not something I would feel comfortable showing to others.

If you received a six or less, you have the option to re-do the assignment, incorporating my suggestions, one time. Though the resubmitted work will not get a perfect score (that would be unfair to those that turned it in on time), it will be rescored and the higher score will be put in the gradebook.