Apple Digital Tools Provide Production Power
Profiles in Success: Rancho Bernardo High School
San Diego, CA — Ross Kallen puts in some long days. As Digital Media Advisor at Rancho Bernardo High School, Kallen’s job should end around 3 p.m. But his students are so engaged in working on their digital projects that they often linger for hours after their classes are over, and come in on weekends and during vacations. Given the array of Apple technologies with which his students are becoming proficient, Kallen isn’t surprised. Tired, maybe — but not surprised.
Kallen (an Apple Distinguished Educator) founded Rancho Bernardo’s Regional Occupation Program (ROP) in Digital Media with the goal of preparing students for careers in digital media, and familiarizing them with industry-standard tools. Since then, Kallen’s program — which includes video production, computer graphics, and studio animation — has drawn acclaim and awards from all corners of the country. In 2005, for example, Rancho Bernardo students took home five out of the possible six regional Emmy Awards, earning the honors for their monthly news program, ”Bronco Magazine.” Kallen says his students who use the Apple tools quickly become eager learners.
“Xserve RAID with Xsan was a great solution for us, because students just need the right login and they instantly can see and share their files across the stations. That’s really powerful.”
— Ross Kallen, Digital Media Advisor, Rancho Bernardo High School
“The other day,” he recalls, “I had 12 kids in the digital media lab, and school had been over for an hour and a half! That’s pretty common around here. What’s really great is that with the Apple technologies, the students can pretty much figure out what they need to do on their own. The beauty of the Mac is that nine times out of ten, it does exactly what you think it should do.”
Apple Infrastructure Supports, Stores Projects
Rancho Bernardo’s media production capabilities rival those of many professional facilities. Seven Power Mac G5 workstations with Apple Cinema Displays are available for students to work on their digital video projects, each connected with Xsan and fiber channel. Students can add sophisticated, layered special effects to their projects and render them out with a Shake Qmaster render farm, powered by eight Xserve G5 cluster nodes. The student filmmakers also have access to 11 terabytes of storage via another 2 Xserves and a pair of Xserve RAID systems.
Says Kallen, “With 120 students, it’s important that they be able to come in, have access to their files, and work on any machine that’s available. When users have to make redundant copies of their work, it takes up three times the amount of storage. Xserve RAID with Xsan was a great solution for us, because students just need the right login and they instantly can see and share their files across the stations. That’s really powerful.”
Next Page: Enhancing the Learning Process
