About the DSA

The DSA

The Digital Safari Academy @ Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, CA is a three year college and career program beginning in the sophomore year of high school. The goal of the DSA is the integration of multimedia design with the core curriculum through integrated, project based learning. Though the DSA is a program oriented toward new media design, our core academic courses provide the focus for all learning and, ultimately, all design. In the DSA you’ll find our focus is squarely on students, knowledge, and relevance.

A Focus on Relevant Skills

Over the three years in the academy, students work on a series of large academic projects completed through the use of industry standard multimedia tools. In the learning environment that develops, students learn important skills involved in working with a diverse group of peers, planning large projects, and meeting deadlines, while learning to be confident, self-sufficient, and creative problem solvers – all important job skills for the economy of the 21st century.

All DSA courses are rigorous, challenging and designed to prepare every student for post-secondary education. Currently, we teach three multimedia courses inside the Digital Safari. Through the completion of complex academic projects, students work towards mastery of skills in graphic design, desktop publishing, animation, interactive authoring, photography, sound and video production, 3D design and presentation software. Additionally, the nature of the project-based-learning environment gives students a variety of experiences in project planning, management of people and resources, working with clients and meeting hard deadlines.

Our Vision

We envision a learning environment where students and teachers work together to form a learning community in which individuals are nurtured, and support each other while being encouraged to explore and take the intellectual and creative risks that lead to self-discovery.

Our Mission

• Prepare students to communicate effectively in a variety of mediums including written, verbal, and visual.
• Provide students with the academic and intellectual skills needed to succeed in college and professional pursuits.
• Provide students with advanced knowledge of professional multimedia design tools.

A Brief History

The Digital Safari Multimedia Academy began in the fall of 1996 with 70 intrepid Mt.Diablo High School Juniors. What developed during those first two years was a learning environment based on student goals and desires. It was a place where students could create and communicate their thoughts, creativity & visions in ways previously not envisioned. “Community” became a code word for how things were done. Students, truly responsible for their learning, began to teach each other. Teachers became part of the community and learned along with the students.

The Academy was founded on a U.S. Department of Education grant to integrate vocational education with the core academic curriculum. Our goal was to do this with professional multimedia design tools. Instead of using educational software, we would attempt to make it. Thus, as students studied earth science, they would create interactive programs about the universe or geology. As they studied English they would create interactive book reports or web sites about their favorite poets. As they studied social science, they would develop web sites for model e-businesses or a CD-ROM about World War II.

Following that initial group of Juniors we have been blessed with some of the finest young people one could imagine. The level of our output has consistently improved and a positive legacy has developed that drives the current students to outperform the students of the past. Since 1997, we have won 18 awards in the California Student Media Festival. We have been featured on local news broadcasts. We have won several awards of excellence. In the spring of 2001, we were privileged to produce a 7 day webcast of the International Science and Engineering Fair. We now offer our design services to businesses, non-profits and other community organizations. Our project design methodology has been adapted by numerous programs around the country, and our annual eBizz business development project is a model for the involvement of the business community in the day to day management of classroom projects.

Since 1998 we have graduated over 500 students from the Digital Safari. A large majority of our graduates have chosen to continue their education beyond high school, choosing state and community colleges, graphic arts schools, or technical schools.

As it has always been, this is only the beginning…