FROM LEARNERS TO LEADERS King’s digital media courses put exploration, design, and production at the forefront of learning
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ing’s aims to transform students from passive receivers of information to active creators and innovators” says computer science teacher Sanad Haddad. This is especially true when it comes to digital media. As leaders and change-makers, students at King’s Academy are already at the forefront of creating films, music and apps that they are sharing with the world beyond King’s. Many new courses are giving students the boost they need to enter the digital realm on their own terms, using their own skills and voices to shape the global conversation and enter the global market. Olfat Abdelqader, another faculty member who teaches advanced courses in computer science and programming, notes that the work students are doing gives them “abilities they need to confidently face and handle the digital era and lead in the software development sector.” Abdelqader also notes that creating digital content gives students a sense of pride in their work, as well as a wider skill set that is applicable in many different disciplines and sectors. “The creation of this content increases students’ problem-solving skills while also enhancing their creativity,” she says. “Students are motivated to learn, and the challenges they confront inspire them to learn more and be more innovative, and the sense of accomplishment they gain from finishing these programs encourages them to pursue more.” 34
BEYOND KING’S
BY TONY LILLY Film Studies students construct a camera obscura – a completely lightproof, blacked-out room, except for a 3 cm aperture in one window. The aperture, even without a lens, projects an image of the outside into the dark room.
This was certainly the case for Hani Alkarrain ’22, who used his coding skills to create a game app that has been released to the Google Play Store. He then continued to produce even more digital games on his own since his class ended. For Alkarrain, “seeing people play the game I made and have fun while doing so motivated me to become 10 times better and to make games that are more fun.” Likewise, Oday Fraij ’22 has used the sound production equipment to record his first single, which has been released on all major digital music platforms this year. For Sam Hennessy, who teaches a new course in music
production, “the most significant accomplishment is witnessing students relax their inhibitions and go out of their comfort zones. So often, students are fearful of being scrutinized, and it takes a lot of courage to show off musical ideas to peers or record vocal ideas in the presence of other students.”