After hearing about the media facilities at Queensland’s Sheldon College, on Tuesday 22nd August I had the opportunity to see them for myself and present to the staff.

Murray James, Me & Vanessa Noonan

Sheldon College, south of Brisbane, is an independent school with an enrollment of about 1,500 students and about 200 teachers. This year, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary and, in that time, they have developed a particularly strong music, technology and media program for their students and wider community.

The Sheldon College LINQ Precinct is what I was most looking forward to seeing. LINQ stands for Learning and Innovation for a New Queensland. As described in the above video and the school website, it houses the Business Enterprise Centre, Design Technology workshop and flexible CAD, prototyping and robotics labs, the LINQ Creative production facility, an interactive / collaborative space with full operable walls; forecourt and breakout areas; a large group lecture and exposition space; and the LINQ Video Wall for group presentations, venue signage and virtual video collaborations.

I have a particular interest in media production and was most interested in their media facilities.

The entrance to the media learning & production spaces is like a TV studio reception area. This is where media students meet with clients from inside and outside of the school and discuss a range of video productions.

The students are encouraged to be entrepreneurs and set up their own video businesses. The school provides them with equipment, training and experience and many of the students have gone on to a range of film & TV courses and careers. A set of framed images of former students, who now work in the multimedia industry, is displayed on the walls of the media centre with the following frame set up to challenge current students.

The main sound proof recording space features a large infinity green screen at one end for video effects and white walls for still image production. Windows separated it from a large media classroom and control room space, providing a seamless flow between teh teaching of pre & post production.

The Adobe Creative Cloud applications are used throughout the school and are a vital part of the success of the students productions and creativity. There is a particular focus on the use of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator and InDesign.

Here is Adobe Illustrator being used to in conjunction with an industrial laser cutter to produce a range of products.

A giant screen outside the LINQ Precinct features student’s work as well as other work to inspire students creativity. There are a range of screens throughout the school that help celebrate student’s achievements.

The peek video production event for the school is an annual celebration that involves up to 15 cameras capturing various stages & performance areas, all being switched live to a number of screens and also streamed live online for the wider school community.

Sheldon not only has the best media facilities I have ever seen in a K12 school, the way they integrate the media program with the wider curriculum and co-curriculum areas is very impressive.

Sheldon College takes the study of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics) very seriously. Their Maker Space has been beautifully designed to encourage creativity and is a shared learning space for the whole school.

The physical layout of the LINQ Precinct encourages a natural flow between the studies of media, engineering and business studies.

I enjoyed presenting to a number of Sheldon teachers from a range of year levels and subject areas and sharing Adobe’s recent research into teaching Gen Z and the importance of encouraging creativity in the teaching & learning process.

This was the beginning of what I’m sure will be a strong connection between Adobe Education and Sheldon College.

Special thank you to Vanessa Noonan (Head of Faculty ‑ Technology & Digital Pedagogy Co‑ordinator) and Murray James (Director of ICT) for showing me around their amazing school.