The Generation Connection is an action-packed Gainesville Florida-based summer camp that connects youth with senior mentors. Before the 5th annual camp last week we launched a big, bold, and beautiful new web site for TGC.

A fixture of each year’s camp is video production with the kids by The Media Spot. Have a look at our blog post on themediaspot.org to read about that. And of course be sure to watch all of the new "Clip of the Day" videos at thegenerationconnection.com!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients, and The Atlanta School shows why — TAS is full of great folks and fantastic educators that have been friends and colleagues for many years. But rebuilding TAS’ web site at theatlantaschool.com was special to us for another reason: the old web site was the very first that Rhys and I ever built together, back in 1999! Then known as DPC Productions, we poured a lot of heart into the site, if it was certainly showing its age by 2007…

The new site sports a gorgeous, fluid design that of course highlights the creative energy of the students. It has an integrated blog, powered by WordPress, and colorful galleries of artwork, photos, and videos.

The Atlanta School is also where The Media Spot got its start — Rhys made his very first collaborative videos with TAS students. Check them out in the Video Gallery!

We’ll always be grateful for the creative support from the folks at The Atlanta School that helped us get started. We hope their new web site serves them well!

EDIT: Belated thanks to TAS for the kind words on their own blog.

The Media Spot has been working hard all summer, and we’re ready to show the educational community what our full-blown media eduction program looks like — starting with the launch of a new TMS website!

The new site has blogs of its own, and most TMS news will be published there. So rather than repeating ourselves, head on over to themediaspot.org and read about the new site and the projects we’ve got in the works.

It’s worth mentioning again, though, that the site is built using the excellent Drupal content management framework. This gives us some serious publishing and distribution power under the hood, as well as lots of bells and whistles. So three cheers for the Drupal community. And thank you, friends of Dtek and TMS, for helping us usher in a new era for The Media Spot!

In support of The Media Spot’s media education work, I just wrapped up a year-long residency with Teaching Matters, Inc. at PS124 in Brooklyn. The plan was to integrate PS124’s existing technology resources into their curriculum through project-based learning.

The foundation of this year’s program became the development of the PS124 Web Log. The blog created a place for the 3rd-5th grade students to practice typing and use the Internet to publish their work, including research assignments, journal entries, video scripts, and video productions using embedded Google Video links (contact us for a password to see the video). The blog also allowed students a way to access their work from any computer connected to the Internet at home or school, and was useful for me to post assignments, daily plans and progress reports, as well as project resources for students and teachers.

We’re looking forward to continuing the program next year by expanding use of the blog, producing more videos, and seeking out “multimedia pen pals” at other connected schools around the world!

Poke around the PS124 Web Log to see all the great work the kids did this year (final video productions will be available soon!), and have a look at The Media Spot’s web site to read more about our media education initative.

We’re refining our approach to youth media education with ongoing field work. Through a contract with Teaching Matters, Inc., I’m knee-deep at P.S. 124 in Brooklyn in a year-long residency. I’m helping them create a system and lesson plans that integrate the school’s technology resources into the 3rd-5th grade curriculum, and helping teachers complete the lessons in the classroom.

In 2006 we’ll be rolling out a new look for TMS’ website with updated content that applies what we’ve learned to our collaborative-production style.