Creative Technologies Bootcamp

Creative Technologies Online Bootcamp

July 15, 2021 — August 15, 2021
Creative Technologies Online Bootcamp

A CTC Professional Development Program

Format: Online Asynchronous with Live, Professional Coaching Sessions

Registration Fee: $395

Group/Team Discount (5 or more): 25% off the registration fee, please contact cps@tc.columbia.edu to register

Units Awarded: 20 clock hours or 20 CTLEs

Questions? Contact cps@tc.columbia.edu

Overview

The ubiquity of digital and interactive media has drastically changed the way today’s educators teach and share knowledge. Today’s young learners are drawn towards newly available digital, interactive ways of learning and creating. This summer, join us to explore new ways of incorporating design and code into your K12 teaching practice. No prior experience with creative technology needed. Everyone is welcome from newcomers to technology masters! Participants can choose from two levels of difficulty and four topic areas in order to build a personal curriculum tailored for one’s professional needs.

Outline

This survey-style, online curriculum will last for a total of four weeks. During this period, educators will complete four learning modules:

  1. Digital Storytelling
  2. Animation
  3. Creative Coding
  4. 3D & Mixed Reality

Attendees will have roughly one week to finish each specific learning module and complete the hands-on creative assignment along the way. Each attendee will document his/her learning journey through an online blog, receiving feedback along the way. Instructors will also be available to chat with students to provide help and guidance. At the conclusion of the course, all students will have the opportunity to meet their peers through an online presentation forum, showcase their learning outcome and receive critical feedback from peers and mentors. At the end of the curriculum, students will develop a solid understanding of the fundamentals of digital and software-based creation processes.

Level Of Difficulty

The Bootcamp is offered at two different levels, Beginner and Intermediate.

Beginner level roughly corresponds to PreK-Elementary School Level. Intermediate roughly corresponds to Middle School-High School level. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature of creative technologies, some additional factors should also be considered when deciding course levels, such as if the registrants have had any prior experiences with creative technologies, the subject area the registrants currently teach, and the particular type of technology covered in each module (see Module tab for more details).

Module Descriptions

Digital Storytelling

  • Beginner Level: Attendees will explore concepts, tools, and methods of producing videos. Select sessions are organized into categories: pre-production, production, and post-production. The series is designed to support educators in both creating videos to complement their curricula, and as a pedagogical tool that students can also engage in. As such, we will work with software/hardware that is available on most macs, and also some that are downloadable, either free or at a minimal cost. At the end of the sessions, attendees will be able to conceive, shoot, and edit a beginner-level video project. No previous experience is necessary. Participants can use their phones, video cameras, computer cameras, or other readily available cameras to record videos. At the end of the sessions, we will also learn how to source royalty-free videos online for cameraless video production, in addition to several other tips and resources.
  • Intermediate Level: Attendees will explore a variety of digital storytelling methods including podcast creation and thoughtful video documentation. This series is designed to support educators in engaging the audio and video skills that students have developed through their use of social media. Many students are choosing to digitally document their day-to-day activities and upload them to platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the shift of our social lives from in-person to digital interactions. This series will use some of the skills that students are picking up through social media platforms and explore methods for utilizing them in an academic context. Educators can empower students to act on social and environmental issues that are important to them. This course will consider how we can use storytelling to engage students and to help them to find their voice in the digital age.

Animation

  • Beginner Level: In this series of online classes, participants will learn the basics of animation, starting from beginner “frame-to-frame” animation and gradually working up to more advanced methods such as “pose-to-pose” animation and “tweened” animations (all taught through Adobe Animate). Once the fundamentals of animation have been addressed, the remaining sessions of the course will then move into the specific nuances of stop-motion animation wherein we will tackle stop-motion mediums (i.e. clay, collage, cutout shapes, figurines, etc.), and the potential resources that educators can use in their classrooms (i.e. iCanAnimate, iMotion, etc.). Participants in this online series should expect to emerge from these 4 classes with a comprehensive understanding of all forms of animation, which can then be universally applied to different animated mediums. Additionally, if time permits, each participant should expect to have created (or contributed to creating) at least 10-20 seconds of animation at some point throughout the series. Lastly, at the conclusion of the unit, participants will be offered concrete guidance for integrating animation into their K-12 classrooms, and anecdotal lesson plan tips from an educator that has taught animation to both elementary and secondary grade levels. Please note that the animation techniques discussed in this workshop series will be contingent upon the availability of a technological resource for sequencing the animation (i.e. phone, laptop, tablet, etc.), manual animation styles (i.e. flipbook or lightbox animation) will not be covered.
  • Intermediate Level: "Animation," otherwise known as "the illusion of movement through the persistence of vision" is characterized by a deliberate sequencing of images that affect perception to create a feeling of motion. Though seemingly complex, animation through all its forms finds its roots in this very simple principle. Throughout the course of this session, attendees will have an opportunity to explore animation in its simplest form, with a focus on Key-Frame Animation (Adobe Animate) and 3D Animation (Cinema4D, Maya).

