All Digital Media courses are taught by Mark Schaeffer
Photo by Julia Ball
- Email: mschaeffer@chabotcollege.edu
- Phone: 510-723-6837
- Home page:
http://www.chabotcollege.edu /faculty /mschaeffer - Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com /mark.schaeffer - Office: Room 1115 (in building 1100, the School of the Arts Faculty Offices — not the new Instructional Office Building)
- Schedule (classes and office hours): http://www.chabotcollege.edu /doorcards /faculty /doorcards /view.cfm?doorcardid=103
About the Instructor
Mark Schaeffer came to Chabot in 2003 to start our Digital Media program, which he describes as “helping people do creative things with computers.” Most of those creative things make use of the core applications in Adobe’s Creative Suite: manipulating photographs in Photoshop, developing websites with Dreamweaver, making diagrams and drawings with Illustrator, and creating animation and user interfaces with Flash. Some of his students are complete beginners, seeking a new way to express themselves. Others bring the skills they’ve acquired elsewhere in the School of the Arts — from courses in architecture, art, design, and photography — and learn how to build on those skills with the latest digital technology.
Mark’s preparation to teach such a wide range of skills grew out of an eclectic background. While majoring in philosophy at Princeton University, he juggled a variety of extracurricular activities, including founding and directing a mime troupe, creating graphics and signs for student organizations and campus departments, and running the campus tour agency. His first job after graduation was as a project director with a small educational publishing company, where he oversaw the writing and production of textbooks, filmstrips, and videos. Given only a limited budget for contractors, he often saved money by hiring himself as a freelance writer, photographer, graphic artist, sound editor, and musician. Eventually, he left the publishing company to become a full-time freelancer, working as a scriptwriter, ghostwriter, audiovisual producer, and actor.
In partnership with his wife, he formed a small company, Schaeffer & Goldentyer, which specialized in writing and producing educational and training materials — originally in video, audio, and print; later moving into computer-based multimedia and websites. As usual, Mark handled most of the technical and production work himself. He directed and edited video programs, created animation, designed and produced print materials and packaging, developed web pages, and coded interactive learning aids. Eventually, he made the transition from using digital tools to teaching other people how to use them. He taught part-time at a number of Bay Area schools, including the San Francisco State Multimedia Studies Program and the Center for Electronic Art, before becoming a full-time faculty member at Chabot. He has also written a number of books on digital media — most recently Adobe Flash CS4 Professional How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques, published by Adobe Press.
Having started his career in the pre-digital era — using hot wax to paste up layouts and editing tape with a razor blade — Mark embraced rapid changes in technology that taught him the importance of curiosity, open-mindedness, willingness to experiment, and devotion to learning. These are the values he wants to pass on to his students. “Computers aren't important,” he says. “In another 25 years, there may not even be computers — we may be doing things in an entirely different way. What matters isn’t the tools you use, it’s what you do with them. What do you want to give the world? Do you want to create things of beauty? Do you want to educate people, make them laugh, make them think, help them live fully? That’s what’s important. As new tools arise that help us do those things more effectively, our challenge is to find out all we can about them and learn to use them well.”
