Cyber Students Get With Program

Two weeks ago, about all Dominique Key knew about Java was that some people can’t start their day without it.

But now, the bubbly 16-year-old knows that without Java--a crucial programming language--other computer functions like Web site, the Internet and multimedia might be little more than gibberish.

On Thursday, she joined 34 other area teens to celebrate the end of Moorpark College’s third annual CyberSummer program with an exhibition of their multimedia work.

“This was all way new to me,” said Dominique, who will be a junior at Thousand Oaks High School this fall. “I didn’t know much about any of this stuff, but now look. I almost wish it wasn’t over, because it was such a blast.”

That is the aim of the intensive workshop that gives students interested in multimedia a chance to learn and strut their stuff, said Victoria Bortolussi, the college’s dean of institutional advancement.

“We want to rekindle the excitement that they may have forgotten,” she said. “We are trying to transform education to have the student be the center and have all the work they do be connected and make sense to them.”

Students spent the first “cyber-week” learning the basics of multimedia production, the combination of film, video, text, audio and computer animation.

Faculty members, guest speakers and some CyberSummer alums gave them pointers about computer programming, writing project proposals, placing ideas on a story board and other facets involved in the creation of a multimedia presentation.

During the second week, participants broke into groups, developed concepts and worked to finish their multimedia presentations, which were showcased Thursday to their families and friends.

For many of the groups it took more than the allotted eight hours a day to finish their presentations, but few seemed to mind.

“I thought we could get it done,” said 18-year-old Josiah Hultgren of Newbury Park whose group was unable to complete their presentation, D.O.R.C., or Deep Outerspace Racing Championships. “But it was a lot of fun and I learned a ton.”

It wasn’t surprising that Hultgren and his group, who along with the others had just four days to put the presentation together, didn’t complete it.

Theirs was one of the more complex concepts and relied solely on three-dimensional computer imaging to create a fictional race that takes ships on an interstellar race, zooming them past space stations, through asteroid fields and even to a close encounter with a deadly comet.

Hultgren, who will be attending Moorpark College in the fall, promised to have the presentation done next week, after which it will be posted on the college’s Web site.

The presentations varied from Hultgren’s space theme to Dominique’s movie trailer to an e-commerce site, dubbed In Home DeZines, devoted to interior decorating, to music sites and even a rock video parody called “It’s All About the Pentiums,” which drew chuckles and a loud round of applause from audience members.

The program’s participants said they learned more than they thought they would and were challenged in ways they never bargained for.

“It forces them to take on responsibility and discipline because no one is telling them, ‘This is what has to be done,’ ” said 18-year-old Matthew Morris of Oak Park. “All they know is that they have to present something.”

Morris, who is near the age of the CyberSummer participants, was one of the handful of instructors who were among the program’s first students in the summer of 1997. Morris now works full time at a Santa Monica-based animation company and takes classes at Moorpark College a few days a week.

The summer program is a model for other colleges across the state, with Santa Barbara College launching its first multimedia workshop this summer.

Next year, organizers hope to bring the workshop model to other classes, having two-week intensive classes in health and teacher training.

When the lights came up and the 1999 CyberSummer program officially ended, several participants said they wished the eight-day program would have gone longer.

“Unfortunately, this will probably be my last time here, unless I can come back as an instructor or something,” Hultgren said. “If I can, I definitely will.”

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Hamm is a Times Community News reporter; Metcalfe is a Times staff writer.