Creative Coding

  • Beginner Level: Creative Coding is a digital-making workshop designed to touch upon basic programming skills in the context of art-making practice. The entire workshop is built around free software and is designed for those who are new to coding. While digital fabrication is not the focus of this workshop, each section will provide extensions for those participants who have access to machines like 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, or digital embroidery machines. The learning module sequence will begin with an introduction to rules-based art looking at the work of contemporary artists who use algorithms in their design process. We will progress to TurtleArt, a graphical Logo coding environment to create radial designs while exploring loops, functions, and variables. TurtleArt uses a relative cursor on a Cartesian grid canvas that traces a line to create a design. Like mapping, the user can imagine themselves in the space which makes it an excellent beginner coding environment.
  • Intermediate Level: Attendees will explore the p5.js JavaScript library as a design tool for creating artistic, web-based artworks. This module is designed to give attendees an understanding of basic web design tools as we will be touching upon using HTML, and CSS in conjunction with JavaScript for building art and digital media for the web. In addition to the works they create in this module, they will learn to host their works on GitHub Pages, to build a multi-file website to display and share out their digital creations. The intermediate Creative Coding module will give participants an exciting tool for digital creation, archiving, and version control of their code-based artwork. Attendees should have some experience with coding; block-based programs like Scratch or Turtle graphics programs would be a good foundation for this course.

3D Modeling and Augmented Reality

  • Beginner Level: This workshop provides an introduction to 3D scanning, modeling, and augmented reality (AR) software for the computer, iPad, and smartphone. The 3D modeling software covered will range from easy-to-use software such as Morphi on the iPad to intermediate level- Meshmixer, and touch upon more professional level programs such as Fusion 360. Scanning and AR software will be free and low-cost apps that can be used on newer smartphones or iPad. At the beginning of the course, the instructor will present an overview of 3D printing that includes examples from a variety of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math)-oriented applications, and how 3D printing is being used in the educational field. Workshop participants will learn to scan people and objects, touch up or manipulate those scans, and ready them for 3D printing. Participants will also learn to model their own unique designs as well as how to convert one of their models to be viewable in AR using a smartphone or iPad. At the conclusion of the session, the instructor will give recommendations for various curriculum projects using 3D scanning, modeling, and/or AR and will provide a list of additional free and low-cost recommendations for other software as well as equipment solutions and services to print their model.
  • Intermediate Level: Attendees will explore concepts and practices related to 3D modeling, software design, and development, with a focus on 3D modeling with Tinkercad, 3D rendering with Blender, and designing and developing Instagram AR Filter effects using the Facebook Spark AR platform. In the design portion of the workshop, attendees will be familiarized with current 3D modeling, software design practice, and its impact on contemporary digital culture. In the development portion of the workshop, attendees will understand core Spark AR development concepts such as Facetracking and background removal; being able to develop visual styles with visual elements such as text, image, and gif; understand the basics of scripting, and being able to reproduce or script basic dynamic interactivities such as screen touch, mouse open, etc; understand the process of software testing, exporting, and publishing. Attendees are expected to have basic graphic design skills and basic experience interacting with Instagram Filter effects.

Instructors

Elizabeth Spearman

Elizabeth Spearman is a current masters student at Teachers College in the Ed.M. Art & Art Education Program with a concentration in creative technology. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute where she majored in painting and minored in sustainability studies. She has experience working at the Rubelle & Norman Schafler Gallery as well as the Pratt Manhattan Gallery. Currently, Elizabeth works as an admissions counselor for Pratt Institute where she reviews visual portfolios and conducts informational interviews.

Darien Long

Darien Ray Long is a current masters student at Teachers College in the MA Art & Art Education Initial Certification Program. He received his bachelor’s degree in Boston, MA, where he studied Film and Television at Boston University. During this time, he became proficient in filmmaking, animation, sound design, graphic design, visual/special effects, and photography, while also taking up a variety of freelance work and independent opportunities that aligned with these disciplines. Currently, Darien works to merge his love for creative multimedia technologies with his passion for education by refining his vision for a secondary curriculum called 'Education Through Multimedia Creation.

Erin Riley

Erin Riley is the Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Jackson Director of the Engineering and Design Lab at Greenwich Academy, a PreK-12 independent school for girls. Working in a hands-on studio/lab environment for 18 years and teaching in a variety of schools has allowed Erin to mentor other educators from a diversity of experiences and perspectives. Erin has developed a language for working with teachers in both STEM and the humanities to craft personal and uniquely integrated projects that meet both classroom learning objectives and school-wide curricular threads for engineering and design. Erin is among the first cohort of Senior FabLearn Fellows at Teachers College where she writes on the topic of maker education, curriculum design, and the intersection of art, design, and engineering. She holds an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and is the author of The Art of Digital Fabrication from CMK Press.

Zhenzhen Qi

Zhenzhen Qi is a research artist, educator, and technologist. Since 2014, she has taught theory and practice of interactive media, web, and game development at Teachers College, Columbia University, City University of New York(CUNY), Guangzhou Academy of Art(GAFA), Creative Technology Week(CTW), Power Station of Art(PSA), among others. She is a technology resident at Pioneer Works, a member of the art and technology incubator NEW INC, led by New Museum, co-founder of New York-based media research and production studio zzyw.org. She was recently awarded a Brooklyn Arts Council fund to research and develop Collaborative Worlding, an alternative education model that involves artists, technologists, and players of video games. Zhenzhen is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education (EdD), focusing on Computational Art Education, at Teachers College, Columbia University.

 

Richard Jochum | Faculty Coordinator

Richard Jochum is a conceptual artist working in a broad variety of media with a strong focus on video, interactive installation, performance, and photography. He is a studio member at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts and an associate professor of art and art education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He has worked in various media since the late 1990s and has had more than 130 international exhibitions and screenings. Richard received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna (1997) and an MFA in sculpture and media art from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (2001). Richard’s art practice is accompanied by publications and research in the field of cultural theory, new media, and contemporary art and he has been awarded several grants and prizes. One of his latest large-scale art installations has been a 30,000 square feet collaborative video mapping project onto the Manhattan Bridge.

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