A spacious production studio at the new high school sat nearly empty most of the year, waiting for the delivery of new equipment.

Monday, February 05, 2001

A spacious production studio at the new high school sat nearly empty most of the year, waiting for the delivery of new equipment. It finally came last week, ushering ALHS into the digital age of video production.

Instructor Chris Chalmers just hopes he can keep up.

&uot;I’m an infant when it comes to this kind of technology, but in the end, it’s still about telling stories,&uot; said Chalmers, who normally teaches English.

With $75,000 worth of new studio equipment, hardware and software, Chalmers said ALHS has one of the best set-ups in the state. The production suite includes a control room, an editing room, a sound room and a handful of editing stations including one in the library. Using three digital video cameras, students have the tools to produce new programs, original documentaries and live events for closed-circuit broadcasts, the local cable access channel or even Web streams.

&uot;This is a great gift for the students. They can do so much with this equipment, and they already have a lot of good ideas,&uot; said Chalmers.

Chalmers is teaching 90 students in three sections of his video production class this year. The class satisfies the technical reading graduation standard. He expects interest to keep growing.

&uot;The kids were talking about this equipment long before it arrived. Everybody was anxious to see what we would be able to do,&uot; said Chalmers.

Future class offerings could satisfy other graduation standards including the arts creation and performance standard. Chalmers and colleague Shawn Gilliam plan to work over the summer to develop more curriculum applications for the studio.

The first order of business for Chalmers and his students is to learn the basics of the digital technology. To help them, Jeremy Elfering of Alpha Video in Edina is making periodic trips to the school to demonstrate the software.

&uot;Along with all the equipment, tutorial sessions are part of the package that the high school purchased from us,&uot; said Elfering. &uot;They’ve made an impressive investment, and my job is to make sure they learn to take advantage of it.&uot;

Elfering is a technical trainer who has made trips to other high schools around the country to train instructors and students on Alpha Video’s software. He said most students are quick learners when it comes to computer technology.

&uot;I’m sure they will pick it up in no time,&uot; he said after a session with students Thursday. &uot;It’s like a big toy. You just need to play with it to learn all the features.&uot;

Chalmers thinks the studio is an excellent way to teach creative teamwork. In each of his three classes, he has separated the students into teams of five.

&uot;I love the fact that this technology requires collaboration,&uot; said Chalmers. &uot;I think the students are really excited to produce something to show off this technology, but they have to work together to accomplish that goal.&uot;