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Community Outreach

The Department of Theatre and Media Arts is committed to forming significant bridges between the academic world and its surrounding community through community service.


Hands on a Camera Project


  • Amy Jensen - Project Leader
  • Awarded November 2004
  • For further information, contact: apj@byu.edu

Hands on a Camera is an on-going service-learning, education-based project which seeks to instill the basic principles of media literacy in local primary and secondary students by providing them with hands on experiences with digital media. In Winter Semester 2005, media literacy student scholars from TMA collaborated with established classroom teachers to instruct young people in the basic principles of media literacy and production. Student scholars spent fourteen weeks in the elementary and secondary classrooms, devoting 2 hours each week to instruction and 3 additional hours each week for preparation.  Under their direction, the public school students individually created 1-3 minute digitally realized documentary projects to demonstrate what they learned over the course of the semester. Parents, teachers, and students were then invited to BYU to participate in a Hands on Camera Day, where they viewed the K-12 students' documentaries. Each student received a t-shirt and copies of the Hands on a Camera compilation DVD.

The following are excerpts from the BYU students' journals about the project:

This week was wonderful with the editing. I got to see some of the projects and I'm actually really excited about a few of them. Some, of course, are still ridiculous, but some of them have substantial evidence that they were paying attention in class and have been applying what we've taught them.

--Kimmy Howington, Theatre student

I was really impressed with one of the kids this week.  After Erica showed a video clip in an attempt to show how different images are portrayed in film and how media "says" things about the actors and the creators of that media, this kid, Zach, raised his hand and made a great comment. He's normally fairly quiet so it was great seeing him speak up. It wasn't anything profound, but it showed insight. You could tell that he had thought about what he had just viewed in light of what we had been talking about.

-- Yancy Zimmerman, Media Arts student

Media Education Database

  • Amy Jensen - Project Leader, Alyssa Rock - Administrator
  • Awarded January 2003
  • http://medb.byu.edu

The Media Education Database is an important component of the Daylight Media Project, which is the name of our department’s initiative to improve media education both in public schools and in families. This website is a database which provides public school teachers with access to quality lesson materials designed to teach K-12 students about the media. The goal of this curriculum is that students will: (1) develop the fundamental tools of film literacy which will enable them to more critically "read" or analyze the films they view and also to enjoy the films they view on a more complex level, (2) gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and historical roots of today's movie industry, (3) learn how film is simultaneously a reflection of and influence upon societal values, and (4) get exposure to a variety of films from different time periods, countries, and genres that they wouldn't normally be able to see.

An excerpt from a letter written by Alyssa Rock on March 1, 2005:

This website will also grow when the TMA department launches its new Media Education graduate program in the Fall of 2005. Our MA students will contribute their best lesson plans and units to this website and will encourage other educators to use the materials posted here. It is our hope that this site will help to cultivate stronger connections between this university and public educators who are currently teaching in the field. Our ultimate aim is to improve the quality of education through media by fostering meaningful communication among educators and by developing forums for the exchange of ideas and instructional materials.

Thank you so much for your generous support on my behalf and on TMA’s behalf. As I can personally attest, your donations truly are helping to bless the lives of BYU students and improving our community.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Rock

Theatre Education Database

  • Amy Jensen - Project Leader, Shawnda Moss - Administrator
  • Awarded June 2005
  • http://tedb.byu.edu

The Theatre Education Database is a database resource for theatre education students as well as theatre educators in the secondary school system to go to that will provide curriculum ideas for theatre classrooms. The website will offer activity ideas, complete lesson plans, and most importantly, entire lesson units on a subject that include supplements, handouts, and assessments. It is designed to help educators cultivate stronger classroom curriculum and lesson plans.

The ultimate aim of this website is to improve the quality of theatre education by developing a forum for the exchange of theatre curriculum ideas and instructional materials and by fostering meaningful communication among educators about teaching theatre to young people.

On February 23, 2006, Shawnda Moss wrote:

Thank you for the opportunity to work at Brigham Young University. Because of your generous donation to the Theatre and Media Arts Department, I have been hired as a part-time faculty member. I work with the other instructors in the area of Theatre Education and have enjoyed getting to know the future theatre teachers that are studying in that area. My job focuses toward preparing and providing resources for our university students in their own future theatre classrooms and programs.

I am currently working on creating an internet database that will include theatre lesson plans and units that will allow any theatre teacher access to complete curriculum plans for their classroom. There is nothing available to theatre teachers that will be as complete and comprehensive as this project. This database will be a fantastic resource to any theatre educator striving to provide a well-rounded curriculum for their students.

Thank you for your bounteousness donation and thank you for your understanding of the importance of the theatrical arts in young people. Your generosity will touch many more lives as our BYU Theatre Education students go out in the world to teach young people the principles and life-lessons that theatre brings.

Sincerely,

Shawnda Moss

Last modified: September 07, 2006 Maintained by CFAC Webmasters.

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