Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1277231
58 cgw e d i t i o n 2 , 2 0 2 0 W hile many animation and visual effects colleges and education institutions have had to quickly pivot to virtual/online learning due to the novel coronavirus, not so for Animation Men- tor. The highly regarded animation school, in fact, was founded on the premise of distance learning 15 years ago, pairing up its all-remote student body with mentors, experienced working professionals in the industry. Since its founding in 2005 by three working animators – Bobby Beck, Shawn Kelly, and Carlos Baena, from Pixar Anima- tion Studios and Industrial Light & Magic – Animation Mentor has developed and perfected a curriculum and infrastructure specifically tailored to remote students. The structure of the school's courses and the nature of its community have always been virtual, so the online transition that many other educational institutions were forced into earlier this year did not alter Animation Mentor's own teaching process- es. The school believes in smaller class sizes (which it limits to nine students per instruc- tor) and experienced, tech-savvy mentors. It also runs on its own proprietary platform, which keeps students and mentors engaged and encourages its community to make friends and connections. At a time when many schools are scrambling to shi its education model from in-person learning to online learning due to COVID, it was pretty much business as usual at Animation Mentor, at least from a curricu- lum and platform standpoint. "We made sure our students knew we were available if they were in need of help, and we also made sure to put additional resources in place to help students manage their focus time," says Beck, CEO and co-founder of Anima- tion Mentor. Even though Animation Mentor wasn't negatively affected by stay-at-home orders like other schools, some of its students' lives were heavily impacted by the virus. To this end, the school staff made themselves available to listen and help find solutions for struggles the students may have encoun- tered. This included providing assistance for issues related to financial struggles, or even lack of motivation in the face of uncertainty. They also instituted extra resources on a weekly basis, including an office hours-style live session with animator and mentor Paul Allen. This gave students an additional way to connect, feel supported, and talk through any issues (creatively or otherwise) they may be facing. Nevertheless, there were some changes/ precautions taken by the school to keep the education process running smooth- ly. For instance, Animation Mentor has been using Zoom for all its online teacher/ student meetings for years, but recently implemented additional security features to ensure that the learning experience wasn't interrupted. "Zoom became the go-to for online meetings this spring, and with that additional scrutiny, instigators bombarded the Zoom platform. The security features we enabled ensured that only our students and mentors could join each meeting (for Q&A)," Beck says. Out of the gate, Animation Mentor embraced online instruction. Ambitious, yes, but the founders believed it to be the right move, even amid many warning against an Internet business at a time when the dot-com bubble had just burst. "Despite the bubble, we knew that we wanted to be online. We were part of awesome creative communities like CGChar, and we wanted to take things to the next level. We wanted to bring animation to people in their homes and bring the top talent in the animation industry directly to people so they didn't have to move across the globe to access them," says Beck. The founders also liked the fact that there weren't any models for online animation schools, allowing them to define what that could look and feel like. "We wanted to make online feel more personal than a brick-and-mortar school, and we wanted people to make friends and connections they'd have for life," says Beck. "The cool thing is that those friendships could be across continents and come from different cultures, bringing their voices and their stories to the world of animation." The founders are as confident in their decision now as they were 15 years ago, as the advantages to this model are many. For instance, it allows people from anywhere in the world to learn alongside equally passion- ate peers, and it allows people who are more introverted to have their voices be at the same level as those with louder voices. In addition, students can see other students' work and mentor feedback on the virtual campus, regardless of the class they're enrolled in. "An open campus means they can learn, not just from their own class group, but from other students as well. This facilitates a sense of mentorship, with the advanced classes helping newer students gain their confidence and footing," says Beck. Not only do students join Animation Mentor to learn a new creative skill like animation, modeling, storyboarding, visual development, and so on, but they also come out with so much more, according to the school. They build confidence in them- selves, and they make incredible, lifelong friendships and connections, both with their mentors and the Animation Mentor staff. There have even been over two dozen marriages from students who have met through Animation Mentor. Of course, there are challenges to online learning, as many other colleges are just now discovering, such as accountability and potential feelings of isolation. Never- theless, Animation Mentor recognized and addressed these early on, and from the beginning, focused on making the school more than just a place to learn, but a place to come together and connect as well. As a result, students feel engaged, even when Ahead of the Curve ANIMATION MENTOR HAS LONG PRACTICED ONLINE LEARNING FOR ANIMATION STUDENTS BY KAREN MOLTENBREY