• IM Business Connections (Video)

Students do real-world jobs for non-profit and small business clients. Business skills are a very important part of the Interactive Media curriculum. The entire two-year IM program contains many projects that are actual, real-world jobs.

Many of the jobs completed during the junior year are basic design jobs done for the High School administration, staff, faculty, sports teams, and extracurricular programs. These "in-house" jobs are taken on and completed by the students and facilitated by the IM teacher in order to help students develop the skills specific to working in the design industry. Students learn the communication skills necessary to work efficiently and confidently with adult clients, and organizational skills such as time management with deadlines, teamwork, and recognition of common patterns that occur with commercial design projects.

During the senior year, students will work on more difficult jobs with outside local businesses and non-profit agencies.

Competitions

Annual competitive events test professionalism and technical skills. Competitions are an opportunity to showcase the jobs that students completed in class, or to test knowledge and skill in design software.

Competitions are an element of the curriculum that utilize some of the higher levels of learning in the class experience. For example, preparing to compete and the act of competing will develop professional skills.

Students will have the opportunity to compete if there are projects that prove worthy of submitting, such as a job that went extraordinarily well, or if there is time available to develop a worthy project for a competition. Not all students will compete, nor are they required to compete.

Opportunities to compete are limited because of funding shortages that would provide transportation and other travel costs (hotels). Some competitions are affordable while others are very expensive (because of travel distance, etc.).

Field trips teach students about the industry environment. Students travel to various businesses in the local area to see how the job world works. Students have visited television stations, printing companies, photography studios, art galleries, and the art museum. Students also have visited the locations of businesses that have been clients in the classroom to see how the design work is being used by the clients.

Business Seminars

Business seminars teach skills that are typically known as "soft skills" or "professional skills" or "employability skills." These are the skills that are statistically the most sought after skills from all employers, so they are valuable and "transferable" from one job to another.

How do people get these skills? Quite often, Interactive Media students will get these skills from working with clients. However, they will also engage in the following activities:

• professional learning activities, such as Mock Interview Fairs
• competitions that judge employability skills
• Y-Camp - a teambuilding field trip for juniors
• I.T. Academy - business curriculum for seniors that includes business law, economics, and global business concepts

Skills Upon Graduation

Upon graduation from the high school IM program some students will have the competence to actually enter the job market, even though they still may choose to attend college. Occasionally, there have been students who have bypassed college for various reasons and applied for jobs or successfully started their own freelance careers. Those that are not quite ready or able to tackle such a large hurtle will still leave the IM program with a strong set of professional and design skills, with the ability to obtain freelance work during college or to work in facilities at the college campus or elsewhere where their skills are needed (computer labs, media centers, marketing departments, etc.).

Students will graduate with the following set of employability skills:

• communication
• organization
• time management
• deadline management
• client courtesy

Students will graduate with the following set of Interactive Media skills:

• Adobe software suite (all programs)
• graphic design
• desktop publishing and layout
• digital image editing
• photography, videography
• special effects video
• interactive Flash animation
• web design
• 3D design

List of jobs upon graduation – in college:

• Computer labs
• Media centers  (A/V)
• Marketing departments
• Campus publications

List of jobs upon graduation - freelance or organizations:

• Photographer (weddings, events,newspapers, magazines)
• Videographer (weddings, events, television, advertising)
• Web designer
• Graphic designer (print, desktop publishing)
• Advertising and Public Relations (marketing departments for various organizations)
• A/V specialist (media departments for various organizations)

List of career opportunities:

What are the careers of the future?

Here are some areas that have job trends that are on the rise:

• The continued growth of the internet would indicate that careers involved with the web design field are going to continue to evolve.
• The continued growth of interactive hand-held devices for the telecom industry (i-phone and droid) would indicated that careers involved with the design of interactive phone applications are going to evolve.
• The continued growth in the development of interactive games like the Wii indicate that careers involved with the design of interactive games are going to continue to evolve.
• The continued growth of the computer gaming industry would indicate that careers involved with the design of computer games are going to continue to evolve.
• The continued growth of the digital movie entertainment industry would indicate that careers involved with the production of film and video special effects are going to continue to evolve.
• The continued growth of the use of computers and advanced software in the graphic arts and design industry would indicate that graphic arts careers involved with the use of computers are going to continue to evolve.

Employment Outllook

The Employment Outllook for Interactive Media careers indicates expected growth. Additionally, Interactive Media "future careers" will utilize the skills that are being introduced in the high school Interactive Media program. High school students who complete Interactive Media courses will have the advantage of a head start competing for careers in a new highly competitive emerging global market.

INTERACTIVE MEDIA
EXCEL TECC
MAYFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
MAYFIELD VILLAGE, OHIO 44143
(440) 995 - 6773
mcaldwell@mayfieldschools.org