In the past, Animated Graphics was open to only students in the  Media Arts Program. The course taught fundamental skills needed for MAP, including how to use different programs like Photoshop and Flash Animation.

Starting next year, however, the class, will be open to all students in order to promote interest in MAP and media arts in general. The class was not offered this year and had been taught by former teacher Cathy Leather in previous years.

Animated Graphics focuses mainly on projects. Students create short animated stories, visually attractive infographics and even collages.

After learning many of the prerequisite programs, students are allowed to specialize in a specific area that they enjoy. While some students prefer working with Flash animation, others would rather design infographics and edit photos in Photoshop. The course offers flexibility in this regard, giving students creative control over their own interests.

In addition, students receive grades mainly based on their skill level: More advanced work is expected of those who are capable of it while less proficient students are assessed more leniently.

Sophomore Timothy Kobara, who took Animated Graphics as a freshman, said that this style of grading is better than the standard grading rubric of other classes because it caters more to individual students’ needs.

The class is designed to be a low-stress introduction into the Media Arts Program, teaching many of the important prerequisite programs and skills needed to succeed in MAP.

“I really enjoyed [Animated Graphics] because all of the assignments were a lot of fun, but there were still certain guidelines to follow that made the assignments more challenging to us,” Kobara said. “The class was overall pretty easy and relaxed.”