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WHAT IS MEDIA ARTS?
Media Arts can be defined as the creative use of technology. It can also be called the "digital arts" in these main forms: photography, imaging, sound, animation, video and film, web design, virtual design, interactive design, and 3D design. Various sub-forms include: graphic design, motion graphics visual effects, music, sound design, app design, game design, architectural design, entertainment design, virtual and augmented reality, etc. as well as their combinations, and new, emerging forms.
WHAT IS MEDIA ARTS EDUCATION?
Media Arts Education is the instruction in and use of the above forms of production and design in K12 schools for learning and creating. The educational aspect also encompasses its integration with any other subject areas and arts disciplines. For example, the video production of a historical drama would combine English Language Arts, Social Studies, Theatre and Music with Video Production. This extends into its distribution in websites and social media outlets. Media Arts Education is the full, "standards-based" implementation of the arts discipline, including essential components of media, aesthetic and cultural literacy for the critical analysis of media arts products and experiences.
WHAT CAN STUDENTS PRODUCE AND DESIGN WITH MEDIA ARTS?
Students can produce any communication, expression or design they can imagine, from web sites, movies and sound productions, to 3D designs and games, as well as their combinations in "transmedia" productions. With advents in interactivity, virtual design and augmented reality, students can produce entire interactive worlds.
WHY IS THIS NOT ALREADY PART OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS?
Media Arts is not totally new and has usually been under Visual Arts categories. Media Arts' recent and rapid expansion in forms, complexity and central role in 21st Century culture has necessitated its separation, as is reflected in industry, higher-education and arts organizations (National Endowment for the Arts, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, Every Student Succeeds Act) . It now has very unique characteristics, forms, tools, and processes, as well as great potentials for learning and creating.
WHY DOES MEDIA ARTS EDUCATION NEED SUPPORT?
Media arts is a new subject area categorization in schools. Traditional educational structures and methods are challenged to recognize and adapt to new inclusions that don't already exist in the system. Media arts educators and programs need specific support in standards, pre-service and in-service training, and program development. Media Arts Teachers are not specifically cited as a demand, and are therefore not trained in credential programs, nor hired by districts. Also, as an arts content, Media Arts is considered to be "non-essential", and an "elective" option. "Media Arts Education" needs strong community support to become fully established within the institution as a distinct, core subject, as per the Every Student Succeeds Act. Then it can can fulfill its potential as a central "hub" discipline for digital projects that integrate all arts and academic content areas in real world learning.
HOW IS MEDIA ARTS EDUCATION ESTABLISHED?
National Core Media Arts Standards have been developed by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards for voluntary adoption or adaptation by states. States then can determine what formal measures they would like to implement in order to institutionalize the discipline. Standards can form a community of practice whereby various media arts educators align their methods and outcomes. This formation, along with broad public demand, would then encourage schools, districts and states to begin authorizing courses and credentials to institutionalize the discipline. A fully established arts content discipline is listed separately in state standards, frameworks, courses and credentials.
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA ARTS EDUCATION AND CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION?
There can be great similarities and complements between the two at high school levels.
- Career Technical Education (Arts Media and Entertainment) is at high school level only and tends to have specific vocational goals and requirements for instructors' expertise, equipment, program characteristics and matriculation to maintain state or federal funding.
- Media Arts Education is a K12 subject area categorization, similar to English, Math and the other Arts, formed through unique standards, frameworks and curricula, that has great flexibility in teacher experience, forms, methods and interdisciplinary processes. Its outcomes are more general to academic and artistic achievement, as in preparation for career and college.
- These two programs are distinct but complementary, and potentially institutional reciprocating to their mutual benefit and development. This will be an ongoing conversation based on teacher-based collaborations and institutional . CTE educators and supporters are encouraged to sign-on and become a part of this effort!
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